As our current group of 'Stipis' prepare for Christmas and New Years in Germany, we meet a Melbourne 'Stipi' from 2001 who is now based in London. Zach Meyers is the Assistant Director of the Centre for European Reform, where he works on EU competition policy, particularly in the digital sector. His love for Europe was kindled by a SAGSE scholarship back in 2001, when he was a secondary student in Melbourne's west. Now he lives and works in London, doing all he can to strengthen UK-EU relations.
Year of exchange: 2001 / 02
Group Leader: Amelia Quodling
School: Westbourne Grammar School
German Teacher: Warren Pratt
Town / city of exchange in Germany: Hamburg
Too many to count! My host family were incredibly kind – their extreme generosity symbolised by them buying a piano before I arrived, knowing that I loved playing. Anna, my host mum, who would cook glorious meals, constantly worried that I was too cold, and left Gummibären under my pillow. Hartmut, my host dad, taught me guitar and was always happy to speak English if I needed it. Freddy, my host brother, taught me all the German slang. Valentin and Leonard, the two younger brothers, would fight each night over which of them I would read a story to first.
Other fond memories included nearly destroying the family’s front fence while trying to get to school on their spare extra-large women’s mountain bike and accidentally trudging dog poo throughout the Australian embassy in Berlin.
I studied Arts/Law at Melbourne, picking up a diploma in French along the way to add to my European languages (though thanks to my exchange, German has stuck with me far better!).
I worked in Melbourne for four years as a competition lawyer at (what is now) King & Wood Mallesons, while slowly completing an LLM in international law part-time. I was lucky to have quite an international aspect to my career even then, doing work for the World Bank on developing competition laws across the Pacific Islands such as in Kiribati, Tonga, Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands and Samoa. I then spent a year in New York at the firm Davis Polk, and moved to London where I spent about six years at a boutique law firm specialising in competition law in regulated sectors like telecoms, energy, and digital.
Three years ago – dismayed by Brexit and compelled by Covid lockdowns to take a risk and do something I really cared about – I left law to join a think-tank, the Centre for European Reform (CER). We’re a small team that researches and promotes ideas to make the European Union work better and strengthen its role in the world. I joined as a Research Fellow and am now the CER’s Assistant Director. I focus mostly on the EU’s competition, industrial and innovation policies. As I’m still working from the CER London office, I also have a particular focus on strengthening UK-EU relations. In my spare time I swim and run marathons around Europe with my partner at every available opportunity.
I'm very glad I made the shift to the think-tank world, which is an extremely varied life, involving everything from publishing papers, speaking at conferences, doing TV interviews, giving evidence to parliamentary inquiries, and advising governments. I'll be moving to another think-tank, the Centre for Regulation in Europe, as its Director of Research in February next year. While I plan to keep working from London for now, moving (back) to the EU is definitely still on the cards!
Being a GASSie, and in particular the friendships I developed through SAGSE, has had a huge impact on my life. I still count Anh Cao, also in my Jahrgang, as one of my closest friends. The challenges of the exchange, and the relationships I fostered, hugely improved my confidence and my ability to be myself.
SAGSE instilled a love of Germany and of European law and politics generally. That’s played a bigger and bigger role in my working life over time. I’ve had the chance to catch up with my host family several times and my work gives me plenty of excuses to visit Berlin.