International Relations lecturer contributes to European Commission’s Internet Governance discussion

Dr Andrea Calderaro, Lecturer in International Relations and Director of the Centre for Internet and Global Politics, contributed to a round-table discussion this June on Internet Governance capacity building organised by the European Commission.

As a member of the Global Internet Policy Observatory (GIPO) Advisory Group, Dr Calderaro spoke at the round-table held on 8 June at the European Commission DG Connect in Brussels, discussing the latest challenges characterising the global Internet Governance debate, the role of the European Union, and the functioning of GIPO. GIPO is the tool launched by the European Commission to globally monitor Internet-related policy, regulatory and technological developments.

He was joined by other academics, EC officers, delegates from the private sector, and other stakeholders from across the world in the meeting which sought to answer questions relating to the advancement of policy discussions in internet governance, how new and different stakeholders can be engaged with and how the tools that GIPO are developing can be shared and owned by the internet governance community.

After the roundtable, Dr Calderaro said, “The discussion and decision making process regarding how to govern a constantly evolving digital infrastructure needs to be more and more open to newly connected countries and new actors. GIPO offers the opportunity to enhance transparency and therefore inclusiveness in such a debate, offering stakeholders the opportunity to contribute in internet governance processes”.