CSIRO's organisational structure

To function as an efficient organisation, CSIRO is structured into several different areas.

• 1 February 2008 | Updated 12 December 2011

• The Board and Chief Executive
• Executive Team
• Executive Management Council 
• Divisions
• National Research Flagships
• Joint ventures
• Cooperative Research Centres

The Board and Chief Executive

The CSIRO Board is responsible for the efficient performance of the Organisation and developing its policy direction. The Board provides directions to the Chief Executive, Dr Megan Clark.

Dr Clark was appointed CSIRO Chief Executive in January 2009. As Chief Executive, she is responsible for all of the Organisation's activities and is assisted by the Executive Team.

Find out more about the CSIRO Board overview.

Executive Team

Our Executive Team comprises:

• the Chief Executive
• two Deputy Chief Executives
• five Science Group Executives
• three Corporate Operational Group Executive Directors.

The Executive Team is responsible for the development and implementation of the organisational strategy.

Find out more about the members of the Executive Team.

Executive Management Council

The Executive Management Council provides a forum for sharing and discussing issues relating to the management and future strategy for CSIRO. It comprises:

• the Executive Team
• Flagship Directors
• Division Chiefs
• other key members of the Organisation's leadership.

Find out more about the members of the Executive Management Council.

Divisions

Our research is largely performed by the Divisions, which are the business units of CSIRO.

The relationship between Divisions enables CSIRO to tackle industrial and environmental problems with a multidisciplinary approach, assembling the best teams from across the Organisation.

Find out more about our divisions in our:

Food, Health and Life Science Industries group

The Food, Health and Life Science Industries Group serves large and vital sectors of the Australian economy including the agri-food industry and the human health sector.

CSIRO information sciences group

This group houses the core of CSIRO’s research in astronomy, mathematical services and information and communication technologies.

Environment group

The Environment Group aims to support the development of production sectors while at the same time minimising current and potential adverse environmental impacts.

Manufacturing, materials and minerals group

The Manufacturing, Materials and Minerals Group contains the core of CSIRO’s research focus in the materials, manufacturing, minerals, mining, chemicals, health and infrastructure sectors.

National Research Flagships

The Flagship Program is a CSIRO initiative that aims to align our research with major national issues, to achieve long goals over the next ten years.

Find out more about the National Research Flagships.

Joint ventures

We are currently engaged in a select number of long-term, strategic joint ventures, such as with Food Sciences Australia. 

These joint ventures bring together organisations with similar capabilities and enable greater scale, efficiency and impact than either party could achieve alone.

Find out more about Joint Ventures.

Cooperative Research Centres

We are also an active participant in Cooperative Research Centres (CRCs) and Centres of Excellence.

We remain the single largest participant in the Cooperative Research Centre (CRC) program with involvement in 22 of the current 48 CRCs.

Find out more about Cooperative Research Centres.