Australian Acoustic Observatory

In this episode, we speak to Paul Roe, Professor of Computer Science at Queensland University of Technology. Along with academics from a range of Australian universities, Paul leads the Australian Acoustic Observatory (A2O), a network and infrastructure of acoustic sensors that continuously monitor different ecosystems across the continent. In this conversation, Paul discusses the Observatory's open access data-driven approach, how these data can be used by different stakeholders, for example monitoring particular bird species or studying the effects of bushfires on ecosystems, and the relationship between digital data analysis and immersive ecological observation.

Interviewer: Max Ritts

Producer: Harry Murdoch

Listen on Apple and Spotify.


This radio episode was produced by the Smart Forests project funded by the European Research Council. Smart Forests is led by Professor Jennifer Gabrys and is based in the Department of Sociology at the University of Cambridge.

Header image: A solar-powered sensor in Gluepot Reserve, South Australia. Image source: Australian Acoustic Observatory [photo]. Retrieved 15 June 2023, from https://acousticobservatory.org/blog-2/

Smart Forests Atlas materials are free to use for non-commercial purposes (with attribution) under a CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 license. To cite this radio episode: Roe, Paul, and Max Ritts, "Paul Roe: Continuous acoustic monitoring in Australia", Smart Forests Atlas (2023), https://atlas.smartforests.net/en/radio/paul-roe/. DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.10629069.

Related Tags