18 projects examining the future of the Internet
We’re thrilled to announce the diverse group of researchers who joined the Internet Society Foundation’s Research Program in 2022. Established in 2020, this program awards funding to researchers around the world who are examining the future and sustainability of the Internet
Representing 18 organizations and 12 countries, these researchers are collectively generating solutions today to meet the Internet challenges of tomorrow.
Through these grants, the Internet Society Foundation continues to advance 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. Projects are grouped by the Research Program’s four themes: A Trustworthy Internet, Decolonizing the Internet, Greening the Internet, and the Internet Economy.
Decolonizing the Internet
Awardee – Francis Saa-Dittoh – Ghana – $99,950.00
Research Question – How can decentralized digital information systems promote decolonizing of the Internet in developing countries?
Awardee – Stichting Digital Freedom Fund — Netherlands – $100,000
Research Question – How can a decolonizing program for the European digital rights field be designed and implemented?
Greening the Internet
Awardee – Chomora Mikeka – Malawi – $81,314.00
Research Question – Can Internet of Things (IoT) be green powered using ambient radio frequency energy harvesting?
Awardee – The Green Web Foundation – Netherlands – $550,000
Research Question – How do we accelerate the transition of the Internet off of fossil fuels?
Awardee – ISOC Kyrgyzstan Chapter – Kyrgyzstan – $200,000
Research Question – Can we use the Internet of Things in a rough environment to detect landslides and other threats while developing an open and secure infrastructure?
Awardee – German Informatics Society – Germany – $196,788.00
Research Question – What concepts of programming software in an environmentally friendly way (“Green Coding”) exist for software development?
Awardee – University of Amsterdam – Netherlands – $250,000
Research Question – How does Internet infrastructure reconfigure power relationships and resource dependencies, and how could it better serve the public interest?
An Internet Economy
Awardee – Data & Society Research Institute – US – $499,926.00
Research Question – How is the work of mental health professionals changing as they increasingly provide services through online digital platforms, and how do such shifts impact therapeutic expertise, therapeutic labor, and professional practice?
Awardee – David Johnson – South Africa – $200,000
Research Question – Can a decentralized mutual credit-based community voucher combined with a community network and localized services incentivize (i) custodianship of commons infrastructure, (ii) creation of more locally generated digital content , and (iii) act as a catalyst to the stability and expansion of a local market?
Awardee – Fradkin Foundation for Economic Research – US – $150,550.00
Research Question – What is the economic impact of dark patterns on consumers?
Awardee – World Data Lab – Austria – $485,375.00
Research Question – Who is most affected by Internet poverty and which countries are making the greatest progress in reducing it? How can we promote greater access and use of the Internet to benefit the poor?
A Trustworthy Internet
Awardee – Centro Latam Digital – Mexico – $249,550.00
Research Question – What kind of interactions do migrants in transit have with the Internet based on their perception of digital vulnerability? How does this perception impact their decision making and strategies in using the Internet along their transit?
Awardee – DNS Research Foundation – UK – $250,000
Research Question – To establish an Internet Standards Observatory, what innovative research methodologies and policy research questions should we explore relating to the development of Internet standards?
Awardee – The Distributed AI Research Institute in partnership with Code for Science & Society – US – $500,000
Research Question – What is the impact of social media platforms in countries and diaspora communities that are not considered important by the companies who own these platforms?
Awardee – Evidence and Methods Lab in partnership with the Internet Society Uganda Chapter – Uganda – $550,000
Research Question – What are the capacity gaps hindering the utilization of the Internet by government agencies in the effort to improve transparency and accountability in service delivery?
Awardee – Georgia Institute of Technology – US – $149,945.00
Research Question – How can we improve our understanding of the way private sector governance mechanisms interact with technology to produce trust and security on the Internet?
Awardee – Internet Security Research Group – US – $350,000
Research Question – How can we enforce the promises made in a privacy policy through technology that is ubiquitous and affordable?
Awardee – Reset Tech Australia – Australia – $140,130.00
Research Question – What does trustworthy tech, from young people’s perspectives, look like in practice?
If you’d like to know more, you can see full details of our Research Grant Program. To be notified of upcoming grant opportunities, sign up to our newsletter below.
1 February 2023