In 2021, 2022 and 2023, we asked our alumni to share their stories with us as part of our 'Imagine your Future at 樱桃福利视频' campaign. Our alumni have gone on to succeed in every imaginable career - from finance, law and medicine through to living out their artistic passions in art, music and on the stage, not to mention our athletes who have represented Australia in world championships and the Olympics. Hear a little of their stories in the video interviews below and in the text career updates, and learn from and be inspired by their journeys.
2023
Since we spoke to her in 2023, Xanthe has been thriving in her PhD research from being named one of Brisbane’s 25 under 25 by the Courier Mail in July 2023 to presenting her research in multiple international conferences including the Global Arts and Psychology Seminar, the Australian Conference on Computer-Human Interaction and the University of Melbourne “Swiftposium”. Xanthe has completed her first PhD study with a paper accepted for publication in the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) Digital Library. Xanthe's paper is titled Would You Tell Spotify How You’re Feeling? Using Design Fiction to Explore the Benefits and Risks of Emotion Regulation Features in Music Streaming Apps. Xanthe has also completed her second PhD study with a paper currently under review for publication. Xanthe is currently preparing to start her third and final PhD study in which she is creating and evaluating a music app that creates personalised Spotify playlists based on listeners’ current and desired emotion to help them regulate their emotions and improve their wellbeing. Xanthe’s ultimate goal through developing this app is to enhance the well-being of over half a billion music streamers around the globe.
A significant milestone in Xanthe’s academic career was receiving the 2024 Australian Music Psychology Society (AMPS) Student Keynote Award, which is a competitive and coveted award, with many graduate students submitting their research from universities around Australia to be reviewed by a committee of music psychology experts. Xanthe had the incredible opportunity to give her first keynote presentation at the AMPS conference in July 2024, disseminating her research findings on the effectiveness of personalised emotion-regulation playlists for the general population.
In addition to her PhD research, Xanthe enjoys teaching music psychology subjects at the University of Melbourne, peer-reviewing academic papers and co-authoring articles for the University’s Pursuit magazine and the Conversation. Xanthe’s research has generated significant media interest including appearances on ABC, RRR radio and Triple J Hack with Dave Marchese. Xanthe is also part of the Australian Music Psychology Society Committee, volunteering her time as a student representative to help organise professional development for early career researchers and to generate outreach for schools and communities.
2022
Since we last spoke to Mel, she has experienced great career highlights including hosting the 2025 Melbourne International Comedy Festival Oxfam Gala, Network Ten television appearances - cast member on season 3 of Taskmaster, weekly segment on The Project, ABC TV - regular panellist on Question Everything, voiced the character of Shaz the Jellyfish in the upcoming children's movie The Pout Pout Fish.
Her stand up special 'Let Me Know Either Way?' has been nominated for an AACTA Award and in 2025 she will embark on a national tour with a brand new live standup show.
Mel still writes a column for QWeekend which is published monthly.
2021
Since 2021, Taryn has been promoted to Partner at the venture capital firm Rampersand and works with the team across the whole business, including investing, strategy and managing the investment team.
She has led investments into several startups including: Hatch, a jobs marketplace for Gen Z's; and Cuttable, which is building a fully automated advertising agency. She continues to spend time looking for early-stage technology businesses to invest in, largely focused on business-to-business software solutions and Artificial Intelligence.