The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) has launched the seventh round of fellowship program applications for its 35th International Public Meeting to be held in Sydney, Australia June 21-26, 2009, a press release by ICANN stated.

"Just like the Internet, ICANN is global in scope in its operations," ICANN's Vice President, Global and Strategic Partnerships Theresa Swinehart said.

“Our fellowship program has had a lot of success at our last five meetings in making sure global voices are heard in the wide variety of public forums that it holds,” Swinehart added.

For the upcoming meeting in Mexico City in March, there are 23 fellows from 21 countries, chosen from 105 applications received. There are nine fellowship alumni, nine fellows are first-time attendees to an ICANN meeting and the remaining five have attended past meetings, but are first time fellows.

Priority is given to applicants who are current residents of developing and least developed nations and interested in participating in ICANN and its supporting organizations, such as the Governmental Advisory Committee, the Country Code Names Supporting Organization, and the Generic Names Supporting Organization.

The fellowship will assist in covering airfare, hotel and a stipend. Recipients will be expected to actively participate in and contribute to ICANN processes. As always, registration for ICANN’s meetings is free for anyone wanting to attend.

Applications will be accepted from now until March 9, 2009.

ICANN is responsible for the global coordination of the Internet's system of unique identifiers like domain names (like .org, .museum and country codes like .uk) and the addresses used in a variety of Internet protocols that help computers reach each other over the Internet.

SOURCE:AGIPNEWS