Allison Hortle is currently acting as Deputy Director and Science Director for the Energy Business Unit. The Energy BU consists of in excess of 280 research staff, students and fellows. The Energy BU encompasses research across the entire energy value chain. This includes electrification and industrial decarbonisation and transport.

In her substantive role, Allison is a Senior Researcher with CSIRO Energy and the Research Group Leader for the Environment, Storage and Gas Group in the Energy Resources Program. As a petroleum hydrogeologist, Allison's research has been in understanding and prediction the hydrodynamic impacts of large scale CO2 injection, storage, monitoring and verification.

Allison began research into CO2 storage with the GeoDISC program in 1999. Her research is focused on the relationship between CO2 storage reservoirs, hydrodynamic aquifers and groundwater. Allison’s recent research has been focused on the need to couple large scale CO2 injection to local and regional hydrogeology, including an assessment of far-field effects and adjacent aquifer units. In conjunction with this is the need to develop cost-effective techniques for long-term, scientifically valid monitoring strategies.