Celebrating leadership and diversity in science
Three outstanding Faculty of Science academics have been recognised with the 2025 Women in Science Emerging Academic (WISA) Award and the Excellence in Diversity Leadership Award.
Launched in 2020, the Faculty's WISA Award honours exceptional early to mid-career women academics who have excelled in their fields and are emerging as leaders in the sector. It is presented across two categories annually: 'Mathematical and Physical Sciences' and 'Health and Environmental Sciences'.
The Excellence in Diversity Leadership Award celebrates academics from underrepresented communities who demonstrate research or teaching excellence and champion diversity and inclusion in science.
The 2025 WISA recipients are Dr Mia Cobb (Melbourne Veterinary School) and Dr Wei Huang (School of Mathematics and Statistics). The 2025 Excellence in Diversity Leadership Award recipient is Dr Laura Brannelly (Melbourne Veterinary School).
Left to right: Dr Mia Cobb, Dr Wei Huang and Dr Laura Brannelly
Faculty of Science Associate Dean (Diversity and Inclusion) Professor Georgina Such said the Faculty recognises the important role of women and diverse academics in driving excellence in research and education, and that these achievements should be celebrated.
"Recognising diverse role models in science is important to ensure the next generation can see themselves in a science career," Professor Such said.
"I congratulate this year’s recipients on their extraordinary contributions and I look forward to seeing the results of their inspiring research projects."
About the WISA Award winners
Health and Environmental Sciences – Dr Mia Cobb
Dr Mia Cobb is a Research Fellow in the Melbourne Veterinary School, where her research bridges rigorous scientific theory with real-world animal welfare improvements, generating tangible benefits for animals and society. Her contributions include directly influencing international policy, and leading the development of Australia’s first national standard for working dogs. Dr Cobb’s work spans academia, policy, industry, and public engagement – from publishing highly cited research, to training the next generation of animal welfare scientists, to reaching hundreds of thousands of readers through accessible science communication.
Mathematical and Physical Sciences – Dr Wei Huang
Dr Wei Huang is a Senior Lecturer and DECRA fellow in Statistics at the School of Mathematics and Statistics. Her research addresses a critical yet underexplored challenge in statistics and data science: how to analyse large, complex datasets that contain imprecise measurements. Dr Huang has developed new statistical frameworks and deep learning approaches to better understand cause-effect relationships in noisy, high-dimensional data – with applications in health, policy, and digital innovation. Dr Huang's ARC DECRA-funded work aims to make these methods widely accessible through open-source software and practical guidance for applied researchers, ensuring broad impact across disciplines.
About the Excellence in Diversity Leadership Award winner
Dr Laura Brannelly
Dr Laura Brannelly is a Senior Lecturer in the Melbourne Veterinary School. She leads a research team that seeks to understand how to protect frogs from the devastating fungal disease, chytridiomycosis, which has caused declines in over 500 species worldwide. Dr Brannelly's work focuses on aligning conservation strategies to the needs of each species. She works closely with conservation agencies, government, and industry partners to ensure her findings directly inform on-the-ground action. Her recent projects include investigating how the threatened Growling Grass Frog persists at man-made sites, with the goal of creating new habitats that support long-term survival.
Learn more about the Faculty’s commitment to diversity, inclusion and belonging.