Dr Neil McKenzie: Chief of CSIRO Land and Water

Dr Neil McKenzie leads one of the nation's largest land and water research teams.

• 2 August 2011 | Updated 14 October 2011

• Current activities 
• Background
• Academic qualifications
• Achievements 

Current activities

Neil McKenzie was appointed Chief of CSIRO Land and Water in 2007.

Neil is actively involved in shaping public policy on scientific aspects of land and water resource management in Australia. He is also playing a lead role internationally in establishing a global soil information system to ensure more informed responses to food security, carbon dynamics and environmental management more generally.

Background

 Dr McKenzie has 27 years of research experience in soil science. His research has focused on quantitative methods for mapping soil and land resources.

His research career prior to taking on the role of Chief focused on quantitative methods for mapping soil and land resources. Neil’s team was responsible for several national standards on measurement, monitoring and survey.

Dr McKenzie joined CSIRO in 1987. He achieved Principal Research Scientist prior to being appointed as Deputy Chief in 2006 and has also undertaken several research group leadership roles.

Academic qualifications

Dr McKenzie has been awarded a:

• Bachelor of Natural Resources from the University of New England in 1980
• Master of Natural Resources from the University of New England in 1983
• Doctor of Philosophy, from the University of New England in 1987 (jointly with CSIRO).

Achievements

Dr McKenzie's achievements include leading the team responsible for publication of the highly acclaimed Australian soils and landscapes: an illustrated compendium and the Guidelines for surveying soil and land resources. His team also produced the online Australian Soil Resource Information System (ASRIS). ASRIS is a comprehensive online system for soil and land resource information across Australia.

Dr McKenzie is actively involved in shaping public policy through his membership of scientific and technical committees, particularly the National Committee on Soil and Terrain and the committee responsible for the 2011 National State of the Environment Report.

He leads CSIRO’s involvement in the forthcoming global soil information system and in late 2011 will take on leadership of the international consortium responsible for the project. He chaired the Working Group on Digital Soil Mapping for the International Union of Soil Science from 2006 to 2010. Dr McKenzie is also a member of the Editorial Board for Geoderma.

Find out more about the work of CSIRO Land and Water.