PhD student wins fellowship to share research overseas

Cassie is a PhD student within the School of Sport, Exercise and Nutrition. Her doctoral research, which has just been submitted for examination, looks at the role that nutrition can play on early knee osteoarthritis.

Cassie has recently been named as the winner of the Claude McCarthy Fellowship - a grant administered by Universities New Zealand Te Pōkai Tara. The Fellowship supports travel overseas for short periods to present research work at conferences and/or conducting research contributing to the doctoral degree they are enrolled in.

Cassie says she's excited to have the opportunity to go to both Canada and the United States to present her research.

"As with everyone, there have been ups and downs in my PhD journey but seeing it all come together, and then getting to communicate my findings to the wider scientific community, really is a great way to round off my PhD studies."

The grant will go towards Cassie’s travels to Canada and the United States in July. She has been invited to Brock University in Canada to be shown around their nutrition unit, learn about their research and talk about her own research. Following that, she will head to Boston to the American Society for Nutrition (ASN) Conference Nutrition 2023, where she will give an oral presentation and present a poster as part of being named a finalist for the Emerging Leaders in Nutrition Science Poster Competition.

This competition recognises high quality research presented by students and young investigators. Close to 1000 abstracts were submitted for consideration and were rated by more than 400 nutrition scientists.

Graduate Research School Scholar Development Coordinator Micaela Moll says Cassie’s success highlights the importance of emerging researchers and doctoral students being able to successfully communicate their research.

“Having effective research communication skills enables students to share their findings at a national or international level. By effectively communicating complex ideas and concepts across disciplines, students can foster interdisciplinary dialogue and contribute to the public debate, possibly leading to innovative solutions.”

About the Claude McCarthy Fellowship

Born in Hororata in 1888, Claude McCarthy graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in 1913. His teaching career was interrupted by war service in 1917 when he went overseas as a lieutenant in the 24th Reinforcements. On his return to New Zealand he graduated with a Master of Arts from the then University of New Zealand in 1919. In 1922 he went to the United States and after 25 years there he retired to live on the island of Jersey. Mr McCarthy died in Spain in 1978. The funds for these fellowships are provided by the income from a substantial bequest by Claude McCarthy.