ICANN Fellowship Program 2027 with Travel Support to Lisbon

The ICANN Fellowship Program brings people into the organisation that coordinates the internet's naming and numbering systems. Fellows attend an ICANN public meeting with travel support, and the point of the scheme is to widen who takes part in internet governance rather than to fund research.

Who can apply

The programme is open to applicants of all nationalities, at any level, from any field. That breadth is genuine: technical community members, policy people, civil society, academics and private sector participants all fit. What selectors look for is a credible reason why the applicant will stay engaged with ICANN's work after the meeting, not academic credentials.

What is covered

Travel assistance to attend the meeting is provided. The relevant round is for the ICANN88 Community Forum in Lisbon, Portugal, which runs from 13 March 2027 to 18 March 2027. A fellowship covers getting there and attending; it is not a stipend or a salary, so time away from work still has to be arranged separately.

Deadline

Applications close on 10 November 2026 at 23:59 UTC. Note that ICANN runs separate application rounds tied to separate meetings, and each has its own cut-off, so an applicant should confirm which meeting a given round is for before submitting.

Before you apply

Write the application around a specific policy area you want to work on inside ICANN, and name it. Applications that describe a general interest in the internet are the weakest category in the pool. If you have already followed a working group or public comment process, say which one, because that evidence of prior engagement is what distinguishes a serious newcomer.