IGF 2022 Call for Workshop Proposals

All stakeholders are invited to submit proposals for workshops at the 17th Annual Meeting of the Internet Governance Forum (IGF) through the workshop application e-form. The deadline is 10 June 2022, 23:59 UTC.

Five Themes in the IGF ‎‎2022 Programme

The IGF 2022 programme will be organized according to the following five themes:

  • Connecting All People and Safeguarding Human Rights 
  • Avoiding Internet Fragmentation 
  • Governing Data and Protecting Privacy 
  • Enabling Safety, Security and Accountability
  • Addressing Advanced Technologies, including AI

After reviewing inputs from the IGF 2022 call for themes and issues, and following feedback in both the annual thematic and stocktaking calls urging the IGF play a greater role in ongoing and upcoming global digital policy processes, the themes above were decided on during the IGF 2022 First Open Consultations and MAG Meeting. In their content and wording, the themes align closely with the focus areas of the Global Digital Compact (GDC) envisioned by the UN Secretary-General in the Our Common Agenda report. The GDC is intended to “outline shared principles for an open, free and secure digital future for all” and will come under discussion during the UN’s 2023 Summit on the Future.

The IGF’s thematic inputs and stocktaking processes are open to everyone, with a combined 286 submissions received this year. They form the basis of the MAG’s discussions and ensure programme topics are those deemed most critical and timely to Internet governance stakeholders and societies at large. The overarching theme of IGF 2022 is “Resilient Internet for a Shared Sustainable and Common Future”. 

IGF 2022 Workshops

IGF 2022 will be organized in a hybrid format allowing for equitable online and onsite participation. Proposals should be designed to take this hybrid meeting approach ‎into account; please read the guidelines to onsite and online sessions (here).‎

Proposers are invited to make submissions under the following themes:‎

  1. Connecting All People and Safeguarding Human Rights 
  2. Avoiding Internet Fragmentation 
  3. Governing Data and Protecting Privacy 
  4. Enabling Safety, Security and Accountability
  5. Addressing Advanced Technologies, including AI

It is important that the organizers of the proposed workshops prepare their proposals clearly aligned to one of the themes described above. However, it is even more important that the description of the sessions show a specific and completely focused approach to the chosen theme, considering that for this year, this characteristic will be considered as one of the main evaluation criteria when choosing the proposals that will be included in the IGF 2022 programme.

Policy questions
The short narrative descriptions on each should be used as guidance. In ‎addition, proposals should include policy questions formulated by the proposer. Policy ‎questions 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 five major criteria in the evaluation process will centre around:

  • Proposed Topic – its relevance to Internet Governance and proper alignment with one of the 5 themes
  • Workshop Content – including its clear focus on one of the 5 selected themes
  • Policy Question(s) – including whether they relate closely to the proposed topic
  • Hybrid Organization Strategy – whether the proposal lays out an effective strategy for hybrid and interactive engagement and takes the hybrid nature of the meeting into account in all planning aspects
  • Diversity – along different vectors of diversity, as described below

Proposers are strongly advised to pay attention to diversity of perspective, supported ‎by experience, gender, region, stakeholder group, and inclusion of youth, persons with disabilities and ‎persons from other under-represented or marginalised 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 guidelines for more information).‎

All proposers should consult the links below for details, in particular: the IGF 2022 Workshops Manual, for basic information ‎such as the permitted number of proposals per submitter (3) and language of submission (English); and ‎the Workshop Review Process document, for requirements on the content of ‎proposals and proposal evaluation criteria.

RESOURCES ON IGF 2022 WORKSHOPS:

The final selection of workshops will take place during the IGF 2022 Second Open Consultations and MAG Meeting, scheduled for 6-8 July 2022 in Geneva.