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Professor Emma Kowal wins prestigious higher education award

Professor Emma Kowal wins prestigious higher education award

Professor Emma Kowal was awarded the Emerging Leader Award at the Australian Financial Review’s Higher Education Awards on Tuesday evening in Brisbane. She shares the honour with Dr Christian Moro from Bond University.

Professor Kowal is a cultural and medical anthropologist whose research pursues two major themes of research: Australian racial politics, in particular Indigeneity and Whiteness; and science and technology studies, with an emphasis on genomics.

Professor Kowal joined the Institute in 2014 and in 2017 established the Science and Society Network, Deakin University’s network for collaborations between STEM (science, technology, engineering and medicine) disciplines and the humanities and social sciences. As well as convenor, she leads the Network’s Indigenous Knowledges stream with Professor Tarquam McKenna from the Institute of Koorie Education.

She has received over 25 grants and consultancies throughout her research career, including currently leading two Australian Research Council-funded projects looking at the intersections and implications of biology and epigenetics on Indigenous Australians.

“It’s an honour to have my work and research recognised by the AFR and this distinguished judging panel,” said Professor Kowal. “My passion lies in research that engages across disciplinary divides to find answers to enduring social problems.”

The Emerging Leader Award recognises an individual in the Higher Education Sector who demonstrates a track record of transformational leadership in teaching, research, administration, policy or management.

The awardee has to show that they’ve contributed to improved outcomes and practices at an institutional, sectoral, state, national or global level as a direct result of their leadership.

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