All stakeholders are invited to submit proposals for workshops at the 15th Annual Meeting of the Internet Governance Forum (IGF) through the workshop application e-form. The deadline is 22 April 2020, 23:59 UTC.


Four Thematic Tracks in the IGF 2020 Programme

At its first face-to-face meeting in January, and following extensive discussions on a strategic, thematic direction for IGF activities in 2020, the IGF Multistakeholder Advisory Group (MAG) identified four priority thematic tracks on which to build a focused and cohesive programme this year. These are: (1) Data; (2) Environment; (3) Inclusion; (4) Trust.

The priority areas were based on contributions from 2019 IGF activities, the annual IGF Stocktaking process and integrated Call for Issues and the Call for Validation of Thematic Tracks for the 2020 programme. These processes were open to everyone and more than 200 submissions were received in the Call for Validation of Thematic Tracks alone. Finally, these processes formed the basis of the MAG’s discussions and ensured that the programme topics are those that the global community deemed most critical and timely to Internet governance stakeholders and societies at large.


IGF 2020 Workshops

Proposers are invited to make submissions on the four thematic tracks:

  1. Data
  2. Environment
  3. Inclusion
  4. Trust 

The short narratives developed on each should be used as guidance. Proposals may be tagged with one or more key topics falling under the themes and selectable within the workshop form, with an additional 'write-in' option available. In addition, a number of illustrative policy questions have been provided for each theme, bearing in mind these are examples only and that proposers are encouraged to put forward their own questions. Policy questions are ones that bring together different disciplines or areas of policy research.  A policy question should encourage dialogue, debate and discussion among different stakeholders and disciplines, be worded in an objective way to allow for different answers/views/proposals/solutions to emerge and not presuppose the outcome.


Criteria for Workshop Evaluations

The six major criteria in the evaluation process will centre around:

  • Content 
  • Diversity 
  • Relevance 
  • Interaction 
  • Policy Questions ‎
  • Format 

Proposers are strongly advised to pay particular attention to ensuring diversity of perspective, supported by experience, gender, region, stakeholder group, and inclusion of youth and persons from under-represented or marginalized groups, within their organizing teams as well as listed speakers, as these will be reviewed against the key diversity measure. Proposers are further advised that they should list a minimum of three provisionally confirmed speakers and limit their number of speakers to no more than five wherever possible, so as to ensure space in their session for participant engagement. While the latter is not a disqualifying criterion, excessive numbers of speakers will result in lower support for the proposal.

All proposers should consult the links below for details, in particular: the Workshops Manual, for basic information regarding the number of proposals per submitter and language of submission; the Workshop Review Process document, for requirements on the content of proposals and proposal evaluation criteria; and the IGF 2020 Thematic Tracks for outlines on the workshop submission themes.


RESOURCES ON IGF 2020 WORKSHOPS:

The final selection of workshops will take place during the IGF 2020 Second Open Consultations and MAG Meeting, scheduled on 16-18 June 2020 in Geneva, Switzerland.