Mr Anthony Whalen

In late 2023, Anthony became the Director of the National Research Collections Australia (NRCA), which is made up of more than 15 million specimens of plants, algae, insects and wildlife from Australia and the Indo-pacific region. NRCA also holds tissue samples, DNA sequences, images and metadata (such as species occurrence data).

In this role, Anthony is also Director of the Centre for Australian National Biodiversity Research, which is a joint partnership between Parks Australia and CSIRO, centred around the Australian National Herbarium.

Anthony’s early career provided a background in biology, environmental science and as a working botanist in Sydney and Canberra. Since 2005, his work focused on developing and managing Australian Government policies, programs and data systems relating to Landcare, taxonomy, conservation, and policies relating to wildlife trade and heritage. He has also managed the Australian Biological Resources Study and was Acting Executive Director of the Australian National Botanic Gardens in 2022-23.