Dr Kumi de Silva’s commitment to drive and influence inclusion and belonging has led her from a career as an immunologist with an interest in infectious diseases and developing vaccines to her current role as the Gender Equity Programs Manager at UTS.

Having lived as an international student and a migrant woman in science on precarious employment continues to influence her work. In addition to current projects supporting equitable practices during policy implementation and managing staff careers at UTS as part of UTS Athena Swan programs, Kumi advocates for equity with a focus beyond gender alone. Collaborating with UTS Women in Engineering and IT, she led UTS’s successful applications for two SAGE Athena Swan Cygnet Awards in 2024 focused on supporting women and girls into engineering and IT studies.

She is a Core Committee member of UTS's Multicultural Women's Network. Prior to joining UTS she co-founded Mosaic, a network to support multicultural staff at the University of Sydney and was a member of the successful application for the Science in Australia Gender Equity (Athena Swan) Bronze Award there. Kumi is a Dr John Yu Fellow for Cultural Diversity Leadership.

Kumi's prior research focused on developing vaccines and characterising immunological biomarkers for early identification of disease in livestock. This was made possible while on a rolling series of fixed-term employment contracts by collaborating to secure large industry grants which supported high-performing teams. Other research encompassed immune responses during noninfectious injury including burns and atherosclerotic heart disease.