Do we like Siouxsie Wiles?
Our score: 8 out of 10. She explained Covid science to a nation and won a landmark workplace case, and I found no harmful words or acts of her own, though the record on her wider views is thin.
Siouxsie Wiles was born in the UK, moved to South Africa at four and back to England at 15, then studied at Edinburgh, where genetics turned into a love of microbiology. A book about plague and tuberculosis lit the spark. She later moved to New Zealand with her family when a job came up at Auckland University, and now heads its Bioluminescent Superbugs Lab, which mixes glowing organisms with infectious disease. The pink hair has been a fixture for about 20 years.
Covid made her a household name. She went on radio, TV and online to explain the virus, and teamed up with cartoonist Toby Morris on comics about how simple measures could slow it, which went viral worldwide. She won the Supreme prize at the 2020 Women of Influence Awards, and in 2021 was named Kiwibank New Zealander of the Year, with a citation praising her empathy, innovation and courage.
In 2024 the Employment Court found the university had breached its contractual obligations to protect her from the harassment. It awarded her $20,000 in damages, but did not find a breach of her academic freedom. In June 2025 the court ordered the university to pay $205,059.94 towards her legal costs. She told RNZ she was “absolutely delighted” with that ruling, though she said she had spent roughly $600,000 all up.
On the harm test, I found nothing nasty from her. Her public record in these sources is explaining the pandemic, backing the government's science-led response and urging people to stay home to stamp out the virus. I couldn't find her saying anything either way about trans people, so that part of the record is a gap rather than a tick. She hasn't been tied to the grievance-and-conspiracy slide, and her own side of the story is mostly about being its target.
The latest chapter is money. In November 2025 she launched a crowdfunding campaign, saying she and her family were still more than $400,000 out of pocket after winning. She wrote that she wanted to “draw a line under this awful episode of my life” and get back to research and science communication. It says something that a person who won in court is still paying for it.
So would we support her? Easily. The record is thin on her wider politics, but nothing here is harmful, and plenty of it is brave, kind and useful. Her real fight was with a workplace that she says left her exposed.