Digital technology and mathematical science expert Dr Bronwyn Harch has been appointed chief of CSIRO’s newest research division, which is aimed at taking charge of Australia’s information overload.
The new division, CSIRO Computational Informatics, will address the key national challenges across the information and decision-making value chain with a focus on data-driven computational and information sciences.
“The proliferation of smart devices and increasing access to next generation broadband has caused an explosion in the volume, velocity and variety of data information,” said Dr Harch in a statement on her appointment.
“With predictions that by 2020 the average person will own six different smart devices connecting us to over 37 billion ‘things’, from cows in the field to our car to our fridge door through the internet, it is clear the amount of data we produce will continue to grow at an exponential rate.”
Dr Harch said the new division’s focus on data-driven science will help CSIRO to increase the economic and social wellbeing of the nation by tackling some of the biggest challenges facing Australia, including declining productivity and ageing population.
Dr Harch joined the CSIRO in 1995 as a research statistician and has held positions of research leadership since mid-2005, including chief of CSIRO Mathematics, Informatics and Statistics in 2012 after serving as deputy director of the Sustainable Agriculture Flagship.