Dr Kumudika (Kumi) de Silva is a Senior Research Fellow at the University of Sydney; an immunologist developing vaccines for livestock. Her lived experiences have driven her to be an active advocate for the importance of diversity and belonging to create a more inclusive culture within the higher education community.
A career highlight for Kumi has been co-founding the Mosaic Network, which aims to empower and support staff from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds and to influence cultural change at the University of Sydney. She was a member of the team at the University of Sydney which wrote the successful application to address gender equity in Science (SAGE) and was a voice and an advocate for issues related to multicultural diversity as well as for those on precariously funded research projects.
Kumi is a 2019 John Yu Fellow for Cultural Diversity Leadership and was awarded the Diana Ryall Scholarship in 2020.
Kumi has lived in five countries but hasn’t moved on since arriving in Sydney. She appreciates and relishes opportunities to bring diverse people together to create new solutions to address issues related to the intersectionality of gender and cultural diversity, with a focus on STEMM.