At 17, Bill Li is the first secondary school student to present a research paper at the annual InterRAI Research Network Knowledge Exchange held in New Zealand.

Alongside senior researchers and clinicians, the Year 12 College student will present his findings into loneliness in long-term care for the elderly.

Bill became especially interested in the subject after seeing it firsthand while volunteering with elderly residents.

His research has been informed by InterRAI data. The platform aims to improve healthcare around the world by inviting medical professionals, policy-makers, and researchers from more than 35 countries to utilise a wealth of high-quality data for advanced research.

Bill’s 4000-word paper, The demographic, temporal, and regional dynamics of loneliness in long-term care in New Zealand: A secondary data analysis is also under peer review with the Australasian Journal on Ageing.

Bill hopes that his research can “better inform intervention and policies surrounding loneliness in long-term care to better target at-risk populations”.

“To my knowledge, this is the first large-scale analysis of loneliness in long-term care in New Zealand, as well as being one of the only studies in the world to analyse loneliness prevalence longitudinally in this context,” Bill explains.

“It found that age and ethnicity were predictors of loneliness and that loneliness prevalence decreased significantly over time (although only Europeans showed a statistically significant decrease). It also found a significant difference in regional loneliness between DHBs.”

In response to his research, the interRAI Research Network Chair has invited Bill to help with literature reviews in preparation for setting up a dementia registry in New Zealand.

Meanwhile, Bill has also been recognised for his achievements in the prestigious John Locke Institute 2025 Global Essay Competition, being Highly Commended for his writing in the Psychology section. His essay focused on the following question: Eleanor Roosevelt declared, “No one can make you feel inferior without your consent”. Is she right?

His essay was one of thousands from around the world and judged to be in the top 3%.

The Oxford and Princeton-linked John Locke Institute encourages traits of independent thought, depth of knowledge, clear reasoning, critical analysis, and persuasive style in young writers, inviting students to respond to challenging questions.

In August, Bill also gained the highest grade in seven Advanced Placement (AP) exams to help open the gates to study at leading universities in the United States and United Kingdom. He achieved a ‘5’ in Biology, Calculus AB, Government and Politics, Environmental Science, Macroeconomics, Psychology, and Statistics.