Abbas Rajabifard

Prof Abbas Rajabifard is Head of the Department of Infrastructure Engineering and Director of the Centre for Spatial Data Infrastructures and Land Administration, and is Director of the Centre for Disaster Management and Public Safety, The University of Melbourne both at the University of Melbourne.

He is immediate Past President of Global Spatial Data Infrastructure (GSDI) Association and is an Executive Board member of this Association, member of Joint Board of Geospatial Information Societies (JBGIS), and was Vice Chair, Spatially Enabled Government Working Group of the UN supported Permanent Committee on GIS Infrastructure for Asia and the Pacific (PCGIAP).

Prof Rajabifard has spent his career researching, developing, applying and teaching spatial information management and strategies and also SDIs to deliver benefits to both governments and wider society and is acknowledged as a pioneer in the concept of spatial enablement – using location to facilitate decision making.

He has authored/co-authored more than 250 publications including ten books. He has also been consulted widely on spatial data management, SDI, land administration and spatial enablement, disaster management to many national government agencies and ministries.

He is a frequent keynote speaker at international geospatial conferences, forums and organisations and through his academic and professional activities, tirelessly promotes the surveying and spatial science professions driven by his belief that these professions play an integral role in delivering the vision of a sustainable future.