Technical Area Committees

Objectives

The Technical Area Committees (TACs) form the backbone of EURASIP’s technical activities. The TAC members are leading scientists and technical experts in their field. The TACs support EURASIP’s technical activities to ensure highest quality and relevant development of the areas. They are instrumental in building the EURASIP community and adding value for our members.

The TACs facilitate the interaction and communication of EURASIP members in specific scientific areas, notably by:

• Sharing knowledge and visions
• Discussing trends
• Spreading information about innovations
• Creating ties and networks
• Facilitating collaboration beyond EURASIP
• Organizing meetings and events

In addition, the TACs and their members are expected to:

• EURASIP conferences
  • contribute as reviewers and technical committee members
  • propose tutorials and special sessions
• EURASIP publications
  • contribute as reviewers
  • nominate associate editors, guest editors, editor-in-chief
  • review scope of EURASIP publications
  • propose special issues
• EURASIP awards process
  • propose award nominations
  • provide reviews of award nominations
• Participate in workshop and summer school organization
• Participate at the annual meeting held during EUSIPCO
• Nominate new TAC members and participate in voting

The Director for Technical Activities will oversee the TAC activities and interact with the TAC Chairs. For specific matters, the TAC Chairs will interface with

• Director for Technical Programs for EURASIP conferences, workshops, summer schools
• Director for Publications for EURASIP publications
• Director for Awards for EURASIP awards

Establishment

TACs are established by the EURASIP Board of Directors following a proposal to the EURASIP President by at least 15 EURASIP members. The proposal should define/include

• The technical area to be addressed
• The motivation and benefit of establishing a TAC in the specific scientific area 
• Relation to existing TACs
• A list of the TAC founding members
• Proposed Chair and Vice-Chair

The EURASIP Board of Directors may accept or reject the proposal, or may also mandate changes, notably to have a balanced TAC membership with the established minimum number of members. While proposals may be submitted at any time, the establishment of new TACs will be announced at EUSIPCO.

Membership

TAC members are leading scientists and technical experts in their field. The TACs should strive for a diverse membership in terms of career stage, gender, geographic distribution, etc. TAC members are elected by the current TAC members. The term of TAC members is 3 years and can only be renewed once (see exceptions for the Chair and Vice-Chair); retiring TAC members cannot be candidates again before a resting of at least 1 year. A staggered appointment/renewal process is encouraged to ensure continuity. The TAC founding membership, as well as the founding Chair and Vice-Chair, are defined by the EURASIP Board of Directors when establishing the TAC.

To be efficient and relevant, TACs are composed of a minimum of 15 and a maximum of 25 members. Renewal of the TAC membership should be planned to respect these constraints.  

The TACs have a large number of responsibilities for EURASIP’s technical activities. There is a desire to associate highly active TAC members after their membership term has expired and draw upon their expertise and engagement in the TAC activities. For this purpose, the TACs can appoint “Associate members”. More information on the Associate membership is to be found in the “TAC Associate Members” document.

Governance

TACs shall have a Chair and a Vice-Chair who substitutes for the Chair when needed. The TAC Chair is a member of the EURASIP Technical Activities Board, chaired by the Director for Technical Activities. The Chair is expected to attend the annual Technical Activities Board meeting held during EUSIPCO. The terms of the Chair and Vice-Chair are 3 years and cannot be renewed. The Vice-Chair takes over as Chair (with a 3-year term) when the Chair leaves. Well before the term ends, the Chair and Vice-Chair solicit nominations for the next Vice-Chair among members who have served at most 3 years and conduct an election. The past Chair automatically becomes a TAC member after the end of their term as Chair for a 1-year term. Thus, the Chair can serve a total of 3+3+3+1 years in the TAC.  

TAC Membership Elections

The Chair and Vice-Chair are responsible for the annual membership elections. An annual call for nomination of new members is published in the EURASIP Newsletter. Nominators must complete the nomination form and submit to the TAC Chair. Self-nominations are allowed and all nomination require a supporting statement from a member of the corresponding TAC. The Chair and Vice-Chair should solicit the interest of members willing to serve a second term, these members do not require a nomination. The Chair and Vice-Chair determine the number of available memberships before the election takes place. They report the outcome to the TAC, nominators, and Director of Technical Activities.

Meetings

The TAC Chair will organize meetings, which can be online or face-to-face. TACs are expected to meet at EUSIPCO under the logistic constraints allowed by the conference organizers. TAC members are expected to participate in person at the yearly EUSIPCO TAC meeting at least every other year.

Reporting

Every year before the end of March, the TAC should submit to the EURASIP Board of Directors a report of the previous year’s activities, events and achievements.

Review

To assure that TACs remain relevant and useful, they will be reviewed regularly. Additional reviews may be defined at the discretion of the EURASIP Board of Directors. The review will be conducted by a review committee created under the auspices of the EURASIP Board of Directors with at least three EURASIP members; non-EURASIP members may be invited to serve on this committee if considered appropriate. Following a negative review, the EURASIP Board of Directors may take actions to improve the situation or close the TAC.  

TAC Website

The TACs are displayed on the EURASIP website, notably the TAC areas, membership, terms, and former members.

TAC Calendar

Click here to download an Annual Calendar of Activities.