CSIRO sets up new data analytics research division

CSIRO has merged its ICT Centre and Mathematics, Informatics and Statistics unit to form a new division, Computational Informatics.

Dr Bronwyn Harch of CSIRO's Computational Informatics division. Source: CSIRO

Led by Dr Bronwyn Harch, the division will focus on data-driven research and analytics with the aim of establishing itself as the leader in the segment.

“We have responded to the information and data challenges facing Australia with the formation of this new CSIRO Computational Informatics (CCI) Division," Dr Harch said.

Dr Harch has been with CSIRO since 1995. 

Before heading up CSIRO's computational informatics unit, Dr Harch was chief of the Mathematics, Informatics and Statistics division, which has been folded into the new division.

The new division covers about 440 researchers stationed in eleven sites around Australia.

Some of the projects now under its remit include the handheld Zebedee laser scanner 3D mapping device that operates independently of the global positioning system and can be used inside buildings and underground.

Other projects include Australia's first set of open-licensed long-term climate data, the computer-aided ocular biomarker suite for early detection of Alzheimer's disease and the Starbug, an underwater robot that can autonomously analyse the chemistry of marine sediment.

Read Dr Harch's opinion piece for iTnews on the CCI, Picking tomorrow's technology winners.