ICANN Fellowship Program

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The ICANN Fellowship Program (which produces the ICANN Fellows) provides limited financial grants to eligible individuals to attend a given ICANN meeting to actively contribute to ICANN processes, the Multistakeholder Model and to become part of the future leaders of the Internet governing body. The grant covers the economy class airfare, hotel accommodation, and a stipend needed to attend an ICANN conference. An effort is made to include more fellows from the region a given meeting is being held in. A full list of participants can be found over at ICANN's official ICANN Fellowship Participants.

Background

Theresa Swinehart, ICANN Counsel for International Affairs, proposed the implementation of the ICANN Fellowship Program during the Special Meeting of the ICANN Board on April 25, 2007. Swinehart informed the Board that the fellowship program had been under development from the ICANN Operational Plan Project 4F for a significant period of time and it is ready to invite applications for participants in the next ICANN Meeting, which was to be held in San Juan, Puerto Rico. The ICANN Board unanimously approved the implementation of the ICANN Fellowship Program. The first ICANN Fellowship program was composed of 33 fellows who were selected from 125 applications.

Mission

The ICANN Fellowship Program aims to achieve the following objectives:

• Strengthen the knowledge base of ICANN constituents by reaching out to less economically developed countries
• Build the capacity of existing ICANN constituency groups
• Increase the awareness of the ICANN Fellows about the latest issues affecting the Internet community worldwide
• Encourage the ICANN Fellows to become more active in their respective countries to help in the development of the Internet for the future
• Encourage the alumni of the Fellowship Program to serve as the new voice of experience in the future

Fellowship Selection Committee

The Fellowships Committee (FC) is made up of responsible individuals who are qualified to receive the grant from the ICANN Fellowship program based on the criteria set by the ICANN Board. Its responsibilities include:

• Selection of fellows from all the applicants based on the criteria set forth in the application and evaluation process
• Provide information and feedback to the ICANN Board and Staff about the planning, implementation and evaluation of the fellowship program
• Conduct outreach to support the program and create a list of potential members of the selection committee in the future

Current FC members include:

• Stephen Deerhake – ccNSO
• Taiwo Peter Akinremi – GNSO
• Mistura Aruna – GAC
• Gaurav Kansal – RSSAC
• Laura Margolis – ALAC

Criteria

Individuals may be eligible to receive a grant from the ICANN Fellowship Program if the following criteria are met: As of March 2023, fellowship eligibility included candidates from all regions and sectors who are or have

• at least 21 years of age
• interested or engaged in ICANN's work in policy building, the Domain Name System, or the security and stability of the global Internet
• completed mandatory ICANN Learn course(s)
• not currently involved in ICANN-supported travel programs at the time of selection
• successfully completed an ICANN Fellowship (only for Policy Forum applicants)
• received no more than two fellowships
• have proof of their involvement and engagement in one of the ICANN communities (second and third-time fellows).

Previous eligibility criteria required applicants to be

• a citizen of a low, lower-middle, or upper-middle-income country based on the World Bank Economic classification
• able to practice the knowledge and experiences gained from the fellowship program to become part of ICANN's future leadership
• able to display contributions to the Internet community or interest in ICANN policy development, fellowship alumni network, stimulating local interest in ICANN and ICANN supporting organizations or advisory committees.

Cohorts

For an incomplete list of participating members from NextGen@ICANN, plese refer and edit the article ICANN Fellowship Cohorts.