FYI Kind regards, Chantelle From: ICANN News Alert <no-reply@external.icann.org> <http://www.icann.org/> News Alert https://www.icann.org/news/announcement-2016-02-10-en Fellowship and NextGen@ICANN Application Rounds for ICANN56 10 February 2016 On 22 January, lCANN launched the application rounds for both the NextGen@ICANN and Fellowship Programs to participate in ICANN56 in Panama City, Panama in June 2016. On 5 February, ICANN announced that due to the severity of the Zika Virus outbreak in the Latin America region, ICANN56 would be relocated and that a search is underway to identify an alternate location where the Zika Virus is not a concern. ICANN looks forward to returning to Panama for a future ICANN Meeting. What does this mean for Program Applicants? As the NextGen@ICANN Program is region-specific, ICANN has suspended the application process, pending the announcement of the new Meeting location. Once the new location is announced, we will make a decision on the status of this Program for ICANN56. This round remains open for eligible Fellowship candidates until 19 February 2016 and successful Fellowship candidates will be announced on the ICANN website, 25 March 2016. As a reminder, an important distinction regarding this round of the Fellowship Program is that only those who have previously participated in at least one ICANN Fellowship can apply. This is due to the new ICANN Meeting Strategy <https://meetings.icann.org/en/future-meeting-strategy> / Meeting B that is specifically focused on policy making and on-going work within ICANN Communities, therefore only those Alumni of the Program who are currently actively engaged in one of the ICANN Multistakeholder Model Communities are eligible to participate. The Fellowship Program The ICANN Fellowship <https://www.icann.org/en/about/participate/fellowships> program seeks participants from developing countries of the world in order to help create a broader base of knowledgeable constituents to engage in the Multistakeholder process and become the new voice of experience in their regions and beyond. Since its creation in 2007, the Fellowship Program has built a strong group of individuals who are actively participating in all of the ICANN communities as well as various Internet Governance entities within the Internet Ecosystem. Their engagement ranges from writing articles and blogs, providing online or in-person public comment in regard to bottom up policy building, engaging in Internet conferences and panel discussions, lifting a pen in working groups, mentoring newcomers, assisting our regional leaders and becoming leaders themselves. Find out more about applying to the Fellowship » <https://www.icann.org/en/about/participate/fellowships> The NextGen@ICANN Program (currently not available for ICANN56 Applications) The NextGen@ICANN program remains the same for Meeting A, B and C: it is an education and awareness based experience, designed for a smaller, younger, and more region-specific group of participants. Applicants must be between the ages of 18 and 30, live in the region of the meeting, and be engaged in some level of higher education, with focus on Internet related subject matter. Each selected member will deliver a 5-10 minute presentation on a topic relevant to the community. Recent presentation topics include Internet governance, DNS, and the future of the Internet.