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Global input and ideas will be on the rise at the 34th International Public Meeting of the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers thanks to ICANN’s on-going fellowship program.

"The fellowship program is a real testament to the importance ICANN places on increased participation from the developing and least developed world," said Theresa Swinehart , ICANN's Vice President, Global and Strategic Partnerships. "Reaching out to the global community, we saw a desire to be a part of the key discussions that take place at our meetings, but some countries and Internet users just didn’t have the resources to attend. The fellowship program helps bridge that gap.”

For the Mexico Meeting, there are 23 fellows from 21 countries, chosen from 105 applications received. Nine of the fellows are alumni from the past 5 programmes; ten fellows are first-time attendees to any ICANN meeting and the remaining four have attended past meetings, but are first time fellows. To see the list of Mexico City fellowship participants, please go to http://www.icann.org/en/fellowships/index.htm#mexicofellows

Applications for the 35th ICANN International Public Meeting in Sydney will go online at: http://www.icann.org/fellowships on January 26th PDT and will be accepted until 1200 PDT (UTC -7) on March 9th 2009.

When applications are accessed by an independent selection committee, priority is given to applicants who are current residents of developing and least developed nations 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. The Mexico City meeting will be held from 1-6 March 2009.

"We have seen the fellowship recipients in action since our first meeting in San Juan in June 2007—and they have grown in their level of understanding and participation in the ICANN process and community. " Swinehart added. “ICANN is in the middle of major initiatives around new top-level domains, the introduction of internationalized domain names, to name just two, and the fellowship program has a key role in making sure we get the broadest possible input on these matters.”