Since 2016

The APSIG Fellowship

Every year since 2016, APSIG has funded people from across Asia Pacific to attend its school on internet governance. Around 33 economies have been represented so far. This page sets out what the fellowship covers, who it is for, how fellows are chosen, and what each year’s cohort looked like.

What the fellowship covers

The financial package is set each year against the funding APSIG has raised, and is published in that year’s call. For the 2026 round it was:

• Airfare reimbursement
• Prepaid twin-share accommodation for the duration of the school
• Meals
• Visa fee reimbursement

Fellows arrange their own travel insurance and visa applications, and cover any travel item outside the published package. APSIG provides invitation letters and supporting documents for visa applications.

Beyond the money, the fellowship is a place in a Training of Trainers programme: several days of teaching from practitioners and policymakers, direct access to the people running internet governance in the region, and entry to an alumni network that now spans a decade of cohorts. Recent editions have been scheduled next to the Asia Pacific Regional Internet Governance Forum so that fellows move from the classroom into a live regional forum within days.

Who can apply

The fellowship is open to people from the Asia Pacific region, aged 18 or above, with a demonstrated interest in internet governance: professionals, academics, researchers, civil society members, and people working in government and non-governmental organisations.

• Fellows are expected to be familiar with internet governance already, usually through a national School on Internet Governance or a comparable event. Applicants who study or work in information and communication technologies and want to move into internet public policy are also considered. Where an economy has no national SIG or IG event, newcomers may be considered.
• Proficiency in English is required. All sessions are conducted in English.
• Relevant demonstrated knowledge and interest, for example webinars, courses or meetings attended, remote or in person.
• Willingness to follow APSIG’s expected standards of behaviour.
• APSIG alumni are not eligible to apply again.
• Staff, blood relatives and other close associates of APSIG sponsors, the Executive Committee or the Fellowship Committee are not eligible.
• People who habitually attend events without contributing to the community are not preferred.
• Women, persons with disabilities and other marginalised communities are encouraged to apply. A seat has been reserved for a person with a disability in recent rounds.
• A clear motivation and a plan for community engagement after the school are highly desirable.

What fellows commit to

A fellowship is not just a funded seat. The obligations below have been broadly stable since 2020, when they were first written down for the virtual edition, and are confirmed in each year’s fellowship letter.

Before the school

• Complete the assigned online introductory course or courses on internet governance.
• Attend the preparation webinars and the fellow introduction session, usually about two weeks before the event.
• Join the fellows mailing list and any assigned buddy group calls.
• Help promote the school through your own networks.

During the school

• Attend every session of the programme.
• Take part in the capacity building activities: contributing to a session as a panellist or speaker, organising a short session with other fellows, or coordinating a buddy group to produce a summary report.
• Meet with the assigned mentor and report back on sessions attended.
• Share the event as it happens, through social posts, blogs or video.

After the school

• Publish your key takeaways in any format you like, a blog post, a video log or a recording, and send the link to the Secretariat within two weeks. The 2020 terms set a minimum of three hundred words, and that remains the working standard.
• Complete the fellowship feedback survey by the stated deadline.
• Join the alumni mailing list and community groups.
• Take part in local community development work on internet governance.

Fellows are also bound by the APSIG Fellowship Programme Code of Conduct.

How selection works

Selection is run by a Fellowship Committee drawn from the APSIG community through an open call, chaired by a Vice Chair of APSIG, and working to criteria it publishes before applications open. Committee members must have served on a fellowship committee for an internet governance school or event before, must be based in the region, and are bound to confidentiality. Nobody scores their own application.

The mechanics have been documented since the first edition. APSIG’s own selection papers from 2016, 2017 and 2019 describe a three or four phase process that the school still broadly follows:

1. Quantitative ranking by the Secretariat. Every application is scored against the structured part of the form, and the ranking is passed to the committee.
2. Qualitative scoring by the committee. Each member scores each applicant’s written statements against the agreed criteria. In 2016 this was a nought to three score on the applicant’s account of relevant experience, interest or expertise, and an application that left that section blank was dropped automatically.
3. Selection within each support category. Applicants requesting full support are settled first, then partial support, then registration fee support, then no support, with unsuccessful applicants from each round carried into the waiting list for the next.
4. Waiting list and late applications. Cancellations were expected at around one in ten, late applications at fewer than one in twenty, and the process was closed off at a fixed date regardless.

Where two applicants scored the same, the 2016 guideline broke the tie in a fixed order: first the economy with fewer participants, then the stakeholder group with fewer participants, then the under-represented gender. Leaders of national IGFs and SIGs, including panellists, were given first priority in the same document.

National schools have held reserved seats since at least 2019: one primary delegate with full support and one alternate with registration fee support per national SIG, and one delegate with registration fee support per national IGF, offered only to those that are APSIG members. In 2019 those seats went to the All SIG chair and to afSIG, cnSIG, lkSIG, inSIG with two seats, npSIG with two seats, and pkSIG.

APSIG has also kept a record of improper cancellations since 2019: accepted candidates who did not respond, or who withdrew at the last minute without notice. Prior conduct can be taken into account in later rounds.

Support tiers

Through the founding editions the fellowship was not a single package but four tiers, defined precisely in the 2019 working documents. Recent editions have consolidated on a single full package, but the tier model is what the year by year numbers below refer to.

The 2017 scheme also allowed an airfare handicap of around USD 300 for applicants facing fares above USD 1,000, typically from the Pacific, West Asia and outside the region.

The fellowship year by year

Figures are reproduced as APSIG published them at the time. Full participant and fellow rosters live on each edition’s own page, linked from the year.

Where APSIG’s own records disagree, both figures are noted on the relevant edition page. The 2016 selection guideline modelled the cohort at 11 full, 11 partial and 9 unsupported places within budget; the awarded figures published afterwards were 9 full and 8 partial.

Who has funded it

The founding editions were funded on a substantially corporate mix. APSIG’s sponsors register from that period records direct support and approaches to Amazon, Google, Facebook, Cisco through the Silicon Valley Community Foundation, VeriSign and Microsoft, alongside community funders: APASA, the joint vehicle of APNIC, DotAsia, ICANN and the Internet Society, and APTLD. The Internet Society sponsored the first school in 2016.

Recent editions have drawn on community and foundation funding. APSIG 2024 in Taipei was supported by the Internet Society Foundation, Public Interest Registry, APNIC and ICANN, with the Taiwan Network Information Center as local host. APNIC sponsors the APSIG website and mailing list, and hosts the fellowship application portal.

Organisations interested in supporting a future cohort can write to secretary@apsig.asia.

Applying

Applications open once a year, usually in the first half of the year, and are announced on this site, on the APSIG mailing list and through the national schools. They are submitted through the APNIC Fellowship Portal.

Open the APNIC Fellowship Portal

The 2026 round is closed. The portal is where the next call will appear.

If you have trouble reaching the portal, or any question about the process, write to contact@apsig.asia and the Secretariat will provide an alternative route for your application.

There are other ways into the APSIG community besides the fellowship. Every year APSIG calls for volunteers to serve on the Fellowship Committee and the Programme Committee, and for institutions to host the school. See APSIG 2026 for the current calls, and History and Past Editions for the full record of the school.