2018-06-08

Student Awards

The Otago Institute for Arts and Sciences awards four student prizes annually.

  • The OI All-Round Science and Technology Excellence prize (Aurora Otago Science and Technology Fair) [$300.00]
  • The OI Mātauranga Māori prize (Aurora Otago Science and Technology Fair) [$300.00]
  • The OI Otago University Honours Thesis prize [$250.00]
  • The OI Postgraduate Professional Development prize (starting 2023) [1×$1000, 3×$500]

 Otago Institute Honours Award 2020

2020 saw an AMAZING field of nominations for this year’s Otago Institute University of Otago Honours Award ($250) and the judging committee was extremely impressed by the scope and excellence of scholarship.

The winner of the 2020 OI Honours Award is:

Conor Hassan for their Dissertation “Modelling the Effect of Fake News” Department of Mathematics and Statistics.

Finalists were:

  • Niña Sarah Batucan “Aquatic Creatures on Drugs: A Critical Review on the Environmental Risks of Carbazepine, Diclofenac, and Ibuprofen” Ecology
  • Kayla Benjamin “The Effects of Prolonged GABAA Receptor Blockade on Homeostatic Scaling and Synaptic Transmission in the Murine Dentate Gyrus” Neuroscience
  • Nikita Lyons “Developing an Optogenetic Therapy for Chronic Pain” Physiology
  • Yerren van Sint Annaland “Cherry Fruit Grading” Computer Science
  • Jackson S. Hennevald “Donor-Acceptor Cyclopropanes: from Spiroketals to Tetralones” Chemistry
  • Joy Sim “Cognitive Processes Involved in Vegetarianism” Food Science
  • Georgia Scott “From Water Babe to Kiwi Icon: Gender, Disability and Nation in the Media Narrativization of Sophie Pascoe” Sport, Exercise and Health

Otago Institute Science Fair Awards 2020

This year we introduced the Premimum Award for Mātauranga Māori worth $300.

The inaugural Mātauranga Māori winner was Georgia Latu (Te Kura Kaupapa Māori o Ōtapoti) Poi Porotītī Taupatupatu Taupatupatu

The All-round Science and Technology Premium award winner was Mark Campbell

Otago Institutute Travel Award 2018

The winner of the 2018 Otago Institute Postgraduate Student Travel Award is Manon Knapen (Centre for Science Communication, University of Otago), The value of evidence in health decision-making.

Congratulations also to the other finalists:

  • Jeremy Simons (National Centre for Peace and Conflict Studies, University of Otago) Riding a 3-horse solution down the path of natural healing: transformative justice among Indigenous communities of Mindanao, Phillipines
  • David Wang (Department of Computer Science, University of Otago) Shhh… Let your brainwave talk!
  • Geoffrey Weal (Department of Chemistry, University of Otago) From Biology to Nanotechnology: Using Darwin’s Theory of Evolution to Discover New Catalytic Materials

Congratulations to our 2017 round two winners!

  • Adam Denny, “High-density lipoproteins – more than just the good cholesterol”
  • Jason Lew, “An exercise a day, keep the heart disease away! Is it true?”

Honourable mention:

  • Houman Alimoradi, “Overcoming biological barriers using a nano-sized Trojan horse”
  • Manjula Devananda, “A Primary Health Care Data Model to Support Population-based Workload Analysis”

Congratulations to our 2017 winners!

1st Prize: Nick Shields (Pathology): Living drugs: Harnessing the power of T-cells to combat cancer

$1000 towards conference travel

2nd Prize: Chloe Wall (Philosophy): Knowing (From) Me, Knowing (From) You: Are Memory and Testimony Analogous?

$500 towards conference travel

Honourable mention:
Stephanie Junior (Geology): Analysing Gold in Earth’s Mantle: a Petrological and Geochemical Study of Au in New Zealand Peridotites
Sophie Gangl (Chemistry): Global ocean anoxia during ancient ‘greenhouse’ climates: Prospects for a warming world
 
Congratulations to our 2016 winners!

Winner (Otago Institute General Postgraduate Award): Kate Brookie (Psychology), “Does an Apple a Day Keep the Psychologist Away?”

$1000 towards conference travel

Winner (Otago Institute Applied Research Award): Prashanth Thevkar (Microbiology and Immunology), “Identification of a Novel Antiviral Host Factor of Influenza Virus”

$1000 towards conference travel

Congratulations to our 2015 Winners!

Winner: Imogen Roth (Pathology), “Tumour suppressor gene or wolf in sheep’s clothing?  A p53 isoform story”

$1500 towards conference travel and multiple collaborator visits

Runner-up: Jaz Morris (Botany), “The acid test: genome mutation confers pH-stress tolerance in a cyanobacterium deficient Photosystem II”

$500 towards conference travel and collaborator visit

Congratulations to our 2014 Winners!

Winner: Jill Assawasuwannakit (Pharmacy)

$1500 towards conference travel.

Runner-up: Chris Niebuhr (Zoology)

$500 towards travel for field research.

Congratulations to our 2013 Winners!

Winner: Abhishek Gulati (Pharmacy)

$1500 towards travel to Scotland and Greece for conferences and collaborator visit.

Runner-up: Maria Pozza (Law)

$500 towards travel to Cambridge, UK to undertake a prestigious fellowship.

Congratulations to our 2012 WINNERS!

Winner: Cleo Davie-Martin, Chemistry Department, “Modelling the vapour drift potential of current use pesticides”

Runner-up: Owen Jones, Psychology Department, “Long range communication between synapses- a role for astrocytes”