Communications Society Chapter Information 
Welcome
Welcome to the Victorian Chapter of the IEEE Communications Society. The Society is a diverse community of industry and academic professionals with a common interest in advancing communications technologies. Through publications, conferences, educational programs, local activities, and technical committees, the Society aims to:
- foster original work in all aspects of communications science, engineering, and technology
- encourage the development of applications that use signals to transfer voice, data, image, and/or video information between locations
- promote the theory and use of systems involving all types of terminals, computers, and information processors; all pertinent systems and operations that facilitate transfer; all transmission media; switched and unswitched networks; and network layouts, protocols, architectures, and implementations
- strongly advance developments toward meeting new market demands in systems, products, and technologies such as personal communications services, multimedia communications systems, enterprise networks, and optical communications systems.
Local Chapter
The Victorian Chapter consists of all IEEE Communications Society members who live in Victoria or Tasmania, Australia.
The main activities organised by the Chapter are talks, seminars, workshops, site visits and conferences. These events allow us to further our knowledge in the field as well as provide an opportunity to share ideas and network with our colleagues. Presentations of general interest to those working in or interested in communications are given by local or visiting experts.
Chapter Committee
The local Chapter Committee is a purely volunteer effort and currently consists of:
- Craig Skinner – Chair
Craig is a Senior Consultant with Ovum Consulting specialising in telecommunications regulatory policy and mobile strategy development. He has over ten years experience of providing strategic advice within the telecommunications industry across Asia Pacific and the Middle East. Craig has been an active IEEE volunteer in various roles during most of his career. He has recently worked on projects including: spectrum policy review, fixed-mobile convergence regulatory review, broadband fibre network business case, rural broadband access technology options and mobile network cost modelling. - Philip Bickerdike – Vice Chair
Philip is an Emerging Technology Specialist at Telstra's Chief Technology Office, focusing on future telecommunications applications and services. Previously Philip was employed as a Research Specialist at Telstra's Research Laboratories where he worked with wireless network technologies in the areas of mobile commerce applications, performance enhancing proxies, network dimensioning, Quality of Service mechanisms and TCP performance optimisation. - Paul Fitzpatrick – Secretary
Paul has over 25 years experience in the Australian telecommunication industry spanning positions in network design, operations and maintenance (terrestrial radio and mobile systems), research and academia. He has published over 20 conference and journal papers and his research interests are in the teletraffic modelling, quality of service and performance analysis of future wireless networks. He is currently with Telstra's Chief Technology Office.
The Committee is always keen to hear from members concerning possible speakers on topics of interest to the Chapter members.
For those with leadership ability and skills, the Chapter Committee provides opportunities to practice, build, demonstrate, and develop their skills. Please contact any of the current Committee members if you would like to get involved in any capacity.
Membership benefits
Membership of the IEEE Communications Society provides a range of benefits including:
- Access to the world’s leading communications magazines and journal publications
- Discounted access to leading communications conferences such as Globecom, Infocom, WCNC, ICC and a large range of medium and smaller sized conferences
- Involvement in technical committees to define and implement the technical directions of the Society
- Eligibility for awards and peer recognition
- Eligibility for student travel grants of US$1,000 for presenting at selected Society conferences outside the Asia Pacific region.