Zaffar Sadiq Mohamed Ghouse

Prof. Dr Zaffar Sadiq Mohamed-Ghouse is an engineer and scientist, recognised as a global leader in the Spatial and Space sector. Zaffar is currently the Vice President and Director – Advisory & Innovation, Woolpert Australia Pty Ltd, Melbourne. He was the former Executive Director, Strategic Consulting & International Relations, at Spatial Vision, Melbourne, Australia; former Director, Business, Research & International Relations, with Australia’s peak research body, FrontierSI (Formerly Cooperative Research Centre for Spatial Information), under the Department of Industry, Science and Innovation, Australian Government. Zaffar was a Senior Principal Consultant at GHD Pty Ltd, a leading global Engineering and Science delivery firm. Before GHD, Zaffar led Spatial Database Practice globally at Sinclair Knight Merz (Now Jacobs Engineering) and oversaw the Government and Environment business portfolio. Zaffar served as a Senior Project Associate at the Institute of Remote Sensing, Anna University, India, a nodal agency for the Department of Space, Government of India, and the State custodian of Spatial Data.

Zaffar has been an Australian representative on the ISO Technical Committee 211, Geographic Information and Geomatics, since 2010 and was recognised for his 15-year contribution to ISO TC 211 Standards for Geospatial and Geomatics by Standards Australia. Zaffar is currently the Chair of the Board of the United Nations Global Geospatial Information Management – Geospatial Societies. He is also the Vice Chair of the Board of Directors of the Open Geospatial Consortium. He was elected as a Program Board Member of the Group on Earth Observation (an Intergovernmental Body under the World Meteorological Organisation). He was formerly the Executive Board Member of the World Geospatial Industry Council (WGIC), and Chairs the WGIC Policy Committee and the United Nations and Related Entities. He served on the steering committee of the global Location Privacy policy, AI/ML policy and Spatial Digital Twin policy WGIC reports. He has been appointed as Honorary Senior Adviser to the Australian Government initiative, SmartSatCRC (Cooperative Research Centre). He served on the Program Board of Geospatial Knowledge Infrastructure, a United Nations Statistics Division global initiative. Zaffar is actively engaged with the United Nations Global Geospatial Information Management (UNGGIM) – Private Sector Network as Former Chair and actively participated in the UNGGIM Integrated Geospatial Information Framework (IGIF) consultation from the Private Sector and Geospatial Societies' perspective. Zaffar serves on the Geospatial Knowledge Lab Steering Committee at RMIT and on the Industry Advisory Committee of the Australian Urban Infrastructure Network at the University of Melbourne. Zaffar has completed the World Bank Group (OLC) course on Strengthening Geospatial Information Management: Using the Integrated Geospatial Information Framework.

At the International Federation of Surveyors (FIG), Zaffar is the Australian representative for Commission 3, Spatial Information.  In Australia, Zaffar has served the peak professional national body for surveying and geospatial, the SSSI (Geospatial Council of Australia), for 10 years as Board Director, President, and Chair of the Board, and is also a member of the steering committee for the Australian Spatial and Space 2030 Roadmap.  He is also the Chair of Space and Spatial, a National Interest group for the Australia India Chamber of Commerce. He regularly delivers keynote addresses at major geospatial events globally. Zaffar actively mentors young geospatial and mid-level professionals in Australia and overseas. He has developed several Young Leaders in Oceania through his active mentoring. He is also an active advocate of Diversity and Inclusion in the Geospatial Community. He has been mentoring two PhD Candidates from UNSW through the ATSE Mentoring Programme. He is also an Industry Supervisor for a PhD Candidate at the University of Melbourne, under the RIIS programme. 

He has expertise in strategic consulting studies, policy development, research management, client management, business development, project management, design, development and management of spatial data infrastructure, software engineering, review of data framework policies, develop spatial analyses techniques and technology, including GIS applications development for major clients in Australia, New Zealand, Malaysia, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Indonesia and India. He has led several Multi-Million Dollar National Mapping projects for State and Federal governments in Australia, Malaysia, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and India. 

Zaffar has published books and research papers at the International and National levels, focusing on GIS applications to support such areas as water resources using remote sensing, spatial data infrastructure, ethics, capacity building, data quality, groundwater management, rural administration, asset management, utilities (electrical and water), field data capture, public health management and disaster management. He holds academic appointments at RMIT University and the University of Melbourne in Australia, and at Anna University, Chennai, and the National Institute of Advanced Studies, Bangalore, in India.

Zaffar is a recipient of: National Geospatial Professional Fellow (Overseas Citizen of India) 2025, IIT Bombay, India for International Leadership;  The ISDE Service Award 2025, conferred by the International Society for Digital Earth for International Leadership and promoting digital earth; Peter Woodgate, Special Award 2025 for leadership, mentoring and innovation; the Club Melbourne Ambassador Award, 2024 by Victorian Convention Bureau; "Thornton-Smith Medal" awarded by the Department of Infrastructure Engineering, University of Melbourne, Australia, for significant contribution to the surveying and spatial industry; "Professional of the Year 2022" APSEA- Oceania and APSEA-Victoria Recipient; Young Professional Award APSEA-Victoria, conferred by Geospatial Council of Australia formerly SSSI in 2011; He is also a recipient of the Australian Cooperative Research Centre for Spatial Information’s full Doctorate Scholarship. 

Affiliations

Honorary Fellow, Geospatial Council of Australia, Australia

Fellow, Royal Geographical Society, United Kingdom

Fellow, Institute of Engineers, Australia

Life Member, Indian National Cartographic Association, India

Life Member, Indian Society of Geomatics, India

Life Member, International Society of Digital Earth

IEEE Senior Member, IEEE Geosciences Remote Sensing Society & Computer Science, USA - Member No 41493507 (Member Since 2002)

Member, Australian Institute of Company Directors, Australia