The Atlas of Living Australia (ALA) is a National Collaborative Research Infrastructure Strategy (NCRIS) project responsible for mobilising biodiversity data to support national and international users demanding timely access to Australian biodiversity data. The ALA delivers biodiversity data to over 45,000 users in research, industry and government annually. It delivers impact and supports research excellence in fields such as biodiversity, genetics and ecosystem science, delivers to major natural resource management programs and supports the international community through the provision of Australian biodiversity data. This presentation will provide an overview of the ALA, a synopsis of our current challenges and presents some of our early thinking around the ALAs future directions informed by preliminary results from an active National Consultation process.

About the speaker

Dr. Andre Zerger is the Director of the Atlas of Living Australia (ALA) having commenced with CSIRO in February 2019. Andre is an environmental science and data infrastructure professional with a background in spatial sciences and environmental modelling with a focus on ecological sciences. Prior to commencing with the ALA Andre was with the Bureau of Meteorology leading the design and delivery of the National Environmental Information Infrastructure (NEII) Programme and the operation of data systems supporting Australia’s water information capability.