Science and Engineering Advisory Committee (SEAC)
The Science and Engineering Advisory Committee (SEAC) is a key independent advisory body to the SKAO Council and the SKAO Director-General, established in accordance with Article 8(13) of the SKAO Convention (the governance framework). It has up to 21 science and engineering experts (May 2023) from the SKAO’s member countries and beyond. SEAC members are highly regarded specialists in topics of relevance to the SKAO and appointed for three years.
SEAC including site visit in Australia, September 2024
Membership
Members are appointed by the Council and include:
- a representative for each SKAO Member - appointed as independent experts who do not represent the Member’s interests
- up to seven representatives-at-large, proposed to the Council by the Director-General to provide specialist expertise, and who may be from countries beyond the Observatory’s membership
- representatives from countries with Observer status at the SKAO Council
The Committee’s advice is based on the consensus view of the Committee. A Science and Engineering Advisory Committee also existed under the Observatory’s forerunner, the SKA Organisation.
The membership of the SEAC is (April 2024):
| Representative | Affiliation | Country (SKAO Member) |
| Prof. Naomi McClure-Griffiths (Chair) | Australian National University | Australia |
| Prof. Kristine Spekkens (Vice-Chair) | Queen's University in Canada | Canada |
| Prof. Di Li | Five hundred meter Aperture Spherical Telescope | China |
| Dr Gundolf Wieching | Max Planck Institute for Radio Astronomy | Germany |
| Prof. Uday Shankar | Raman Research Institute | India |
| Dr Gianfranco Brunetti | Istituto di Radioastronomia, Bologna | Italy |
| Dr Wim van Cappellen | ASTRON | The Netherlands |
| Ms Marta Gonçalves | Portuguese Space Agency | Portugal |
| Mr Tyrone van Balla | SARAO | South Africa |
| Dr Antxon Alberdi | Instituto de Astrofísica de Andalucía | Spain |
| Prof. André Csillaghy | University of Applied Sciences and Arts | Switzerland |
| Dr Laura Wolz | University of Manchester | United Kingdom |
| Representative | Affiliation | At-large members |
| Mr Brian Glendenning | NRAO (USA) | |
| Dr Dale Frail | NRAO (USA) | |
| Prof. Simon Garrington | University of Manchester | |
| Dr Adrian Russell | European Southern Observatory | |
| Dr Gillian Wright | UKATC (UK) | |
| Dr Liz Humphreys | European Southern Observatory |
Observers
| Representative | Affiliation | Country (Observer/ Future Member) |
| Dr Cherry Ng-Guiheneuf | CNRS | France (SKAO future Member) |
| Prof. Garrelt Mellema | Stockholm University | Sweden (SKAO Observer) |
Rules and Regulations
The Science and Engineering Committee must follow the SEAC Remit and Rules of Procedure: which explain the actions which the SEAC can take, and state the composition of the SEAC, rules relating to conduct and attendance, and how meetings work e.g. voting.
Last modified on 20 February 2025