Dietrich Schüller, retired director of and now consultant to the Vienna Phonogrammarchiv, has been with IASA since 1972. Starting out as cultural anthropologist – his PhD is in African History – he became increasingly involved in technical matters related to audiovisual archiving. He was IASA Board Member from 1975 – 1987, and founded the IASA Technical Committee in 1975. Around 1990, he was amongst the early advocates for the shift the audiovisual preservation paradigm to digital content migration.

He has worked in various positions for UNESCO, presently serving as a member of the International Advisory Committee for the Memory of the World Programme. A member of the Audio Engineering Society, he is author of numerous publications on audiovisual preservation, editor of IASA-TC 03 and co-editor of IASA-TC 05. He has worked as a consultant to a number of audiovisual archives world-wide, and as an organiser of workshops and tutorials. A Honorary Member of IASA, he recently received Life Time Achievements Awards from FIAT and ARSC.