Dr Oliver Berry1
1CSIRO Biodiversity Discovery & Monitoring Program, Crawley,
Biography:
Dr Oliver Berry is a CSIRO scientist who leads a research program on discovering and monitoring Australia’s biodiversity. From 2017 to 2025 he directed CSIRO’s Environomics Future Science Platform, working with cross-disciplinary teams to bring genomic tools into environmental management. He helped set national and international standards for eDNA data, initiated Australia’s National Biodiversity DNA Library and, with an amazing team, co-founded the Southern eDNA Society. He edited Applied Environmental Genomics and won a 2025 Eureka Prize for co-developing the dartR software. Olly is happiest working with others on the bigger picture. He also grows cacti and succulents and sings with more enthusiasm than skill.
Abstract:
A decade ago, environmental DNA in Australia was a scattering of clever experiments. Today it is one of several tools reshaping how we observe and understand our oceans, rivers, and landscapes. The shift is overdue. Environmental data are commonly so scarce here that we barely notice, so we make many decisions about the environment with limited evidence and low confidence that they are right. No one would run a household or a business this way, yet the environment we all depend upon for our economy, health and wellbeing is managed like this every day.
eDNA is not a finished product. What has made Australia (and New Zealand) distinctive in these past ten years is that a community of innovators, advocates and users has not just used eDNA; it has built it, together, to meet what the region actually needs. Individual ingenuity has been matched by an appetite for the harder, shared work: common data standards, national DNA reference libraries, and communities of practice that outlast any single project.
I’ll reflect on that journey and ask where a cohesive vision can take us next.