Building upon a fantastic first semester, impressive academic results and other achievements by our students in second semester conclude what has been a stellar year all round.

Excellent academic results for 2024

Across the course of the year, our students collectively undertook more than 2,000 subjects, with impressive results.

Of the graded results (excluding non-graded passes) received so far…

• almost 50% of all grades received in 2024 by our students were either High Distinctions or Distinctions.
• at least 30 students (12%) earned only High Distinctions and Distinctions.
• twelve students in Semester 1 and nine students in Semester 2 achieved straight High Distinctions.
• five students – Robyn Coles, Cooper Ferguson, Niamh Leishman, Nathan Rokebrand, and Mackenzie Walter – achieved straight High Distinctions in both semesters.

The brilliant academic achievements of our finest scholars in first semester were celebrated at our Final Dinner on Saturday 25 October.

The students who have achieved at an exceptional, outstanding, or excellent level across the whole of the year will be celebrated at the Academic Awards Dinner in 2025, with those leaving in 2024 invited back for the evening in what will undoubtedly be an inspiring moment in our Centenary year!

First-Class Honours

Three of our four 2024 Honours students have received their final grades, with all three earning first class honours for their theses.

For his Geology Honours project, Cooper Ferguson examined element behaviour in enstatite meteorites, the rarest type of meteorites found on Earth. Cooper is currently revising his thesis for publication and will be embarking on a PhD at the University of Adelaide in 2025.

Civil Engineering Honours student Hamish McKenny worked in a team of students on a project exploring ways of improving timber joint construction using fibre reinforced polymers (FRP). Their project, entitled ‘FRP: Reinforcing Timber’s Future!’, won second place in the Civil Engineering category of the 2024 Ingenuity Showcase at the Adelaide Convention Centre.

In his compelling Law Honours thesis, University of Adelaide student, Cameron Akehurst, examined whether artificial intelligence could be usefully employed to improve access to justice in South Australia. Cam’s thesis, which he is also preparing for publication, makes an important contribution to a very pertinent topic.

These theses have been added to the College Library’s St Mark’s Collection of works by or about current and former Collegians. The collection also includes first-year student Mia Speed’s newly published children’s book, Where’s my Minya Marlu?

Our students have worked hard this year to achieve such brilliant results. They have been supported in their endeavours by their Academic Coordinators and their tutors, who provided over 1,000 hours of tutorials, Study Hall support, and assignment assistance across the year.

In addition to this comprehensive, tailored tutorial program, our students are provided with opportunities for professional development. This year, our career preparation program included:

• eight well-attended Faculty Evenings, informal mentoring dinners with Old Collegians, two Speaking from Experience events, and a women’s health panel discussion;
• the opportunity for professional headshots;
• CV writing assistance, and job and internship application support; and
• a well-received interactive professional development session with an external facilitator on personal branding and the effective management of one’s digital footprint. This workshop with freelance film editor Lauren Wells-Jones was organised by Senior Academic Tutor Cam Akehurst and covered the importance of and ways to construct a consistent, authentic, and professional personal brand; how to build websites; search engine optimisation; managing privacy settings and conducting social media audits; and networking best practices.

Cam Akehurst, and the other Academic Coordinators, Rachael Bird, Anthony Doll, Madi Martin, Hamish McKenny, Dorisa Nasserian, and Tara Phelps have done an excellent job this year of supporting our students in their studies, guiding them to appropriate support, helping to organise tutors and running tutorials, Study Hall and other workshops this year, and organising a series of fantastic faculty evenings. They have been a clever, committed, and creative team.

While we fondly farewell Cam, Ant, Hamish, and Madi with gratitude for their hard work and excitement for their next adventures, we are delighted that Tara and Dori will be returning next year as joint Senior Academic Tutors and that Rachael remains a part of our student leadership team as 2025 Hawker House Warden.

Tara Phelps and Dorissa Nasserian will lead a very strong team of Academic Coordinators in 2025: Chris Partridge (Agriculture, Viticulture, Veterinary and Animal Science); Luke MacKay (Engineering, Physical Sciences, Architecture, and Aviation); Cahill McIntyre (Business and Law); Robyn Coles (Health & Medical Sciences and Allied Health); Jacob Deeb (Medicine, Nursing, and Dentistry); and Nina Pern (Arts and Education). The new team is enormously talented and bursting with ideas and enthusiasm for next year. Exciting times ahead!

Other academic achievements and adventures

Congratulations to Grace Thomas who performed in the Elder Conservatorium Music Theatre rendition of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s rock opera, Jesus Christ Superstar, at the end of September, which received great reviews. Ben Stefanoff, writing for Glam Adelaide praised the ensemble, who “as a whole were excellent. Their characterisation throughout the production were wonderful, as was the overall vocal sound.”

Georgia Furst was one of 12 University of Adelaide occupational therapy students selected for a placement in South India during the September holidays. Travelling by bus and tuk-tuk, the students visited hospitals and specialist units, rehabilitation centres, speech and language centres, special education centres, and schools in Chennai, Mahabalipuram, Vellore, Bengaluru, Mysore, and Cochin during the two-week placement, which was supported by the New Columbo Plan Mobility Program.

As well as learning about assistive equipment and adaptive technologies, meeting members of varying interdisciplinary teams and learning about their roles and responsibilities, and watching prosthetics being produced, Georgia enjoyed learning about Indian history, language and mythology, trying different Indian foods and Bollywood dancing, riding in tuk-tuk, and visiting the magnificent Mysore Royal Palace.

Final year UniSA Health Sciences student, Charlotte Le Page (pictured below) was invited to present her excellent placement project, a national review of food insecurity and provision policy for children and families, at the South Australian Population Health Conference 2024 in October.

Cooper Ferguson had the opportunity to attend the National Exploration Undercover School (NExUS) in late November to early December. NExUS is a two-week program that aims to teach industry-related skills and knowledge that earth science students or early industry individuals may not receive during university studies. Cooper was one of 38 students from across Australia who undertook the course this year. One week was spent in Adelaide, where students heard from leading academics and professionals on a range of topics, spent time with drill core material from some of SA’s most prominent minesites, such as Olympic Dam, at the South Australian Core Library in Tonsley, and attended the South Australian Energy and Mining Conference. The second week was spent in Wallaroo and surrounds, where students got to perform various geophysical surveys, visit historic mine sites, and learn about mining legacy and what to expect when transitioning from study to industry.

Cooper reports:

This was a wonderful two weeks, as not only did we learn valuable skills for our futures as geoscientists and explorers but were able to network with people from all aspects of the mining industry, academia, and with each other. The cohort was full of curious and amazing people, with whom I now have formed a national network of both friends and potential co-workers or collaborators.

A number of Collegians, old and new, were invited to the University of Adelaide’s 2024 Scholarship Celebration held at the National Wine Centre to honour scholarship donors and recipients in October. Scholarship recipients included Science student Luke MacKay and Engineering student Nathan Rokebrand, both of whom are continuing 2023 Augustus Short Scholars, and first-year Engineering students, Lucas Cockshell, who is a 2024 Augustus Short Scholar, and Ansa La Grange, who is the recipient of a 2024 Feng Fu scholarship to support female students to study and pursue careers in STEM fields.

Old Collegian Kaitlin Beltakis, who was the 2022 Repromed Scholar and is now a fertility scientist, spoke at the event as part of a panel on the benefits of donating and the impact of scholarships.

Hawker Scholar, Law student, and the outgoing Vice-President of the College Club, Will Gillett, has been elected President of the UniSA Law Students’ Association for 2025. Congratulations, Will!

Students are not the only St Mark’s people who have been busy with writing projects this year!

The College’s beloved Chaplain Steve Daughtry and fellow Senior Common Room member Vanessa Daughtry recently launched their book, Caravan: Incarnational Stories Set in an Australian Landscape at the College Chapel. The book tells old stories in new ways, exploring what it means to be human and to be loved. Steve and his daughter Miranda, who are both experienced actors, have recorded the stories, which are available to listen to online.

Caravan was brilliantly launched in the College Chapel by Dr Rachel Buxton on Sunday 15 December, following Evensong in St Peter’s Cathedral, during which one of its stories was evocatively performed.

Sarah Menz, the College’s multi-talented Marketing and Communications Officer, recently co-authored an article on evidence-based guidelines for low-risk ethics applicants in the Journal of Academic Ethics (vol. 22, 2024). Sarah also has a chapter co-authored with Dr Sarven McLinton exploring the experiences of women working in the male-dominated video game industry in a forthcoming volume edited by Dr Shalina Mehta, Manjit Monga, and Harinder Sandhu and provisionally titled Gendered Marginalities: Exploring Culture and Global Disparities.

When she’s not working to improve our scholarships application process, Michelle Bockmann is a research-active academic in the psychiatry department of the Adelaide Medical School. She also knows a lot about teeth! Her most recent publications relate to work she did while in the School of Dentistry at the University of Adelaide, with co-authored articles in Caries Research and the European Journal of Orthodontics.

Our students are lucky to be supported by such a well-qualified team of staff with such a diverse range of talents and knowledge.

Postcards from Oxbridge

St Mark’s is well-represented in Oxford and Cambridge this year by Old Collegians Oliver Douglas, Mark Hautop, and Kathy Radoslovich, as well as former staff member Jack Jacobs.

Oliver Douglas (St Mark’s 2020-23) is at Merton College, Oxford, studying modern British history as a Rhodes Scholar. He writes:

My first Term at Oxford has been magical. Every day I walk through halls that have been criss-crossed for centuries by erudite scientists, considered philosophers, and consequential politicians. It makes one wake up every morning and ask what more they can be doing to better themselves, and the world.

It is also a bustling hive of activity. Oxford is a decentralised place and everywhere you look something is being organised by a College, a student society, a sports club, a business, or an individual. The result is that one is consistently being exposed to the rich kaleidoscope of humanity that has come from every corner of the world to live in this one place.

Oxford is a fertile ground for new ideas. With such diversity, such energy, people are constantly talking, sharing, and debating their ideas whether that be in class, the common room – or the pub. One gets the sense that they are engaging in the sorts of lively discussions that might have exercised influential individuals in times gone by, and which will profoundly shape their own later lives.

I am reminded daily of how well St Mark’s compares to Oxford and its respective Colleges. Whether it be quality of accommodation, vibrancy of social events, academic support, mentorship offered by head staff, or service, sporting and leadership opportunities, St Mark’s is an equal peer on many fronts. I know that my friends from across Oxford are more alike than different to my motivated and aspirational friends at St Mark’s.

I look forward to the years ahead, and drinking deep from the Pierian Spring, and encourage every St Mark’s Collegian to dream boldly – they are within touching distance of many of the world’s greatest universities.

Oliver has been enjoying getting back into competitive tennis, recently winning a bronze medal – the best result for Oxford in the BUCS Tennis Championship in the past three years – at the British Universities & Colleges Sports Tennis Doubles Championship together with doubles partner, Patrick Foley from St Edmund Hall.

He has also delighted in connecting with former St Mark’s College staff member Jack Jacobs (staff 2022), who, having completed his Master’s thesis focussed on the influence of Edmund Burke on Mahatma Gandhi, is now working towards a doctorate in intellectual history at Oxford as a member of Oriel College, and as a Ramsay Scholar.

Mark Hautop (St Mark’s 2010-13), who is at Linacre College, Oxford, studying for a Master’s of Business Administration as an Ivan Shearer Scholar, writes:

Greetings from Oxford!

Although my mid-September arrival was marked by a week of highly unseasonal (but very British) rainfall, the academic year began with much excitement and a schedule full of interesting speakers, pre-MBA classes, and networking with classmates from 59 different nationalities.  Oxford is truly magical and, to borrow the words of our Dean, an “intellectual Disneyland”.  

I was immediately impressed by Oxford’s commitment to positive change, together with its deep curiosity, rich diversity, and historical gravitas. The city itself is extremely welcoming, albeit autumn is fast descending into winter. The MBA is enriching but intense, with so much to absorb in a short period of time.  Various keynote speeches have included Colm Kelleher and Sergio Ermotti (Chair and CEO of UBS, the world’s largest private bank), Paul Polman (Chair of Saïd Business School and former Unilever CEO), Dame Kate Bingham (Chair, UK COVID-19 Vaccine Taskforce) and Prof Myles Allen (renowned climate scientist and the man behind Net Zero).  I am also enjoying participating in The Skoll Centre Impact Lab, a unique co-curricular for accelerating careers in impact.  

The opportunity to attend Oxford through the generosity of the late Professor Shearer is once-in-a-lifetime.  I strongly encourage current and former students alike to make the most of this very unique support on offer at St Mark’s helping turn big dreams into reality.

Kathy Radoslovich (St Mark’s 2008-10) is at King’s College, Cambridge, studying medieval history as a Ramsay and Ivan Shearer Scholar. She has been a generous correspondent, regularly sharing the magic and wonder of her scholarly adventures, some of which are extracted below.

After first arriving, she reported that:

Central Cambridge is gorgeous, with majestic architecture and cute alleyways. The University was in the final days of their Open Cambridge festival, which saw two weeks of open days, tours and other events at many of the University’s colleges, museums and other facilities, and gave me a great chance to see a few interesting things. This included wandering through winding alleyways to find Wren Library in Trinity College (my grandfather’s college), where they had a display of fascinating items from their collection ranging from medieval herbal remedy manuscripts to Isaac Newton’s notebooks to political cartoons to a handwritten original Winnie the Pooh manuscript.

In another instalment, Kathy gave a detailed account of orientation week:

The Welcome Service was held on move in day in the King’s College Chapel. The Chapel is a famously spectacular building and plays an active part in the day-to-day life of the College. (It also plays an active role in the College’s finances, with over 250,000 paid visitors a year, not even counting visitors from within the university and attendees at the free Chapel services that are open to the public most days of the week during term). The Welcome Service was a beautiful affair, with gorgeous music from one of our choirs and an address from the Chapel’s Dean, the Revd Dr Stephen Cherry. I found it interesting seeing how our Dean and our Chaplain, the Revd Dr Mary Kelly, talk about the role of the Chapel and of spirituality in the modern college community. In his address, the Dean spoke about the “special challenge to make sure that what happens here [in the Chapel] has integrity and excellence and that it is somehow in relationship with the progressive, secular and intellectually sparkling life of the rest of the College”, about the “tension [in Chapel and the King’s community] between being a place of tradition and formal values and a place of progressive liberal values”, and the role he sees the Chapel taking in being “both a beacon of excellence and an oasis of spirituality for the community”. This balancing of tradition and progression is a constant presence in King’s. A particularly striking example of this (and one which the College leadership is very proud of and will tell you about at every opportunity) are the solar panels. Last year, the College installed over 400 solar panels on the roof of the Chapel. It was a controversial move, but one that they hope will inspire others to follow in kind.

Freshers’ Week finished off with a gorgeous Graduate Matriculation Dinner, where we sat with peers and Fellows from our disciplines for a lovely dinner, with singing provided by new members of the College’s mixed-voices choir. It was beautiful and very Hogwarts-esque, though sadly the ceiling in our dining hall doesn’t reflect the outside sky.

And in her most recent update, she writes:

Cambridge life is everything I could have hoped for. During term time, the place is overflowing with things to do. There are so many talks to attend, clubs to join, friends to see, and activities to do that you could not possibly attend everything. I’ve taken to keeping two diaries – one with all the things I could and would like to do, and another where I actually plan out my day, factoring in things like sleep and, you know, actually doing some study. It took a few weeks, but I eventually recovered enough to start playing some netball, and I’ve been building up an impressive (for me) step count walking all over town.

…This afternoon I got to be a part of a special King’s tradition – ghost stories by firelight in the Provost’s drawing room. As the story goes, M. R. James, who was Provost of King’s from 1905 to 1918, used to write ghost stories, and every Christmas Eve he would read his latest work to invited students and friends. This year Professor Mike Proctor (King’s immediate past Provost) did the reading. He dressed in period attire and made a valiant effort with the voices. With just firelight and the twinkling from the Christmas tree lights, and the ubiquitous servings of mulled wine and mince pies, it was a special moment. This year he read Canon Alberic’s Scrap-Book and Oh, Whistle, and I’ll Come to You, My Lad.

Finally, we extend our congratulations to Trent Harron (St Mark’s 2005-7) on recently completing his postgraduate studies in the history of war in Oxford as a Ramsay Scholar. Trent was awarded a Distinction in his Master’s degree. His research has included the role of the “foremost founder” of St Mark’s College, the Rev’d Julian Bickersteth, as an Army Chaplain on the Western Front in World War I.