Australian & New Zealand International Scientific Drilling Consortium
ANZIC is the Australian and New Zealand International Scientific Drilling Consortium, part of several international research collaborations harnessing state-of-the-art scientific drilling to explore the Earth.
We connect leading research institutions and government organisations across Australia and New Zealand to international scientific ocean drilling infrastructure.
The International Ocean Discovery Program (IODP) allows scientists access to some of Earth’s most challenging environments, collecting data and samples of sediment, rock, fluids, and living organisms from below the seafloor.
The International Continental Drilling Program (ICDP) enables scientific drilling and coring across continents, lakes, and oceanic islands to investigate geodynamic processes, geohazards, georesources, and environmental change.
ANZIC facilitates involvement in IODP and ICDP science for Australian and New Zealand scientists and educators from across a wide range of fields, offering career-defining opportunities to boost their research, skills, and international networks.
In Australia, ANZIC is enabled by AuScope, within the Australian Government’s National Collaborative Research Infrastructure Strategy (NCRIS), and the Australian Research Council. In New Zealand, GeoDiscoveryNZ facilitates participation, funded by the NZ Ministry of Business, Innovation & Employment.
The value of IODP membership
Buried beneath the ocean floor are records of 200 million years of Earth’s climatic, biological, chemical, and geological history. For 55 years, the Scientific Ocean Drilling programs have been collecting deep sea cores that enable scientists to examine the interconnected processes that characterise the complex Earth systems.
Among the world’s longest running international scientific collaborations, it delivers a vitally important research capability and creates critical synergies with other national and international research infrastructures for the marine sciences and geosciences, generating unparalleled opportunities for cross-disciplinary research partnerships.
THE FUTURE OF IODP
With the current phase of IODP scheduled to conclude on 30 September 2024, the international scientific ocean drilling community is exploring options and opportunities for the future. Guided by the 2050 Science Framework: Exploring Earth by Scientific Ocean Drilling, we’re working alongside our IODP partners around the world to explore state-of-the-art approaches and opportunities to advance multidisciplinary subseafloor research and unlock the secrets of Earth’s past, present, and future.
ANZIC is also progressing a partnership with AuScope under the National Critical Research Infrastructure Scheme (NCRIS) and the Inter-Continental Drilling Program (ICDP) to expand access to subsurface samples – at sea and on land – to provide unprecedented access for researchers in our region at the frontier of geoscience.
