Dear ISCA members:

Welcome to the next installment of the ISCApad for Aug. 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 next month on Sept. 15-19, 2019, in Graz, AUSTRIA, with the theme being: Crossroads of Speech and Language.The Technical Program has been finalized with all paper decisions made. Please note that to ensure your paper is included in the program, you must complete your registration for the conference to cover your paper. I would again like to express our sincere thanks to the +1300 reviewers who participated in ensuring the highest quality technical program for this Interspeech-2019.

WELCOME new MEMBERS! I take this opportunity to welcome all the new ISCA members who have joined in response to Interspeech registration! ISCA is a non-profit organization dedicated to supporting and advancing the field of speech communications world-wide, and we welcome all our new members who have recently joined and will be participating in INTERSPEECH-2019!

INTERSPEECH-2019 Events/Highlights:

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

• INTERSPEECH-2019 Registration: the standard registration period/rate for Interspeech-2019 deadline is Aug. 15, so please be aware of this (late registration is after Aug. 16).

• SPONSORSHIP & Exhibition Opportunities: there is still time and opportunities for sponsorship of Interspeech-2019. Since ISCA is a non-profit organization, we strive to provide support for our community in a cost-effective way. Many of the sponsorship opportunities directly help students and young researchers who may not have an opportunity to attend, receive a travel fellowship – and see the latest breakthroughs in science and technology for speech communications. Please if your organization has the resources, I encourage you to consider even a modest sponsorship!

• Tutorial Program with 8 highly respected individuals/teams covering a range of topics – consider one or more of these when you register.

• Survey Talks: this Interspeech, mini survey talks will be given that are integrated into the technical program. These are expected to encourage our ISCA members to expand their “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 – so explore these in addition to our main event.

• SAC – Student Advisory Committee: a number of events are being organized by ISCA SAC to support student development including a mentoring program and Doctorial consortium (an excellent chance to get feedback on your research progress activities!).

• Young-Women-in-Speech event: this event is being organized to further advance diversity in both ISCA membership and activities for our society.

We encourage all students and young researchers attending to participate in these events!

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 originated on the speaking machine.

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 has recently developed 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