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 18 science and engineering experts (April 2022) from the SKAO’s member countries and beyond; and a further observer to be appointed. SEAC members are highly regarded specialists in topics of relevance to the SKAO and appointed for three years.

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 five 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 2022):

Representative	Affiliation	Country (SKAO Member)
Prof. Naomi McClure-Griffiths (Chair)	Australian National University	Australia
Dr Zheng Qian	Shanghai Observatory	China
Dr Wim van Cappellen	ASTRON	The Netherlands
TBC	TBC	Portugal
Mr Francois Kapp	SARAO	South Africa
Prof. André Csillaghy	University of Applied Sciences and Arts	Switzerland
Prof. Carole Mundell	University of Bath/FCDO	United Kingdom
Dr Gianfranco Brunetti	Istituto di Radioastronomia, Bologna	Italy

Representative	Affiliation	At-large members
Mr Brian Glendenning (Vice-Chair)	NRAO (USA)
Dr Dale Frail	NRAO (USA)
Dr Andreas Kaufer	European Southern Observatory
Dr Adrian Russell	European Southern Observatory
Dr Gillian Wright	UKATC (UK)

Observers

Representative	Affiliation	Country (Observer/ Future Member)
Prof. Kristine Spekkens	Royal Military College of Canada	Canada (SKAO Observer)
TBC	TBC	France (SKAO future Member)
Dr Gundolf Wieching	Max Planck Institute for Radio Astronomy	Germany (SKAO future Member)
Prof. Uday Shankar	Raman Research Institute	India (SKAO Observer)
Dr Antxon Alberdi	Instituto de Astrofísica de Andalucía	Spain (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 31 January 2023