Prof Emma Kowal

• I have received 32 grants/consultancies worth over $23M AU, including $3.5M as sole/first investigator.
• I have authored 150 publications including 90 peer-reviewed books, articles and book chapters. Approximately two-thirds of my journal articles appear in high-ranked (A/A* ERA 2010/Q1 Scimago) journals. My work is highly cited for my discipline, with 3621 Google Scholar citations and an h-index of 31 (as of Feb 2024).
• I joined the Alfred Deakin Institute (ADI) in 2014. I established the Deakin Science and Society Network in 2017 and was co-convenor of the newly-formed Culture, Environment and Science Research Stream of ADI in 2018. I was previously co-convenor of the Diversity and Identity Research Stream (2015-2018). In 2020 I became Deputy Director (Research) of the Alfred Deakin Institute.
• I am on the Editorial Boards of American Ethnologist, Social Studies of Science, Emerging Science and Technology Studies, Somatosphere and Melbourne University Press, and the Design Group of the Transnational STS Network. Previously I was on the Editorial Board of Science, Technology and Human Values.
• Major external appointments include membership of the Australian Health Ethics Committee of the National Health & Medical Research Council and the Health Research Impact Committee (2021-2024 Triennium). Expert Advisory Committees: Genomics Health Future Mission (Department of Health); the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Surveys, the Australian Bureau of Statistics; Research Centre for Deep History, Australian National University; Master of Genetic Counselling, University of Technology Sydney. Indigenous Advisory Committee member and Associate Investigator of the Centre for Excellence in Austrlaian Biodiversity and Heritage (CABAH). Machado Joseph Disease Foundation Research Advisory Committee.
• I was co-Chair of the international Society for Social Studies of Science (4S) 2018 conference and I am a immediate Past President (2021-2023). I co-founded the Australasian Science and Technology Studies Graduate Network (AusSTS) and the TransAsiaSTS Network.
• I received the 2015 Thomson Reuters Women in Research Citation Award, the 2015 Academy of the Social Sciences in Australia Paul Bourke Award for Early Career Research, a 2013 National Citation for Outstanding Student Learning, and the Australian Financial Review Higher Education Award for Emerging Leader in 2019. In 2019 I was elected to the Fellowship of Academy of the Social Sciences in Australia. In 2022 I was awarded the title of Alfred Deakin Professor (equivalent to Distinguished Professor) and I was elected to the Fellowship of the Australian Academy of Health and Medical Sciences. In 2021 I received the Social Studies of Science (4S) 2021 Infrastructure Award as part of AusSTS.
•Key past positions: Convenor of the Asia-Pacific Science, Technology and Society Network (2012-2014), Editor of Postcolonial Studies journal (2013-2018), and founding Deputy Director of the National Centre for Indigenous Genomics, Australian National University (2014-2017).
•Review for over 65 journals and publishers across anthropology, science and technology studies, Indigenous studies, public health, and bioethics.
•I have taught anthropology, Indigenous studies, postcolonial studies and science and technology studies in undergraduate, postgraduate and professional development settings. I have completed 9 PhDs and 15 minor theses/honours.
•Past visiting scholar/fellow at Yale University, the University of California, Berkeley, the Max Planck Institute for the History of Science, Berlin, Nanjing University, China, and the Universidade Federal de Santa Caterina, Brazil.

My current areas of interest include:

• Australian racial politics, especially Indigeneity and Whiteness
• Settler colonialism and postcolonialism, racism and anti-racism
• Science and technology studies
• Applications of genomics and epigenomics with First Nations groups
• Bioethics, biopolitics and public health

Currently I have four main research projects:

• Haunting Biology: Race, Science and Indigeneity in Australia (ARC Future Fellowship)
This research aims to develop an innovative account of how the history of race science matters in the present through investigating: 1) the varied 20th century scientific efforts to understand Indigenous Australians biologically; and 2) contemporary knowledge-making about Indigenous biological difference in the genomic era. Drawing on the tools of anthropology, history, and science and technology studies, this research aims to re-evaluate the role of biology in Aboriginal studies. My monograph Haunting Biology: Science and Indigeneity in Australia is published by Duke UP (2023).

• Reconciling Biological and Social Indigeneity in the Genomic Era (ARC Discovery Project)

The experience and expression of Indigenous identity has changed enormously in recent decades. One factor has been the availability of genetic ancesty testing that is likely to have contributed to large increase in what the Australian Bureau of Statistics calls 'new identification'. This project examines longer term changes in Indigenous identity in Australia including an increasing focus on descent (versus other forms of relation) and an increasing proportion of new identifiers. You can read The Conversation articles related to this project here and here.

• Epigenetics and Indigenous Australia (ARC Discovery Project)
This project aims to investigate how epigenetics is being received by Indigenous Australians, and to identify the potential risks and opportunities that narratives of biosocial damage entail. Epigenetics is a rapidly evolving science concerned with how life experiences, such as trauma or stress, can modify DNA and be passed on to descendants. The research contributes to understanding how the interplay of biology, race, and society unfold at the intersection of different knowledge systems and at the forefront of technological progress. You can read a Discover Society blog piece on this issue here.

• Barriers and pathways to development of Indigenous traditional medicines (ARC Discovery Indigenous Project)

In collaboration with Dr Virginia Marshall (ANU) and Professor Ron Quinn (Griffith), this project aims to explore how Australian regulatory systems can better support Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Traditional Knowledge (TK) holders to commercialise their traditional medicines. Focusing on the mudjala plant and working with the Kimberley’s Nyikina people, the project will generate new anthropological methods for documenting TK related to traditional medicine and new models for regulating traditional medicinal products. Additional expected outcomes include unlocking the significant, untapped potential for Indigenous Australians to benefit from the development of traditional medicine products regulated by the Therapeutic Goods Administration.