2017 Dean's Honours List award winners

Congratulations are due to Tegan Nuss and Nuwan Leitan for being awarded a place on the 2017 Dean's Honours list during a ceremony on Wednesday 1st March. Before the ceremony we asked both Tegan and Nuwan about their background, motivation, and future aspirations.

Introducing Tegan Nuss

After graduating from an honours degree in Creative Writing, Tegan worked and travelled for a number of years. Although Teagan was successfully using her creative writing skills in her work, she still searched for a career path that was challenging, constantly evolving and able to provide a deeper sense of purpose. It was only after an encounter with a psychologist and seeing the incredible potential of their work that Tegan began to entertain the possibilities of studying psychology. Attracted to the idea of using psychology to benefit others, Teagan trusted her gut instinct and enrolled in the Graduate Diploma program, moved from Queensland to Melbourne, and exchanged creative writing for drafting lab reports. Tegan has just commenced Honours in Psychology and next year hopes to pursue either a clinical masters or gain further research experience. Teagan envisages her future to include both ongoing research and clinical practice, and looks forward to forging a lasting connection with the Melbourne School of Psychological Sciences.

Meet Nuwan Leitan

Following completion of Bachelor of Science in Psychology and Psychophysiology and an Honours degree in Psychology at Swinburne University, Nuwan completed a PhD at Swinburne University in 2013. Although a career in research beckoned Nuwan decided to apply for entry to the very competitive Master of Psychology (Clinical) course at this University instead to become a clinical psychologist. Throughout the course Nuwan consistently achieved high marks in all of the coursework subjects. Moreover in the practical component of the course, Nuwan's supervisors were all impressed with his clinical work, his capacity to engage with patients and work effectively with them to achieve positive outcomes. Nuwan's thesis explored a model of psychosis that integrates phenomenology and neurocognition in young people at ‘ultra’ high risk of developing psychosis. A journal paper describing this research is in the final stages of preparation. Whilst successfully juggling the components of a demanding course, Nuwan and his wife welcomed their daughter Tia into the world. Nuwan recently commenced his first job as a clinical psychologist.