The Introduction of the First Cohort of WIC Global Youth Leaders

Since the World Internet Conference (WIC) Global Youth Leadership Program was first launched in August this year, it has received applications from nearly 60 countries and regions around the world. Major international organizations, leading global internet enterprises and renowned scholars in the field of the internet have also recommended candidates. After evaluation, 18 outstanding young people from 14 countries and regions on 5 continents made it to the selected list after going through a rigorous screening process.

Ayaz Karimov 

 (Azerbaijan)

Ayaz Karimov, currently pursuing a PhD in Information Technology at the University of Jyväskylä, Finland, is the Khan Academy Azerbaijan Localization Team Leader, managing a team of more than 500 volunteers dedicated to delivering a world-class education to students across the country, especially those with limited access to quality education and digital literacy. He has led the team through the localization of more than 9,000 videos and other educational content in Azerbaijani in partnership with the Ministry of Education. Ayaz is also the co-founder and Chief Product Officer of Inskillz and works as a Product Manager at the Cyber Academy in Switzerland.

Iris Feng

(China)

Iris is currently the Vice President of Cisco Greater China. She is responsible for Cisco’s Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area business, including Hong Kong, Macao and South China, leading Cisco’s business development, planning and operations in the region; she is also responsible for Greater China's corporate overseas business and automotive business, and is committed to helping Chinese companies move towards globalization. She is committed to advocating for the development of women in the IT industry, exploring the diversity and possibilities of Internet talent building in organizing "Women of Impact" events.

Francis Acquah Amaning

(Ghana)

Francis Acquah Amaning is the President of the Internet Society Ghana Chapter, one of the founding members of the Ghana Internet Governance Agency (GIGA), as well as the System Administrator of the Ghana Domain Name Registry (GDNR), and Co-Chair of the Ghana Internet Governance Forum (GIGF). He has led a number of initiatives aimed at promoting Internet access, digital literacy and cybersecurity in Ghana, and has been instrumental in increasing Internet penetration in Ghana, advancing Ghana's digital presence, formulating Ghana's interconnection governance policy, and ensuring the stability and security of Ghana's domain name system.

Federica Morici 

(Argentina) 

Federica is the founder of Estudiantes Digitales and is committed to utilizing new technologies to provide high quality education in the fields of law and technology on a global scale, having trained over 20,000 people in 14 countries worldwide. She also has experience in the legal profession specializing in cybercrime, digital evidence, artificial intelligence, and transnational matters, and has won the Mendoza Outstanding Young Leader Award, the Argentine TOYP Ten Outstanding Young People Award, and the Ibero-American Young Leader Award.

Franka Viktoria Weckner

(Germany)

Franka Viktoria Weckner is currently studying at the Law School of the University of Heidelberg, Germany, and is very active in the field of international governance of the Internet. She has attended multilateral meetings such as the Third Committee of the United Nations General Assembly and the Group of Seven (G7) Youth Summit as a German youth delegate. She has also used platforms such as the G7 Youth Advisory Group on Global Solidarity and Health, the Working Group on the Internet for Social Cohesion, and the Young European Leaders Program to interact with young people from different countries, advise governments, and participate in policy development.

Halima Mohamed

(Bahrain)

Halima Mohammed is a Senior Telecommunications Specialist at the Ministry of Transportation and Telecommunications in Bahrain. She has extensive expertise and practical experience in emerging technologies such as ICT, AI and IoT. She has worked as a Senior AI Data Scientist at the Nasser Artificial Intelligence Research and Development Center and an Adjunct Lecturer at the University of Bahrain, where she has published several public articles on Artificial Intelligence and the Internet of Things. She is interested in the global Internet space and is actively involved in youth activities and initiatives in Bahrain, where she aspires to contribute to the advancement of Internet technology, industry and governance.

Danil Kerimi

(Turkmenistan)

Danil Kerimi has extensive experience in international affairs, currently serving as a member of the Independent Advisory Oversight Committee of the World Intellectual Property Organization, and has held positions at the United Nations, the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe, the International Organization for Migration and other international institutions. During his time at the World Economic Forum, he led the development of the Global Network of Centers for Technology Governance in collaboration with a number of Eurasian governments and business leaders. With a background of combined expertise in policy and technology, he has furthered his studies or research at Shandong University, the Diplomatic Academy of Vienna, Harvard University, Stanford University, and the Technical University of Munich, among others.

Leng Feng

 (China)

Dr. Leng Feng is the Director of Operation and Management Department of China Internet Network Information Center (CNNIC) and a senior engineer. Dr. Leng focuses on technical research and engineering construction implementation in domain names, routing and other Internet infrastructure resources. In the planning and design of the ccTLD global service platform, engineering construction and emergency response, Leng Feng and his team have maintained  service availability for core services for many consecutive years. As a former executive member of Asia-Pacific Network Information Center (APNIC), Leng Feng was also actively involved in the formulation of IP address, routing management and other related policies in the Asia-Pacific region.

Rajan Parajuli

(Nepal)

Rajan Parajuli is currently the Executive Director of the Nepal Research and Education Network (NREN) and a board member of the Nepal Telemedicine Association, and has more than 15 years of experience working in the areas of management and operation of research and education networks, and ICT development programs. During his doctoral studies, he focused on telemedicine applications in rural Nepal, especially the use of telemedicine technology to increase women's access to healthcare, and has published dozens of articles in academic journals. In addition to playing a key role in NREN, Rajan is also actively involved in APAN (Asia-Pacific Advanced Network) related activities for research and collaboration in the Asia-Pacific region.

Paul Lam

 (Hong Kong, China)

Paul Lam is currently the Director of Strategic Development at TuSimple and a member of the Global Advisory Board of the World Economic Forum's Digital Twin Cities Program. After earning a Master's degree from the University of Cambridge, he worked for the International Finance Corporation (IFC) of the World Bank Group and other international organizations, and from 2018 to 2022, he served as the Digital and Technology Officer of the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB), where he proposed and led the development of the AIIB's Digital Infrastructure Sector Strategy. As an internationally recognized infrastructure technology expert and practitioner, he pioneered the concept of "Infratech" in government and the private sector and published the book "Digital Infrastructure Sector Analysis".

Raneem Saliem Zaitoun

(Canada)

Raneem Saliem Zaitoun is a Sales Solutions Specialist at Microsoft. With a diverse background and experience, she co-founded the Meetable platform while studying at the University of British Columbia (UBC), which matches thousands of university students based on courses and interests. She was named one of UBC's top ten starups and was recognized by the Vancouver startup community and entered Canada's "Youth Impact Challenge" finals. In 2023, Raneem represented the youth of the Arab region at the ITU meeting where she discussed topics such as Artificial Intelligence, Green Technology, and Youth Innovation and Entrepreneurship. 

Shi Chengchuan

(China)

Shi Chengchuan is the founder and CEO of Guangzhou Voibook Technology Co., Ltd. and the supervisor of Guangdong Association of Deaf. He became deaf in both ears at the age of 11 due to illness, but he overcame the difficulties and was admitted to the Department of Mathematics of Jinan University with a score of 41 points beyond the first class line in the college entrance examination. In 2016, Shi Chengchuan founded Voibook Technology, which is committed to improving the communication status of the hearing impaired through artificial intelligence technology and building a service platform for the hearing impaired, and has cumulatively provided services to more than 1,000,000 users of the hearing impaired, and more than 100 various types of public service organizations. Shi Chengchuan has been awarded the 2019 Guangdong Province Self-improvement Model, 2020 Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macao Bay Area Outstanding Young Entrepreneurs, and 2020 Forbes Asia "30 under 30" and other honors.

Wang Bo

(China)

Wang Bo is an assistant professor and doctoral supervisor at Tsinghua University, and a board member of the Asia-Pacific Advanced Networking Organization (APAN). She has long been engaged in the research of key technologies of next-generation Internet, and has won the first prize of the Science and Technology Award from the China Institute of Communications, recognized as one of the Top 10 N2Women Rising Stars in Computer Networking and Communications and selected into the Young Elite Scientists Sponsorship Program by the China Association for Science and Technology, and her research results have been published in the top international conferences and journal papers in the field of computer network, and a number of her achievements have been deployed and applied by well-known enterprises. She participates in the scientific research work of Zhongguancun National Laboratory, National Key Laboratory of Computer Network Architecture, and National Engineering Research Center of Next Generation Internet Core Technology as a key member.

Ern Chern Khor 

 (Malaysia)

Ern Chern Khor is currently pursuing a PhD in science and technology policy at the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology, where she focuses on how to help groups such as the elderly and women use the Internet through the development of better policies. She specializes in innovative methods such as machine learning and has co-authored the United Nations Asian and Pacific Training Centre for Information and Communication Technology for Development (APCICT) study on ICT for ageing. She has extensive experience in international collaborations and academic exchanges and is fluent in Chinese, Malay, Korean and English.

Ye Chenhui 

(China)

Ye Chenhui is currently responsible for the research of "AI and 6G wireless communication network in China" at Nokia-Bell Labs in Shanghai, which utilizes AI-for-6G technology to accelerate and expand the capacity of 6G, and uses the 6G network as a base to empower the digital transformation of major vertical sectors. Ye Chenhui has invented and applied for more than 70 international and domestic invention patents, published more than 30 international top academic papers, authored 2 white papers on 6G communication, and participated in writing more than 10 international standardization papers. 

Emmanuel Mutabazi

(Rwanda)

Emmanuel Mutabazi is the Founder and CEO of Mutware Educate, which promotes the shift from traditional models to digitalization in the education of children and youth in the Great Lakes region of Africa. As head of the Mutware Kid program, which is supported by the Swiss African Science and Business Innovators Residency program, among others, Emanuel has been recognized as one of the "40 Young African-German Business Leaders under 40" in 2022.

Juliana Novaes

 (Brazil)

Juliana Novaes is pursuing a PhD related to Artificial Intelligence at the University of Leeds, where her research focuses on the application of Artificial Intelligence standards in government and the public sector. As a Latin American woman, she has a strong interest in addressing digital development issues in developing countries, and her work in digital development has led her to become a member of the Brazilian delegation to the ITU World Telecommunication Development Conference and a member of the Board of Directors of the ITU's "Generation Connect". She is a mentor for the Brazilian Youth Initiative, launched by the Brazilian Internet Steering Committee, and has published several research papers in Portuguese and English.

Moksh Jawa 

(USA)

Moksh Jawa is currently a Schwarzman Scholar at Tsinghua University. He is passionate about public service and focuses on utilizing technology to promote educational equity, having authored a 450-page textbook and an 11-hour introductory Java online course used by over 100,000 students internationally. 2021, he graduated from the University of Pennsylvania with a B.S., M.S. in Computer Science and a B.A. in Economics. He worked as a software engineer at startup Retool from 2021 to 2023, where he was involved throughout the development of several functional modules related to artificial intelligence.

The first group of Global Youth Leaders will be invited to participate in this year's World Internet Conference Wuzhen Summit, and make a collective appearance at the “Youth and Digital Future” Forum. They will share the voice of youth on internet technology, industry and governance through keynote speeches, cross-generation dialogues and other forms of exchanges to gather the power of global youth, and help build a community with a shared future in cyberspace. In the future, the WIC will launch a series of activities under the framework of the Global Youth Leadership Program, and will work with all parties to build an open, inclusive and vibrant youth community of international organizations.

You May Want to Know...

2022年7月12日，世界互联网大会国际组织正式成立，总部设于中国北京。我们将致力于搭建全球互联网共商共建共享平台，推动国际社会顺应信息时代数字化、网络化、智能化趋势，共迎安全挑战，共谋发展福祉，携手构建网络空间命运共同体。

WIC was formally established on July 12, 2022. It is headquartered in Beijing, China. We are ready to work with friends who are committed to promoting the development of the Internet to build a global Internet platform for extensive consultation, joint contribution and shared benefits, promote the international community to follow the trend of digitization, networking and intelligence in the information age, address challenges for common development, and build a community with a shared future in cyberspace.

Click the"阅读原文"button at the end of article

 to visit official WIC website

✦

Related Readings

✦

Scan QR Code

to Follow Us

Click here to visit official WIC website~