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Applications Now Open for 2025!
We are now accepting applications for the 2025 round of ABDMP funding. Apply before 9 May 2025 to support biodiversity data mobilisation projects.

The Australian Biodiversity Data Mobilisation Program (ABDMP) funds projects that improve access to biodiversity data via the Atlas of Living Australia (ALA). By digitising and mobilising biodiversity records, we enhance:

  • Conservation efforts – Supporting environmental management and policy decisions.
  •  Scientific research – Filling critical gaps in species distribution and ecological data.
  •  Public accessibility – Making biodiversity data freely available for future generations.

For the 2025 round, we are offering two funding streams:

Details on the main funding stream appear first, followed by citizen science-specific information further down this page.

Apply now

Jump to:

Main Funding Stream

Eligibility

Applicants must be associated with an Australian Institution to be eligible for the program.

Existing ALA partnership projects that already receive ALA or National Collaborative Research Infrastructure Strategy (NCRIS) financial support are ineligible for this program.

Applicants must agree to provide the data to the ALA in Darwin Core Standard under a Creative Commons licence, made open and accessible through the ALA if successful.

Funding amounts


The 2025 program offers two levels of funding:

  • Up to AUD $20,000 for smaller projects
  • Up to AUD $50,000 for larger projects

What data are in scope for the program?

  • Data must be in the form of Australian species occurrence records
  • The program cannot support new expeditions or field programs but should focus on mobilising existing data, or biological specimens that require digitisation
  • Data mobilisation efforts should align with national priorities
  • See our FAQ’s page for further information.

What can I use the funding for?

Funding can be used to support data mobilisation and/or infrastructure investments.

Data mobilisation investment could include:

  • Staff time to digitise specimens in biological collections including scanning
  • Conversion of existing analogue data, such as in field notes into the Darwin Core Standard for provision to the ALA.

Infrastructure investment could include:

  • Purchasing digital imaging equipment to create digital data from physical specimen records. For example, camera equipment to photograph biological collections, and scanners to copy specimen labels.

Selection process

An independent review panel chaired by Ecologist, and Head of Science at the Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory, Dr Kirsti Abbott will select the successful recipients. The panel will consist of members from the Western Australia Department of Biodiversity, Conservation and Attractions, the Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water, a representative from the ALA, and an independent ecologist with extensive experience in conservation in protected places and private land conservation.

Timeline

Applications for the 2025 round of the ALA Australian Biodiversity Data Mobilisation Program are open now, until 5pm AEST on the 09 May 2025.

The successful applicants will have one year upon receiving funding to complete their projects and deliver data to the ALA in Darwin Core Standard.

Contracting

Successful applications will be expected to enter into a formal agreement with CSIRO to receive funding. See examples here.

Projects will be contracted to institutions, not to individuals.

More information

To assist applicants with preparing their submissions, we have created a drafting template to help you prepare your application offline before officially submitting, as well as a budget template for applicants to use and attach with their applications.

Submit your application

Applications for the 2025 ALA Australian Biodiversity Data Mobilisation Program are now open! Applications will close at COB 9 May 2025, AEST.

Apply now
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Citizen Science Funding Stream

Overview

The citizen science data mobilisation program supports community-driven science projects in making their existing species occurrence data openly accessible for scientific research and informed decision-making.

Each year, the program focuses on a thematic priority area where data gaps exist. For our 2025 pilot, the theme is catchment areas, encouraging citizen science projects that monitor biodiversity in freshwater ecosystems, wetlands, and riparian zones.

By funding initiatives that mobilise previously unavailable data, we aim to bridge knowledge gaps, enhance environmental management, and empower community-driven science.

Key details

📅 Application Period: 24th March 2025 – 9th May 2025
💰 Funding Available: Small-scale projects up to $5,000, Medium-scale projects up to $7,000
📨 Submit Applications: via our application form

Scope of the 2025 citizen science stream (catchment areas)

This stream is designed for citizen science projects working in or connected to catchment areas across Australia. Projects must:

  • Have existing data that is in a non-digital or non-publicly available digital form.
  • Have data that covers species occurrence records of flora and/or fauna  within catchment ecosystems.
  • Not already contribute their data to platforms that provide data to the ALA .
  • Have a plan to mobilise and publish their data openly on the ALA

We welcome projects that address taxonomic, geographic or temporal biodiversity data gaps in the ALA.

Eligibility criteria

To be eligible, applicants must:

  • Be a nonprofit organisation, community group, research team, Indigenous land management group, or local council involved in citizen science with an ABN.
  • Collect species occurrence records in catchment-related environments (e.g., rivers, wetlands, riparian zones, floodplains).
  • Not currently submit their data to platforms that provide data to the ALA (to ensure we support new data contributions).
  • Commit to making their data openly available in Darwin Core format.
  • Have a plan for data quality control and evaluation.
  • Operate within Australia and have data covering Australia.

Guidelines for Applicants

1. Data collection standards

Applicants must ensure that collected species occurrence data:

  • Includes time-stamped, georeferenced records.
  • Identifies species to the highest possible taxonomic accuracy.
  • Can be formatted into Darwin Core, a standard data format that is compatible with the ALA’s ingestion process.

2. Use of program funds

Funds can be used for:

  • Training in data mobilisation.
  • Data digitisation and equipment to digitise.
  • Data quality validation.
  • Data tidying and preparation.

Funds cannot be used for:

  • Core operational costs not related to data mobilisation.
  • Any form of fieldwork or gathering of new species occurrences in the field.
  • Data already being supplied to platforms that provide data to the ALA.
  • Environmental, ecological or biological data other than species occurrence records.

3. Check if your data is already on the ALA

If your data has been shared with other institutions or platforms, you can check if it’s already in our system by following these steps:

  1. Review our current datasets: select the link here to view the list of datasets we have. This will allow you to check if your data is already available to us.
  2. Search for relevant terms: After accessing the dataset list, search using relevant keywords associated with your data or the recipients of your data. This will help you confirm if your data has already been included.

Please note, that this process may take some time, as it relies on searching and cross-referencing existing data. If your data is not listed, feel free to continue through to the application process.

More information

To assist applicants with preparing their submissions, we have created a drafting template to help you prepare your application offline before officially submitting, as well as a budget template for applicants to use and attach with their applications.

Submit your application

Applications for the 2025 ALA Australian Biodiversity Data Mobilisation Program – Citizen Science Stream are now open! Applications will close at COB 9 May 2025, AEST.

Apply now

Past funded projects:

2024:

  • Australian Wildlife Conservancy (AWC) – contributing over 260,000 records from remote and historically under-surveyed regions such as the Kimberley and Cape York, focusing on threatened species and restricted-range endemics.
  • Museums Victoria – digitising a significant Click Beetle collection, adding approximately 6,000 records and 99 new species to the ALA.
  • Royal Botanical Gardens Victoria – mobilising data from approximately 1800 Australian macrofungi specimens, including a selection of field images.
  • University of Melbourne – digitising non-vascular bryophyte and liverwort specimens collected over the last 20 years, contributing contemporary taxon distribution and habitat occupancy data for under-represented taxa in the ALA.
  • West Australian Museum – contributing a significant collection of 3,500–4,000 trapdoor spiders, alongside extensive field notes to enhance understanding of these species.

2023:

  • National Herbarium of Victoria, Royal Botanic Gardens of Victoria – mobilising more than 5,000 specimen-based occurrence data records from Australian macroalgae.
  • Western Australian Museum with Kit Prendergast – mobilising thousands of native bee data records from physical specimens collected southwestern WA, representing more than 200 bee species.
  • Botanic Gardens and State Herbarium, South Australia – making >30,000 bryophyte and >6,000 lichen records available to the ALA through digitisation of physical collection labels.
  • D’Estrees Entomology and Science Services – delivery of 7,000 -10,000 insect occurrence records from Kangaroo Island, focused on underrepresented taxa.
  • Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery – mobilising more than 15,000 invertebrate species records representing Tasmanian spiders, echinoderms, cnidarians and annelids.
  • Biosecurity Queensland, Department of Primary Industries – delivering validated specimen-based records for Australian collected true fruit flies.

2022:

  • New South Wales Department of Primary Industries – mobilising plant pest and disease data from the NSW Biosecurity Collections (~600,000 records).
  • South Australia Museum – mobilising the Sout Australia Museum’s Australian Biological Tissues Collection of 39 donated frozen tissue collections of Australian freshwater fishes (around 90% of all known species and ~46,000 records).
  • Queensland Museum Network – mobilising and enhancing data from the Cribb Australian Fish Trematode Collection (>20,000 records of >1,000 fish species).
  • Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery – mobilising wildlife molecular and tissue data (> 8,500 sample vials and 1,650 formalin-fixed specimens in the histology collection).
  • Edith Cowan University – mobilising plant and fungi data from the Robert Brown Herbarium.
  • Botanic Gardens and Parks Authority – mobilising data in the Kings Park and Botanic Garden Herbarium collection (18,200 specimens).