Prof Emma Kowal

• I have received 25 grants and consultancies worth over $6 million AU, including a National Health & Medical Research Council postdoctoral fellowship, an Australian Research Council (ARC) postdoctoral fellowship, and an ARC Future Fellowship.
• I have authored over 100 publications including 70 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 stage of career and discipline, with 1247 Google Scholar citations and an h-index of 20 (as of Dec 2018).
• I joined the Alfred Deakin Institute at Deakin University in 2014. I established the Deakin Science and Society Network in 2017 and became the co-convenor of the newly-formed Culture, Environment and Science Research Stream, Alfred Deakin Institute, in 2018. I was previously co-convenor of the Diversity and Identity Research Stream (2015-2018).
• I was co-Chair of the international Society for Social Studies of Science (4S) 2018 conference.
• I was shortlisted for Australian Financial Review Emerging Leader Award in 2017 and 2018.
• I received the Mid-Career Research Award from the Faculty of Arts and Education, Deakin University, in 2016.
• I received a Thomson Reuters Women in Research Citation Award in 2015.
•I received the 2015 Paul Bourke Award for Early Career Research, awarded by The Academy of Social Sciences Australia (ASSA).
•Key past positions include the Convenor of the Asia-Pacific Science, Technology and Society Network (2012-2014), Editor of Postcolonial Studies journal (international journal ranked A in 2010 ERA, from 2013-2018), founding Deputy Director of the National Centre for Indigenous Genomics, Australian National University (2014-2017).
•I review for over 50 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 7 PhDs and 15 minor theses/honours students. My achievements in teaching were recognised in 2013 by a National Citation for Outstanding Contributions to Student Learning, awarded by the Australian Government Office for Learning and Teaching.
•I have been a 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, Florianopolis, 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, particularly genomics
• All aspects of Indigenous health
• Bioethics, biopolitics and public health

Currently I have three 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. A monograph entitled Haunting Biology: Science and Indigeneity in Australia is in preparation.

• Reconciling Biological and Social Indigeneity in the Genomic Era (ARC Discovery Project)
Advances in genomics will have profound impacts on contemporary identities, including Indigeneity. A focus on social processes since the 1970s has left scholarship on Indigenous identity ill-equipped to grapple with the consequences of the genomic era. Drawing on multidisciplinary expertise, we will examine biological and social influences on Indigeneity in narratives of self- presentation and in two fields currently being transformed by genomics: ancestry testing and repatriation. 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. This project will offer an understanding of the relationships between Indigenous health and epigenetics that will help Indigenous researchers and policymakers make well-informed decisions about the application of this new science. The research will make a significant contribution 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.