Gemma Van Halderen is a member of the Australian Bureau of Statistics leadership team with responsibilities for population, labour and location insights and statistics. She has been a member of the official statistics profession for thirty years in the Australian Bureau of Statistics and three years as Director of the Statistics Division of the UN Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific. In 2017, Gemma was seconded to the Australian Government’s Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet to lead preparation of a Government response to a Productivity Commission Inquiry into Data Availability and Use which recommended the creation of a National Data Commissioner and new data sharing legislation.

Gemma has extensive global experience. She was inaugural co-chair of a UN Expert Group on the Integration of Statistical and Geospatial Information, is an elected member of the International Statistics Institute, the regional editor of the Statistical Journal of the IAOS and an advocate for young statisticians. Gemma holds a Bachelor of Science with Honours from the Australian National University. Her interests include big data, data stewardship, statistical-geospatial integration and data integration.

Gemma is the IAOS’ focal point for the Young Statistician Prize. She has held this role since 2013.