All stakeholders are invited to submit proposals for workshops at the 16th Annual Meeting of the Internet Governance Forum (IGF) through the workshop application e-form. The deadline is 26 May 2021, 23:59 UTC.
Two main focus areas and four cross-cutting and emerging issue areas in the IGF 2021 Programme
After reviewing the issues proposed in response to the call for issues, and following the goals for a more focused IGF, while at the same time keeping the IGF open for new and emerging issues and to give participants choice, it was decided on two main focus areas with a total time allocation of 60% and four cross-cutting and emerging issue areas with a remaining time allocation of 40%.
The allocation of time/percentage of sessions inside each of the two baskets will be flexible and the final decision will be made at a later stage, taking the quantity, quality and nature of proposals into account.
IGF 2021 Main focus areas (outcome focused) - 60% time allocation
IGF 2021 Emerging and cross-cutting issue areas (discussion driven) - 40% time allocation
- Emerging regulation: market structure, content, data and consumer/users rights regulation
- Environmental sustainability and climate change
- Inclusive Internet governance ecosystems and digital cooperation
- Trust, security, stability
The main focus areas were based on, the annual IGF Stocktaking process and the Call for Thematic Inputs for the 2021 programme. These processes were open to everyone and more than 230 submissions were received in the Call for Issues. 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 2021 Workshops
The IGF 2021 will be organised in a hybrid format as a mix of on-site and online participation. Proposals should be designed to take this hybrid meeting approach into account, please read the guide to on-site and online sessions (here).
Proposers are invited to make submissions on the following topics:
IGF 2021 Main focus areas (outcome focused)
IGF 2021 Emerging and cross-cutting issue areas (discussion driven)
- Emerging regulation: market structure, content, data and consumer/users rights regulation
- Environmental sustainability and climate change
- Inclusive Internet governance ecosystems and digital cooperation
- Trust, security, stability
Policy questions
The short narratives developed on each should be used as guidance. Proposals may be tagged with one or more key topics falling under the issue focus areas and selectable within the workshop form, with an additional 'write-in' option available. In addition, a number of policy questions have been provided for each issue area. 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.
For session proposals related to the main focus areas, proponents are required to indicate which of the provided policy questions their proposal relate(s) to. Selecting up to two policy questions will be possible. Once the policy questions are selected, proponents will be able to go into detail and explain, for instance, if they want to focus only on one element of the selected question, or to address the question from a different angle and further refine it. Having the choice of overarching policy questions limited to a predetermined set is intended to help achieve the goal of a more focused and outcome-oriented IGF.
For the emerging and cross-cutting issues, proponents will be both able to select from the predetermined list of policy questions and add other questions if they wish to. This slightly different approach is meant to give submitters more choice when treating emerging and cross-cutting issues.
Criteria for Workshop Evaluations
The six major criteria in the evaluation process will centre around:
- Content and description
- Response to policy question(s)
- Relevance to IG and to focus area
- Format
- Diversity
- Approach to encouraging participation
Proposers are strongly advised to pay attention to 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 should list a minimum of three provisionally confirmed speakers and limit their number of speakers to no more than five wherever possible. While the latter is not a disqualifying criterion, excessive numbers of speakers will result in lower support for the proposal. Proposers should provide the name of moderators/facilitators who will guide the discussions between the speakers and the on-site and online discussions (please see the guide for more information).
All proposers should consult the links below for details, in particular: the guide to IGF 2021 Hybrid Meeting and 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 2021 Main focus areas and emerging and Cross-Cutting issues for outlines on the workshop submission themes.
RESOURCES ON IGF 2021 WORKSHOPS:
- Manual for Workshop Proposers
- Guidance from the MAG Working Group on Hybrid Meetings
- IGF 2021 Workshop Submission & Review Process
- IGF 2021 Issue Areas
- Workshop Proposal Submission Form
- List of Volunteer Resource Persons *information appears as submitted by volunteers
- Guide to IGF 2021 Hybrid Meeting will be added after the evaluation
- Session support: Webcast: Yes | Transcription: Yes | Interpretation: No
The final selection of workshops will take place during the IGF 2021 Second Open Consultations and MAG Meeting, scheduled for June 2021 in a virtual setting.