On August 2, the Summer School on Internet Governance 2023 held the final lecture of its preparatory and qualifying stage. This year, 298 people from 9 countries applied to study at the school; 95 applicants were accepted into the first stage. About half of them are students, and the other half are specialists, teaching staff and graduate students.
As part of the school’s first stage, students received basic knowledge about the history and infrastructure of the internet, as well as the principles and approaches to coordinating the development and use of the global network. A total of nine lectures were held.
During the first day of lectures, Artyom Nerovny (SPbSUT) introduced the participants to the history of IT development, as well as to the key events that influenced world politics, economics and culture and led to the emergence of the global network. Pavel Khramtsov (MSK-IX) spoke about internet infrastructure, the main technical standards and the work of international organizations to ensure the functioning of the internet. The first day was completed with a lecture by Mikhail Medrish (Internet Governance Committee, Coordination Center for TLD .RU/.РФ), in which he summarized the reasons for the popularity and rapid development of the internet.
On the second day, Mikhail Anisimov (ICANN) presented an overview of the most significant international organizations and spoke about their role in the internet governance ecosystem, as well as about the evolution of approaches to internet governance and current trends in this area. Mikhail Medrish gave an overview of the actors and tools that play an important role in internet governance and functioning.
The third day was devoted to digital inequality and the international agenda. Yelena Zinovyeva (MGIMO) spoke about the problem of digital inequality in the context of achieving the sustainable development goals and building ICT potential. Daria Stepovaya (IIS School, Lomonosov Moscow State University) highlighted the issues of international information security and introduced the participants to the global agenda in this area. Arevik Martirosyan (Diplomatic Academy of the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs) considered the key issues of international legal regulation of ICT and the activities of the main international institutions that carry out negotiations and work to develop relevant international norms.
Finally, at the closing lecture of the first stage of the Summer School, Maria Kolesnikova, Chief Analyst of the Coordination Center for TLD .RU/.РФ and Chair of the Russian Working Group on Universal Acceptance, spoke about the involvement of different groups of stakeholders in pursuing the common goal of promoting the internationalization of the internet address space.
The top 40 students who scored the most points for participating in lectures and doing homework at the preparatory and qualifying stage advanced to the main stage of the school and will continue their education during the next month.
The first lesson of the main stage will take place on August 5. Students will delve deeper into issues related to internet governance, and those who successfully complete their studies will receive professional development certificates from St. Petersburg State University.
