Dear Friends and Colleagues,
What is the difference between IFAC mem-
bers and affiliates? What do I have to do to be
promoted from IFAC affiliate to become a ‘full’
IFAC member? These are questions posed
regularly to me and the answer is rather simple:
IFAC is structured a bit like the United Nations.
Countries, or to be precise national control or-
ganizations representing full countries, are the
sole members of IFAC. Individuals cannot be
an official IFAC member, but they can be IFAC
affiliates. It is due to this special structure that
IFAC currently ‘only’ has 48 official members,
which, without this knowledge, must seem like
a surprisingly tiny number for IFAC.
These official members of IFAC, called Na-
tional Member Organizations (NMOs), are
scientific or professional engineering organi-
zations with strong interest in automatic con-
trol. The NMOs, spread all over the world,
are then responsible for furthering the aims
and objectives of IFAC within their respective
countries, which results in different tasks and
privileges. The NMOs are invited to propose
and organize IFAC technical meetings in the
NMO country, host the annual IFAC coun-
cil meeting and suggest candidates for each
Technical Committee. Moreover, the General
Assembly of IFAC, the supreme body of the
Federation, is composed of delegations from
the NMOs. Every three years, together with
the IFAC World Congress, a regular meeting
of the General Assembly takes place, where
important decisions are taken and the General
Assembly of IFAC empowers the IFAC Council
to decide on most business. I want to take this
opportunity to thank the NMOs for their contri-
butions and continued support of IFAC, which
are a key element of the success of IFAC and
a great benefit for the automatic control com-
munity in general.
Even though individuals cannot become IFAC
members, there are several ways how indi-
viduals can participate in IFAC. Individuals
can become IFAC affiliates, simply by signing
up on our webpage. As an IFAC affiliate you
will receive the IFAC Newsletters and you can
obtain your own IFAC e-mail alias at https://
hera.ifac-control.org/ifacmail/. You can also
become a member of a Technical Committee
(TC) in your area of interest via the nomination
either by your NMO or by the Technical Com-
mittee chair. Note that for some TCs, there is
the option of becoming a Junior Member for
young researchers and PhD students. For
more information on the TCs, you can visit the
website https://www.ifac-control.org/areas
There are of course many more options to par-
ticipate in IFAC as an individual, for example,
as an author, reviewer and editor of an IFAC
journal, by attending and presenting your work
at IFAC events and ultimately by volunteering
as an IFAC official.
Altogether, IFAC is blessed to have both, the
National Member Organizations and the indi-
vidual affiliates and volunteers that participate
in IFAC, which, together, form the pillars of
IFAC making it the globally active and widely
accepted organization that it is today.
Best wishes from Stuttgart
Frank Allgöwer
April 2018 From the IFAC President
How to get involved in IFAC?