On March 15, the Special Course for Youth kicked off for the fifth time in the lead-up to of the Russian Internet Governance Forum (RIGF 2025).
Throughout the course, the participants, together with invited experts, will discuss the key items on the RIGF 2025 agenda. By the end of the program, they will formulate points reflecting the youth perspective on topical internet governance issues. The results will be presented at the closing ceremony of RIGF 2025 on April 7.
This year, 151 applications were submitted from nine countries, including Russia, Azerbaijan, Armenia, Belarus, and Uzbekistan, with 95 students, masters, and young professionals taking part in the course.
Most applicants are under 22 years old, with the second largest age group being 23-27 years old. In terms of education level, the leaders are people with a Master’ degree (63 applications), followed by Bachelor’s degree holderss (59 applications), and young specialists and scientists (29 applications). This year, women have a broader representation with more than 68 percent of applications.
As in previous years, the participants’ areas of expertise are very diverse. Most applications came from lawyers, specialists in international relations and political science, as well as IT specialists involved in the development, administration and provision of cybersecurity.
In his opening remarks, Director of the Coordination Center for TLD .RU/.РФ Andrey Vorobyev spoke about the statistics and selection criteria, noting that many participants came back for the course again, and some have been attending it for several years. He stressed the importance of showing initiative noting that the Coordination Center encourages young people to engage in the internet governance processes and develops the youth project ecosystem.
The first lecture of the course was delivered by Mikhail Anisimov (ICANN) and was titled The Orbit of Digitalization: Space Internet. It covered various aspects of satellite communications technology, including its history, current developments, and future applications. Participants discussed the evolution of the technology, the latest advancements, and prospects for integrating satellite and terrestrial networks, as well as the possible development of space communications in the future.
The second lecture, Cybersecurity is not a Process: Debunking a Long-Standing Myth, was given by Alexei Lukatsky from Positive Technologies, who spoke about the importance of cybersecurity in business, emphasizing that security must be consistent with business goals, and risks must be taken into account at all levels of the organization.
The next lectures will take place on March 22. Experts will discuss open source as a tool for digital sovereignty, and also consider media effects and cognitive biases in international relations research.
