Arts student Tessa Morgan is heading to the University of Cambridge to undertake doctoral study in palliative and end of life care thanks to a Woolf Fisher Scholarship.
Tessa is currently studying for a Bachelor of Arts (Honours) in History, and her dissertation looks at the intersection of ageing and dying in the autobiographical writings of Mary Penington, a seventeenth-century Quaker.
The Woolf Fisher Scholarship is funded by the Woolf Fisher Trust, supported by the Cambridge Trust. It covers study and living costs at Cambridge and is estimated to have a value of $300,000 per student, making it one of the most generous scholarships available to New Zealand students.
Sir Woolf Fisher, co-founder of Fisher and Paykel, set up this Trust in 1960 to recognise and reward excellence in education. The Scholarship selects young New Zealanders based on their outstanding academic ability, leadership potential as well as their integrity, vision and capacity for work.
Tessa was first in class for eleven of her courses in History and Politics and International Relations during her undergraduate study, and won the Haydon Prize for best work in British Empire/Commonwealth/New Zealand history.
Alongside her honours study, Tessa works as a Research Assistant and Project Manager in the School of Nursing’s Te Ārai Palliative Care and End of Life Research Group.
She became involved with this project after undertaking a Summer Research Scholarship with Professor Merryn Gott, and this is what set her on the path to doctoral study in this area.
Tessa explains that there is not much research on gender and end of life care, and this is where she wants to make a contribution.
She has already published four articles with Merryn, and is working on more.
She says that her Arts study has been “super valuable,” and she has appreciated the critical thinking and writing skills it has equipped her with as she has moved into the inter-disciplinary field of palliative care.
Tessa is also involved in many feminist action and advocacy groups. She is the Treasurer for the Auckland Women’s Centre Quarterly, volunteers for Hospice, and worked for the Auckland University Students’ Association as Women’s Rights Officer in 2014.
The Scholarships were awarded to four graduates this year, and the Chairman of the Woolf Fisher Trust, Sir Noel Robinson, said that “They each bring a range of strengths and research interests. And most importantly, they embody the characteristics envisaged by Sir Woolf when he established the scholarship. We will follow their progress with great pride and great interest.”
Tessa will begin her studies in Cambridge in October 2017, and is aiming to be a leader in the field of palliative care and to lead a New Zealand-based research institute.
Find out more about the Woolf Fisher Scholarship
