Professor Jennifer Flegg

I am a Professor in applied mathematics in the School of Mathematics and Statistics at the University of Melbourne. My research focuses on using mathematics and statistics to answer questions in biology and medicine. In particular, I develop mathematical models in areas such as wound healing, tumour growth and infectious disease epidemiology.

I was awarded a PhD in 2009 from Queensland University of Technology on “Mathematical modelling of chronic wound healing”. From 2010 – 2013, I was at the University of Oxford developing mathematical models for the spread of resistance to antimalarial drugs. From 2014 – April 2017 I was a Lecturer in the School of Mathematical Sciences at Monash University. In 2016 I started an ARC Discovery Early Career Research Award to study and mathematically model venous leg ulcers. In May 2017 I joined the School of Mathematics and Statistics at the University of Melbourne as a Senior Lecturer in Applied Mathematics. I was promoted to Associate Professor in 2020 and Professor in 2023.

I was the recipient of the JH Michell Medal (2020) for excellence in research by ANZIAM (Australian and New Zealand Industrial and Applied Mathematics), the Christopher Heyde Medal (2020) from the Australian Academy of Science and the Society for Mathematical Biology Leah Edelstein-Keshet Prize (2021). In 2025 I was awarded the EO Tuck Medal for outstanding research and distinguished service to the field of Applied Mathematics by ANZIAM. I currently serve as an Editorial Board member for PLOS Computational Biology, Bulletin of Mathematical Biology and SIAM Journal on Applied Mathematics. In 2022, I started an ARC Future Fellowship to advance data integration modelling for infectious disease response.