Second round of grant funding awarded to researchers studying the future of the Internet

We are thrilled to award a second round of grant funding through our Research grant programme to four exciting projects that examine the future and sustainability of the Internet. Launched in 2020, this programme supports a diverse group of researchers around the world who are generating solutions today to meet the Internet challenges of tomorrow.

The selected projects examine important issues around the Internet’s relationship to society, such as: the impact of climate change on Internet infrastructure, the role of blockchain economics in the Internet economy, how best to advance climate justice, and more.

Recommended for funding by an Independent Programme Review Committee, the awardees come from the Netherlands, South Africa, Zimbabwe, and the U.S. These grants are intended for applied research that will be published and made available to the scientific community at no cost.

Through these grants, we look forward to enabling new research on the future of the Internet, research that will influence policy and industry decisions and ultimately help shape a more equitable and sustainable future for the Internet and the people it serves.

Learn more about each awardee in the list below.

1. Oregon Networking Research Group at the University of Oregon – USA – $199,861

Theme: Greening the Internet

Project Title: How to Address Climate Change Risks by Enhancing Internet Infrastructure Resilience

Research Question: What is the overall resilience of Internet infrastructures to climate change-induced multi-hazard risks?

2. The Green Web Foundation – Netherlands – $200,000

Theme: Greening the Internet

Project Title: A Sustainable and Just Internet for All

Research Question: How do we advance climate justice in the practice of Internet professionals in a plausible, desirable, accessible, and coherent way?

3. David Johnson and Senka Hadzic – South Africa – $98,470

Theme: The Internet Economy

Project Title: Incentivized network and localized services growth with blockchain economics

Research Question: Can decentralized blockchain-based economic systems incentivize vulnerable communities to create and grow their own networking infrastructure, services, and content? (In collaboration with Grassroots Economics)

4. Center for Advanced Research in Global Communication and ISOC Zimbabwe Chapter – USA & Zimbabwe – $199,983

Theme: Greening the Internet

Project Title: Greening from the Margins: the Geopolitics of Extractive, Operational, and Post-Consumer E-waste management

Research Questions:

1. Who/what is wasted in the process of “greening” the Internet?

2. Greening for whom and at whose expense? Who benefits? To what impacts?

3. How can we conceptualize waste in a way that takes into account its many formations and stages throughout the (nonlinear) supply chain?

4. What kinds of assumptions are implicit in claims of greening the Internet? How are these assumptions operationalized in policy? How can we complicate such assumptions in order to begin greening the Internet in ways that take into account a broader – often marginalized – set of actors, locations, and interests?

The Research programme is open to independent researchers and research institutions worldwide and is currently accepting statements of interest, to be reviewed on a rolling basis. Research themes include: Greening the Internet, The Internet Economy, Decolonizing the Internet, and A Trustworthy Internet. Grants of up to US$200,000 will be awarded for research lasting up to 2 years.