Sarah Paterson-Hamlin

Grants & Fundraising Coordinator
Auckland Regional Centre

Sarah was born and raised in Dunedin where she completed her undergraduate degrees and an MA. During her university studies, she was kept busy by involvement with UN Youth NZ, where she served on the National Executive and as Otago President, attending and running several dozen Model United Nations. She also spent six years working at the Otago Museum, which is where she met her husband. 

After being awarded the William Georgetti scholarship in 2014, she moved to Glasgow, Scotland to undertake her PhD in Scottish Literature, focusing on the relationship between writers and Scottish independence.  

She returned to Aotearoa in 2017, settling in Auckland where she had her two sons and took on the running of the UpsideDowns Education Trust, a charity that provides access to speech and language therapy for children with Down syndrome. Since 2022 she has also been editor of CHAT 21, the New Zealand Down Syndrome Association’s quarterly magazine. 

In 2022, Sarah was elected to the Whau Local Board. She joined the Raukatauri team in 2024 as Grants & Fundraising Coordinator. 

Sarah is autistic and has ADHD. She plays violin and piano extremely poorly and loves to sing, particularly choral music or rousing political musical theatre.