LOS ANGELES – Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) launches the application rounds for both the NextGen and Fellowship Programs to participate in ICANN55 in Marrakech, Morocco in March 2016.

According to ICANN, this round remains open until 16 October 2015 and successful candidates will be announced on the ICANN website, 11 December 2015.

The Fellowship Program

The ICANN Fellowship program seeks participants from developing countries of the world in order to help create a broader base of knowledgeable constituents to engage in the Multistakeholder process and become the new voice of experience in their regions and beyond. Since its creation in 2007, the Fellowship Program has built a strong group of individuals who are actively participating in all of the ICANN communities as well as various Internet Governance entities within the Internet Ecosystem. Their engagement ranges from writing articles and blogs, providing online or in-person public comment in regard to bottom up policy building, engaging in Internet conferences and panel discussions, lifting a pen in working groups, mentoring newcomers, assisting our regional leaders and becoming leaders themselves.

Interested in getting to know the Fellowship Selection Committee and how the process works? Go to https://www.icann.org/resources/pages/committee-2012-02-25-en

The NextGen Program

The NextGen@ICANN program is education and awareness based experience, designed for a smaller, younger, and more region-specific group of participants. Applicants must be between the ages of 18 and 30, live in the region of the meeting, and be engaged in some level of higher education. Each selected member will deliver a 5-10 minute presentation on a topic relevant to the community. Recent presentation topics include Internet governance, DNS, and the future of the Internet.