Upcoming Foundation activities at APRICOT 2023

By on 24 Feb 2023

Categories: Development Events

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The audience in the APNIC Foundation session held at APNIC 54 in 2022, including the Switch! National coordinator for Laos PDR.

The APNIC Foundation (Foundation) is pleased to be hosting two sessions at the upcoming APRICOT 2023 conference in Manila.

On Monday, 27 February, the Foundation will host a session on fostering technical community action on climate and inclusion. This session will provide an update on the Foundation’s activities, with a particular focus on ISIF Asia’s first-ever Ian Peter Grants for Internet and the Environment, as well as the Switch! South East Asia gender and diversity project.

An update on the Ian Peter Grants for Internet and the Environment

2022 was the first year of these grants, which in various ways address the environmental impacts of the Internet. They are named after Ian Peter — an environmental activist and pioneering founder of Australia’s first public Internet service. These five grants, offered in his memory, reflect Ian’s vision for environmental activism through meaningful connectivity.

One of these projects will be featured at the session: The EcoInternet Index by the DotAsia Foundation will involve continual research on the carbon footprints of Internet infrastructures, the efficiency of data exchange, the use of renewable energy and the development of the digital economy. These would all factor into the EcoInternet Index, which would enable meaningful and comprehensive comparisons among different jurisdictions and observe the changes throughout the years.

An update on the Switch! project

The session will also cover the latest progress in the Switch! Gender and Diversity project that provides support in Cambodia, Laos PDR, the Philippines, Thailand, Timor Leste and Viet Nam.

The project provides technical training and mentoring, as well as training in related management, to women and gender-diverse network engineers and security professionals working in the technical sector. The 160+ participants develop their own personalized study plans and can choose from a range of training providers. Some participants also have their research projects supported. They also receive support to increase their engagement with technical community events and conferences.

The project has a coordinator for each of the six economies, and this national coordinator stays in close contact with the participants.

The project team also has a planning session before the conference, which will give them a chance to coordinate their activities more closely and meet with attendees the Foundation is supporting to attend the conference in person. This year, the Foundation has supported fellowships for 27 Switch! participants.

Name Economy Attending (Workshop / Conference) Job Title Employer
Catherine Manuela Lee Ramos PH Both Assistant Professor De la Salle University
Ivan Kenley Obelidor PH Both Service Operations Center Engineer Eastern Telecommunications Philippines Inc.
Aira Villapando PH Workshop Computer Maintenance Technologist III Philippine Space Agency
Jose Carmelo Cueto  PH Both Engineer III Department of Information and Communications Technology
Ninja Tadifa PH Conference + Hackathon Service Procurement Supervisor IXSforall Inc.
Genevieve Kay La Rosa PH Both Engineer 3 – Service Operations Center, Network Operations and Maintenance Eastern Communications
Zendie Monea Sollano-Cabanlong PH Conference Information Technology Officer I Department of Information and Communications Technology
Cecilia Tadeo PH Both (APNIC Foundation Fellow for the conference) Professor University of Makati
Erika Sobrino PH Both + Hackathon Network Operations Centre Engineer IXSforall Inc.
 Jasmine Carlos PH Both (APNIC Foundation Fellow for workshop) Data Centre Operations Engineer DataOne Asia (Phils.) Inc.
Glycirynne Dianne Apolonio PH Both (APNIC Foundation Fellow for the conference) Transport Project Management - Manager Converge ICT Solutions Inc.
Acmilah Macabuat PH Conference Information Technology Officer 1 Department of Information and Communications Technology
Colline Estrada PH Both (APNIC Foundation Fellow for workshop) Junior ICT Associate Manager University of the Philippines Diliman Electrical and Electronics Engineering Institute
Jamaica Ida Palce PH Conference Data Protection Officer/Data Protection and Privacy Coordinator SAP Philippines, Inc.
Jenina Maica Recide PH Both Network/Systems Architect  Converge ICT Solutions Inc.
Challiz Omorog PH Both Dean, College of Computer Studies Camarines Sur Polytechnic College
Fredilyn Pedron PH Both IT Operations Manager PlayPark Inc.
Erna Apusaga PH Workshop Network Specialist International Business Machine (IBM)
Anna Clarissa Sevilla PH Both Service Operations Centre Engineer Eastern Communications Inc.
Maricar Salazar PH Both Service Operations Centre Engineer Eastern Telecommunications Philippines Inc.
Christine Alejandro PH Workshop Network Technical Support Staff  University of the Philippines Diliman Computer Centre 
Myann Ramirez PH Conference Network Technical Support Staff  Globe Telecom 
Linh Hoai Le VN Conference Network Administrator NetNam Corporation
Morokot Cheat KH Conference Government Official Ministry of Post and Telecommunications
Sasirat Chansirikiat TH Conference IP Engineer International Gateway Company Limited
Vasira Mysavath LA Conference Head of Network & integration system Digital Government Centre, Ministry of Technology and Communications
Lourdes Lay TL Conference ICT Operational Advisor Ministry Of Public Works

Table 1 — APNIC Foundation fellowship recipients.

Diversity and inclusivity in Tech

The Foundation is also hosting the Diversity and Inclusivity in Tech BoF session, which will include a discussion between the moderators and six panel members on the challenges around diversity in network operations in the Asia Pacific region.

You can learn more about the individual panel members on the APRICOT website — each of them brings different experiences working as women and gender-diverse engineers working in network operations in different parts of the region. They will discuss:

  • Identifying current trends and issues being observed in their field and specific economy.
  • Solutions at an organizational, national, and regional level.
  • Their experience in bringing diversity to a predominately male sector, and how their approaches to work and problem-solving have been informed by their personal experiences.
  • The barriers they faced and how they overcame them when joining the sector. Their opinions on diversity and inclusion in the field of network operations across the Asia Pacific region, and what would help to increase this at national and regional levels.

To wrap up the session, the panellists will be asked to give advice on how to start and thrive in network operations.

The Foundation is also presenting on Monitoring and Evaluation practices at the AP* retreat meeting on Sunday, 26 February. The presentation will be available to the public after the meeting.

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The views expressed by the authors of this blog are their own and do not necessarily reflect the views of APNIC. Please note a Code of Conduct applies to this blog.

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