Dear ISCA members:

Welcome to the next installment of the ISCApad for June 2019!  This edition has a number of updates from the community including upcoming meetings, job openings, theses, and announcements.

Interspeech-2019: [http://www.interspeech2019.org/] will take place September 15-19, 2019, in Graz, AUSTRIA, with the theme being: Crossroads of Speech and Language.The Technical Program Meeting (TPC) have taken place (June 6-7, 2019 in Graz, Austria) and paper decisions will be communicated this morning. More than 2100 initial papers were entered with 1829 papers going out for reviews. ISCA thanks all those who participated in the Interspeech-2019 review process (your service is GREATLY appreciated!).

INTERSPEECH-2019 Events/Highlights:

I would also like to point out some additional items taking place at Interspeech-2019…

• Tutorials (link): the organizing committee has put together a strong and comprehensive Tutorial Program with 8 highly respected individuals/teams covering a range of topics.

• Survey Talks: this Interspeech, mini survey talks will be given that are integrated into the technical program. This is expected to encourage our ISCA members to expand your “comfort” space and go to areas outside of your main specialization!

• Satellite Events (link): there are eight satellite events/workshops which are taking place in conjunction with INTERSPEECH-2019.

Again, this is the first time Interspeech will be held in Austria, and it promises to be a great opportunity to experience speech and language processing in a country where one of the first major published works on speech by Wolfgang von Kempelen on the first speaking machine. There continue to be opportunities for industry sponsorship, and I encourage companies to consider providing even modest support, since this allows for the organizers to provide expanded opportunities for attendees, particularly for students and young researchers exploring job prospects!

ISCA Elections: The ISCA Board is represented by 14 volunteers who are elected by the worldwide ISCA Membership. Members are elected for a four year term, with elections taking place every two years for approximately half of the members. This year, ISCA held their election with an open call for nominations, and formal online election process. The ISCA Board election process is now completed, and I am happy to report that the six following candidates have been elected (three new members, and three returning members), and will assume their responsibilities after the ISCA General Assembly at INTERSPEECH-2019.

          Sebastian Moller                   Nobuaki Minematsu                   Margaret Zellers

         Torbjorn Svendsen                 Jianhua Tao                    John H.L. Hansen

We will also be recognizing the tremendous service of those ISCA Board members who will be

completing their service this fall at INTERSPEECH-2019.

Supporting Diversity in Speech Communication:

ISCA has launched a new area on the ISCA website to support diversity in speech communication. This is intended to offer opportunities for organizers of workshops and conferences to help expand diversity representation in terms of geographic, gender, and topic/specialization. Please visit the ISCA website to learn more! https://www.isca-speech.org/iscaweb/

ISCA Commitment to our Membership:

ISCA is committed to promoting a safe, supportive, and professional experience for all peoples to work and contribute to advancing the field of speech communications. To this end, the ISCA Board is currently developing and expanding several documents to articulate our support:

(1) Code-of-Ethics for Authors (e.g., addressing data issues, (self-)plagiarism, copyright, human right issues), as well as .

(2) Code-of-Conduct for Conference Attendees (e.g., addressing harassment and discrimination based on on gender, race, religion, etc.)

If you have any suggestions, please contact us.

As always, we welcome feedback and input from the ISCA community – if you have suggestions for our society or want to be involved, please let us know!

We look forward to your participation in ISCA and Interspeech-2019!

John H.L. Hansen, ISCA President