Southern academics off to US on Fulbright scholarships

Two southern academics will have a rare opportunity to continue their research at some of the world's top tertiary institutions after being awarded Fulbright New Zealand Scholarships.

University of Otago associate professor and Genetics Otago director Julia Horsfield and Southern Institute of Technology lecturer Dr Anna Palliser will head to the United States as early as August to pursue independent research.

Prof Horsfield will use single-cell sequencing to research how cell fate decisions are controlled in the
zebrafish animal model, at the University of California Davis and Irvine campuses.

Dr Palliser will research urban food security and food sovereignty at Johnson and Wales University in Providence, Rhode Island.

Inspiration to apply for the scholarship came from her late friend and mentor, Otago Polytechnic lecturer Linda Wilson, a Fulbright Scholar in 2009.

'' ... she would be so proud that I was following in her footsteps.''

Other 2019 Fulbright scholars are Fiona Amundsen (Auckland University of Technology), Nicola Daly and Rangimarie Mahuika (University of Waikato), Susan Schenk (Victoria), and the 2019 Fulbright-Nga Pae o te Maramatanga scholar is Jason Mika (Massey).