[Community-Discuss] How are research projects selected at AFRINIC?

[Amreesh Phokeer]

Dear Sami,

Following our remote presentation on the Research and Innovation (R&I) Department update, you and some other delegates had some questions which I would try to answer on the list; perhaps this could spark more discussions/recommendations on the activities of AFRINIC Research.

Questions from the audience at AFRINIC-29:

####   What is the methodology for selecting research projects?  ####
We try, as much as possible, to work on research projects that will help formulate policies that can have a positive impact on the development of the Internet ecosystem in Africa. Research projects are therefore selected based on the mutual interest from AFRINIC Research partners and on potential impact it can bring.
Example of a policy brief, based on a research study:
<https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3269710>

####  Whether AFRINIC Research team takes feedback from the community on research needed and how does the research benefit the community with regards to issues faced by the community?  ####
We gather feedback based on the discussions we have during our meetings. For e.g. we presented a city-to-city latency analysis as a follow-up of the Africa Latency study at AFPIF, this year, based on requests we received on the microphone.  In the future, we intend to run a survey to get more detailed feedback on the needs of the community in terms of research. The team will launch an “Internet Measurement Awareness Survey” early next year to understand the “Internet measurement needs" of the community.

####   Is AFRINIC involved in research with regards to marketing and regulatory aspects?  ####
AFRINIC is definitely interested in understanding the dynamics of the ISP market and how it is influenced by the regulations in different countries. We have not done any research work on this aspect as at now, but this is a topic in which Research ICT Africa has a good expertise, we may consider collaborate with them in the future. 

You will find all research output from the R&I team in the last two years at this link:
<https://afrinic.net/research>

We also worked on a proof-of-concept of a data portal, which contains information such as IPv6 penetration, ISP market share, etc. Extending this platform is one of our main projects in 2019:

World Internet Data ExplorER (WIDER) Project
<http://wider.isoc.org.za>

Hope this helps. Please send any suggestions, research ideas, etc to AFRINIC Labs <ri at afrinic.net>

Kind regards,


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Amreesh D. Phokeer
R&D Manager, AFRINIC
t: +230 403 51 00 | f: +230 466 6758 | tt: @afrinic | w:

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@amreesh
Skype: amreesh.afrinic
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