Conference Coordination

Conference Coordination Committee (CoCC)

 in Conference Coordination

Conferences are among the most important activities in Region 8 because of the important opportunities that they provide, especially for networking in Europe, Africa, and Middle-East. Additionally, an important intellectual property is generated through the Region 8 conferences and published in IEEE Xplore.

 

IEEE Region 8 Conference Coordination Committee (CoCC) has been running since more than 20 years ago. The CoCC aims to facilitate the planning, development, implementation, coordination, and to monitor and to provide oversight for Region 8 conferences, conventions and technical events sponsored or cosponsored by Region 8, and liaise with and advise Societies and Technical Councils planning conferences in Region 8.

 

For further details about the IEEE R8 Conference Coordination Committee, please have a look into:

  • IEEE R8 CoCC Operations Manual <link>
  • IEEE Technical Activities organizational chart <link>

 

If you have any questions related to our conferences or would like to know more how to be involved in our activities, please feel free to contact us at [email protected].

 

2025 Team:

 

Rene Garello

(France)

Chair

Tiziana Tambosso

(Italy)

Past Chair

Ibrahim Kucukdemiral

(UK & Ireland)

Member

Ilhem Kallel

(Tunisia)

Member 

Tulay Yildirim

(Turkey)

Corresponding Member

Albert Lysko

(South Africa)

Corresponding Member

Filippo SanFilippo

(Norway)

Corresponding Member

Ahmed Hassan

(Egypt)

Corresponding Member

Abdelhamid Iratni

(Algeria CM3)

Corresponding Member

François Rivet

(France)

Corresponding Member

Katerina Papanikolaou

(Cyprus)

Corresponding Member

Nadezhda Kunicina

(Latvia)

Corresponding Member, Special Appointment for Cross-Sectional Events

Sergio Rapuano

(Italy)

Corresponding Member and Liaison with IEEE Society/Technical Councils and National Activities

Toni Mattila

(Finland)

Liaison Member with Action for Industry Committee

Pascal Lorentz

(France)

Liaison Member with Finance Committee

Rodolfo Oliviera

(Portugal)

Liaison Member with Climate Change Committee

2025 Members – ex officio (Members of the IEEE Conferences Committee (ICC)):

  • Maciej Ogorzalek (Poland)
  • Shmuel Auster (Israel)
  • Dominique Schreurs (Belgium)
  • Shashank Gaur (Portugal)
  • Ana Perez-Neira (Spain)

Section Conference Coordinators:

The IEEE Region 8 Conference Coordination Committee is working closely with the section conference coordinators in order to provide the best service to the community. Click <here> to contact your section conference coordinator and start planning your conference.

 

Training Workshops for Conference Organizers & Coordinators

  • March 16, 2021: Conference coordination meeting, as part of the 116th IEEE Region 8 Meeting Series. <slides>
  • May 20, 2021: R8 Conference Leadership Workshop, online
  • July 15, 2021: R8 Conference Organizers Workshop, online
  • June 13, 2022: R8 Conference Leadership Workshop, Palermo, Italy
  • November 3, 2022: R8 Conference Organizers Workshop
  • March 24, 2023, R8 Workshop on Conference organization and sponsorship, Bucharest, Romania <agenda>
  • July 5, 2023, R8 Workshop on Conference organization and sponsorship, Torino, Italy <agenda>
  • December 5, 2023: R8 Workshop on Conference organization and sponsorship <agenda>
  • March 1, 2024: R8 Workshop on IEEE Conference Impact and Development, Vienna, Austria <program and slides>
  • June25, 2024: R8 Workshop on Conference organization and sponsorship, in conjunction with R8 MELECON, Porto, Portugal <program and slides>
  • November 13, 2024: R8 Workshop on IEEE conference impact and development  (online) < program and slides >

 

COVID-19 circumstances

As the situation is dynamic and the affected areas continue to shift, many conference organizers, professional team members, and participants may have questions. The health and safety of our conference participants and the IEEE team is our top priority; therefore, significant expertise and support is being provided to our communities via the following <link>.

 

Best Practices for Virtual Events Course:

 

 

 

IEEE Region 8 Flagship and Portfolio Conferences

Region 8 hosts the following flagship conferences:

  • MELECON: biannual (even years), held in one of the Mediterranean Sections
  • ENERGYCON: biannual (even years), about energy topics, held anywhere in R8
  • EUROCON: biannual (odd years), held in a European Section
  • AFRICON: biannual (odd years), held in an African Section

Region 8 hosts the following portfolio conferences:

  • HISTELCON: biennial (odd years), about history of electrical technologies, held anywhere in R8
  • RTSI: annual, Research and Technologies for Society and Industry Innovation, held anywhere in R8
  • IHTC: annual, Humanitarian Technologies Conference, held in R8, then in R7, then in R9

Interested to organize one of the IEEE Region 8 flagship or portfolio conference? click <here> for further details.

 

 

 

IEEE Region 8 Sponsored Conferences

Upcoming R8 Flagship and Portfolio Conferences:

  • November 27-30, 2024, 6th IEEE IHTC, Bari, Italy
  • June 4-6, 2025, 21st IEEE R8 EUROCON, Gdynia, Poland
  • August 24-26, 2025, 9th IEEE R8 RTSI, Gammarth, Tunisia
  • September 30 – October 2, 2025, 9th IEEE R8 HISTELCON, Bonn, Germany
  • December 10-12, 2025, 17th IEEE R8 AFRICON, Polokwane, South Africa
  • February 2-4, 2026, 23rd R8 MELECON, New Cairo, Egypt
  • August 13-15, 2025, 8th IEEE IHTC, Edmonton, Canada
  • August 19-21, 2026, 10th R8 RTSI, Espoo, Finland
  • October 27-29, 2026, 9th R8 ENERGYCON, Paris, France

 

Upcoming R8 Financially Co-sponsored Conferences

 

Upcoming R8 Technically Co-sponsored Conferences

 

Archive: List of previous R8 TCS/FCS Conferences <link>

How to apply for IEEE Region 8 Sponsorship

If you would like to apply for the sponsorship of a technical event that you are planning, please refer to the descriptions of our sponsorships. IEEE Region 8 annually supports an appreciable number of conferences, especially located in Europe, Africa, and Middle-East.

 

Please note that using the IEEE Region 8 logo or announcing an IEEE R8 sponsorship of a technical event before applying for sponsorship and obtaining approval from the IEEE R8 Vice-Chair, Technical Activities is strictly forbidden.

 

There exist two main types of sponsorship of conferences:

1. Financial sponsorship or co-sponsorship

In this case, the IEEE R8 is involved in technical, financial, publicity and administrative aspects of the conference. Two cases are possible:

  • Sole Sponsorship: indicates full and sole R8 involvement in the conference. The R8 accepts complete responsibility for the technical, financial, publicity and administrative aspects of the conference.
  • Co-Sponsorship: indicates a shared involvement (in the technical, financial, publicity and administrative areas of the conference) between the R8 and other entities. These entities are other IEEE Organizational Unit(s) and other “Not-for-Profit” non-IEEE organizations.

2. Technical Co-Sponsorship

In this case, the IEEE R8 is involved solely in the organization of the technical program of the conferences. The R8 has no financial involvement in the conference. Technical co-sponsorship may or may not include proceedings acquisition for IEEE Xplore.

Important Notes:

  • The relationship between sponsoring organizations must be explicitly defined in the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU), signed following the submission of the IEEE conference application <link>.

  • Conference applications must be submitted before 12 months. Applications received after these deadlines most likely will not be approved.
  • Incomplete applications will be returned without processing.
  • Any revisions to a previously approved budget, deadline extension, program, etc., must be submitted to the conference coordination committee for re-approval.
  • Read more details about Requirements and benefits for IEEE Region 8 Sponsorship <link>.
  • If it will be your first request of IEEE R8 sponsorship, we recommend to contact us at [email protected] before the submission of your conference application.

 

 

IEEE Meeting & Conference Management (MCE)

IEEE conference services are provided for IEEE sponsored conferences (by IEEE R8 and/or other IEEE units). Numerous services includes:

  • Overall guidance
  • Organiser/OU education and training
  • Identifying and facilitating sponsorship
  • Finance, budgeting, insurance, contract review and approval
  • Banking and credit card processing
  • Memorandums of Understanding (MOUs)
  • Publication of your proceedings
  • Webpage design
  • Marketing your conference
  • Site location, event management, meeting logistics
  • Contract negotiations, food & beverage planning, supplier management

Further details are available in:

 

Useful Links

CoCC Posters:

Region 8 Athens meeting (March 2018):

 

 

 

Region 8 Malta meeting (March 2019):

  • Information about conference organization is available here as PDF.

 

Former CoCC teams:

  • 2024: Tiziana Tambosso (Italy, chair) Habib M. Kammoun (Tunisia, past-chair), Abdellah Kouzou (Algeria), Shaun Kaplan (Germany), Robert Bierwolf (Benelux), Nadezda Kunicina (Latvia), Sergio Rapuano (Italy), Katerina Papanikolaou (Cyprus), Aleksandar Mastilovic (Serbia), Pascal Lorentz (France), Paul M. Cunningham (UK & Ireland)
  • 2023: Tiziana Tambosso (Italy, chair) Habib M. Kammoun (Tunisia, past-chair), Abdellah Kouzou (Algeria), Shaun Kaplan (Germany), Robert Bierwolf (Benelux), Nadezda Kunicina (Latvia), Sergio Rapuano (Italy), Fatma Taher (UAE), Ana Madureira (Portugal), Pascal Lorentz (France)
  • 2021/2022: Habib M. Kammoun (Tunisia, chair), Ljupco Karadzinov (North Macedonia, past chair), Robert Bierwolf (Beneleux), Tiziana Tambosso (Italy), Nadezda Kunicina (Latvia), Eric Kuada (Ghana), Ridha Hamila (Qatar), Albert Lysko (South Africa), Marios Antoniou (Cyprus), Margaretha Eriksson (Sweden)
  • 2019/2020: Ljupco Karadzinov (North Macedonia, chair), Peter Nagy (Hungary, past chair), Tomislav Capuder (Croatia), Robert Bierwolf (Beneleux), Khaled Mokhtar (UAE), Vikass Monebhurrun (France), Boris Dumnic (Serbia)
  • 2017/2018: Peter Nagy (Hungary, chair), Adel Alimi (Tunisia), Tomislav Capuder (Croatia), Shaun Kaplan (South Africa)
  • 2015/2016: Adel Alimi (Tunisia, chair), Jan Haase (Germany, past chair), Peter Nagy (Hungary)
  • 2013/2014: Jan Haase (Austria, chair), Dirk van Hertem (Benelux), Stefano Zanero (Italy)
  • 2011/2012: Carl Debono (Malta, chair), Karl Gudmundsson (Iceland), Jan Haase (Austria)
  • 2009/2010: Marian Kazmierkovski (Poland, chair), Gerhard Hancke (South Africa), Gerard-André Capolino (France), Baldomir Zajc (Slovenia)
  • 2007/2008: Francisco Sandoval (Spain, chair), Gerhard Hancke (South Africa), Marian Kazmierkovski (Poland), Gerard-André Capolino (France), Peter Farkas (Czechoslovakia, past chair)
  • 2005/2006: Peter Farkas (Czechoslovakia, chair)
  • 2003/2004: Magdalena Salazar Palma (Spain, chair)
  • 2001/2002: Tariq Durrani (UKRI, chair)
  • 1999/2000: Baldomir Zajc (Slovenia, chair)