The UK Internet Governance Forum (UK IGF) is the national IGF for the United Kingdom. IGFs are an initiative led by the United Nations for the discussion of public policy issues relating to the internet. A key distinguishing feature of IGFs is that they are based on the multi-stakeholder model – all sectors of society meet as equals to exchange ideas and discuss best practices. The purpose of IGFs is to facilitate a common understanding of how to maximise the opportunities of the internet whilst mitigating the risks and challenges that the internet presents.
The UK IGF has a steering committee and secretariat. The secretariat is provided by Nominet, the UK’s national domain name registry. The steering committee members are:
- Alice Rutherford, DCMS
- Christian de Larrinaga, ISOC England
- David Souter, International ICT and Development Expert
- Desiree Miloshevic, ISOC England
- Gabrielle Guillemin, Article 19
- Jean-Jacques Sahel, ICANN
- Jim Killock, Open Rights Group
- John Carr, Secretary of the UK’s Children’s Charities’ Coalition on Internet Safety (CHIS) and independent consultant
- Louise Bennett, BCS
- Matthew McDermott , Access Partnership
- Mike Tunks, IWF
- Nick Wenban-Smith, Nominet
- Olivier MJ Crepin-Leblond, ISOC England
- Stacie Hoffman, Oxford Information Labs
- Talal Rajab, Tech UK
The steering committee was established in December 2010 so that the UK IGF could be an identifiable entity in its own right and also be more representative of UK stakeholders. The role of the committee is to collaboratively work through the suggestions for topics, develop the agenda, reach out to speakers, and promote the UK IGF. Through their collective knowledge and experience the committee guides the “voice of the UK IGF”.
We encourage diversity of background, industry and perspective on the committee to ensure the UK IGF reflects a variety of relevant issues. All committee members kindly volunteer their time to create a valuable exchange of ideas at the UK IGF. Discussions at the UK event are then summarised and made available online to provide a UK perspective on global internet issues.
If you are interested in contributing to the UK IGF, please contact [email protected]