Leilah Taouk is a PhD student at Monash University. Her research focuses on restoring the swimmability of the Birrarung (Yarra) River. She applies data-driven, optimisation-based methods to define and quantify swimmability, reframing what constitutes a healthy, swimmable river and evaluating pathways to achieve it. Her project is supervised by Associate Professor Markus Wagner and Doctor Paul Satur, in partnership with Regen Melbourne.