Dr. Pok Man (Bob) Leung is a group leader at Monash Biomedicine Discovery Institute. He leads a team working on microbial ecophysiology and ecogenomics. He studied Environmental Science (International Research Enrichment track) at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (2018), with a first-class undergraduate degree and an academic achievement medal. He then moved to Australia for a PhD under the supervision of Prof. Chris Greening. His PhD research investigated the metabolic basis of microbial growth and survival in oligotrophic ecosystems, integrating a range of techniques across disciplines including multi-omics, biogeochemistry, isolation, ecology, and evolution. Following a fruitful PhD (Mollie-Holman medallist; 2023), he was appointed as the Environmental Microbiology team leader of the Greening lab during his postdoc.

In 2025, Bob was awarded an Australian Research Council DECRA fellowship as an independent group leader. He is also a Chief Investigator of ARC Research Hub for Carbon Utilisation & Recyling (RECARB), an Associate Investigator in the ARC Special Research Initiative Securing Antarctica's Environmental Future (SAEF), and an ECR Investigator of Joint Genome Institute. His program aims to understand how diverse microorganisms survive, interact, and in turn modulate their hosts, environments, and Earth’s climate, with a primary focus on environmental change implication.

Currently, his team is actively working on the following projects:

• Resolve the spatiotemporal dynamics of microbial and biogeochemical activity in global drylands
• Investigate cryptic microbial communities and climate-active gas cycling in tree surfaces
• Identify novel microbial catalysts for greenhouse gas conversion to useful bioproducts