Dr Siouxsie Wiles MNZM is an award-winning scientist who has made a career manipulating microbes. Her day job is as an associate professor at the University of Auckland in New Zealand, where she heads up the Bioluminescent Superbugs Lab. Siouxsie also firmly believes that research doesn’t end with a peer-reviewed publication and has spent over a decade learning how to communicate and demystify science. She’s won numerous awards for her efforts, including the New Zealand Prime Minister’s Science Communication Prize in 2013, and in 2019 was appointed a member of the New Zealand Order of Merit for services to microbiology and science communication. When COVID-19 arrived, Siouxsie joined forces with cartoonist Toby Morris to make the science of the pandemic clear and understandable. Their award-winning graphics were translated into multiple languages and adapted by governments and organisations worldwide. Siouxsie was the Supreme Winner of the Stuff Westpac 2020 Women of Influence Award, named by the BBC as one of their 100 influential women of 2020, and in 2021, was named Kiwibank New Zealander of the Year.