ANNUAL GIVING

Annual Giving – Scholarships

Rohan Byrne (Fr’09): scientist, thinker, explorer, communicator, playwright, past scholarship recipient

From Rohan’s family home on the Bellarine Peninsula near Drysdale, he could see the School’s clock tower on the horizon. When Rohan’s sister Tamzin (Fr’02) started studying at GGS, he recalls being fascinated by all the things she was learning – “literature, the rise and fall of empires, and ancient poetry”. “I wanted to find out where that came from,” he said. “I wanted to be closer to the source of all that knowledge.”

Rohan applied for a scholarship to attend GGS, but he honestly felt like it was still a vision in the distance. “For me, Geelong Grammar was a place where people went to achieve great things,” he explained. “I never really believed I could do that.” A scholarship changed everything. “When that scholarship came through, that was a gift from someone to me, saying ‘I know that you can do this’. And there was the most ferocious sense of obligation to that moment of encouragement.”

Rohan excelled at GGS, receiving both the Gordon Moffatt Prize for Contribution to School Life and the Juan José Garcia Prize for Drama. Inspired by Physics classes with Mr Rob Wingad, he studied Science at The University of Melbourne. He is now a computational geophysicist studying planets on the largest scale and tackling the mystery of how worlds are brought to life and why they eventually die. In 2020, Rohan put his PhD studies on hold to apply his skills and expertise in Australia’s scientific response to COVID-19. “I felt a certain sense of obligation, and when I trace that back, that instinct to jump in and help, it began at Geelong Grammar. The School’s attitude towards service is one of those things you don’t realise is seeded somewhere deep inside of you.”

Rohan’s work on modelling COVID-19 mobility data using code he created for computer simulations of planets helped inform The University of Melbourne’s entry into the Trinity Challenge, an international coalition which aims to fortify societies against future health emergencies using new, data-driven approaches. The University’s proposal was awarded an honourable mention in the Challenge’s highly competitive first funding round and is now moving into formal development.

Rohan is back focused on his own research. He spends his spare time writing, fiction and non-fiction, to inform, intrigue and amuse his readers. He is ambitious, enthusiastic and passionate. He describes himself as a proud Old Geelong Grammarian and a grateful scholarship recipient. “Without a doubt this scholarship changed the path of my life irrevocably,” he said. “There’s only one thing I can say to those people who support scholarships like mine and that is, thank you.”

Making a positive difference, together.