Youth engagement on internet governance issues has been a hot topic at the Russian Internet Governance Forum for many years. Students and young specialists are invited to the forum, and on day zero, RIGF experts give lectures and workshops at universities and technical colleges. In 2021, the RIGF organizers have decided to make youth participation in the forum even more useful and productive by offering a special course for young people. Undergraduates, postgraduates and recent graduates interested in the development and use of the internet and ICT were invited to the course.
Those who wanted to take part in the course applied (96 applications were submitted in total) and received a test that had to be done by March 20, after which 62 participants were selected. The list of participants is available on the RIGF website.
Most of the participants are from Russia, but applications also came from Belarus, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, and even Myanmar. The course includes undergraduate and graduate students, as well as established specialists. The average age of the participants is 22 years, with many representing universities in Moscow and St. Petersburg.
The classes, where the participants will receive detailed information on RIGF and discuss the main topics on the agenda together with guest experts, have already begun. On March 21, the students discussed data sovereignty. The lecture was delivered by Nikolai Dmitrik, head of the legal informatics and cybernetics lab at Lomonosov Moscow State University.
The next class will take place on March 28, April 4 and 5; a detailed program is available at the RIGF 2021 website. During the lessons, the participants, together with experts, will outline ideas for the Youth Communiqué of the First Russian Youth Internet Governance Forum (Youth RIGF), which will be held on the eve of RIGF 2021 – April 6, 2021 – at Skoltech.
