IDPP Executive Director Dr. Derrick Cogburn will be participating and representing IDPP and the Internet Governance Lab at the 13th Annual Meeting of the Internet Governance Forum (IGF) in Paris on November 12-14, 2018. The meeting will be hosted by the Government of France at the headquarters of UNESCO.

The IGF is a global multi-stakeholder forum that focuses on the discussion of public policy issues pertaining to the Internet. The Forum brings together more than 2,000 participants representing governments, non-profit organizations, academia, and various private sectors from over 100 countries.

This year’s Forum, “Internet of Trust,” will discuss proposed regulatory frameworks, global trends, potential risks, and practices which have been adopted or are under discussion.

On Sunday, November 11, 7:30pm-10:00pm Paris time, Dr. Cogburn will be speaking at Disco-tech 2018. Since 2013, Disco-tech has served as informal pre-conference event at the IGF designed as a learning exchange on Internet rights and freedoms. Disco-tech 2018, “Breaking Through the Walls of an Inaccessible Internet,” will explore the experiences, realities, needs and concerns of Internet users who are disabled.

Dr. Cogburn will be participating in a panel workshop titled “1.3 Billion Reasons for Making Technology Accessible” on Tuesday, November 13 from 10:10am to 11:40am. Under the theme of digital inclusion and accessibility, this workshop will address several country case studies in implementing the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD), facilitate understanding of current issues in disability and Internet accessibility, and discuss how to move forward toward a truly inclusive society.

Following his participation in the IGF, Dr. Cogburn will also moderate the Cybersecurity and Sovereignty panel at the 13th GigaNet Annual Symposium on Thursday, November 15, from 2:15pm-4:15pm at Sorbonne Université in Paris.

GigaNet, the Global Internet Governance Academic Network, focuses on scholarship on Internet governance issues and policy. He will be joined by Internet Governance Lab Scholar Dr. Francesca Musiani, who will be co-presenting the panel titled “Governing What Wasn’t Meant To Be Governed: A Controversy-Based Approach to the Study of Bitcoin Governance.”

Dr. Cogburn has participated in nearly all IGF meetings and helped to co-found GigaNet.