The GIG-ARTS network is composed at this step of 19 partners, from 13 countries (10 EU and 3 third countries). The partnership list's table provides links to their respective biographical information.
The network partnership diversity is multilevel: geographical, cultural, gender-based, experience-based, disciplinary, as well as in its members' scientific approaches and interests.
Regarding the partnership relevance to the project, all GIG-ARTS members are experts in global Internet governance research, researching it through different research topics and angles, making almost all Internet governance related issues addressed by the network. In addition, most of the GIG-ARTS partners have been working on or are actively engaged in regional or global Internet governance policymaking processes and arenas. Finally, most of them serve or have served in major scholarly associations and editorial boards of relevant academic journals.
Partnership extension may be considered in the future, in terms of disciplines, geographical diversity and extension to non-academic stakeholders.

The GIG-ARTS network is composed at this step of 19 partners, from 13 countries. The following table provides links to their respective biographical information.

^*Andrea Calderaro is now with Cardiff U., United Kingdom.

Multiple-level diversity of the GIG-ARTS network

The 10 represented EU countries are: France (2 partners, including the coordinator), Austria (2 partners), Belgium, Denmark, Germany, Italy (2 partners), Malta, Poland, The Netherlands (2 partners), and United Kingdom (2 partners). The 3 third countries are: Brazil, Canada, and USA (2 partners).
In addition to this geographic and cultural diversity, many members have strong personal and/or professional links with other EU countries or countries from Eastern and Southern EU neighbourhood. They also have good contacts with third countries other than the ones included in the current network membership (especially from the Africa and Asia regions).
The network shows an excellent gender balance, being composed by 10 women (including the coordinator) out of 19 scientific members: Agnès Callamard (USA), Marianne Franklin (United Kingdom), Jeanette Hofmann (Germany), Joanna Kulesza (Poland), Nanette Levinson (USA), Robin Mansell (United Kingdom), Meryem Marzouki (France), Jeanne Mifsud-Bonnici (The Netherlands), Michèle Rioux (Canada), and Katharine Sarikakis (Austria). This is a feature uncommon enough in academic consortia to be worth underlining. In addition, more than 25% of the network members are researchers in their early career steps, i.e. with less than 8 years since the award of their PhD: Sergio Branco (Brazil), Andrea Calderaro (Italy), Mikkel Flyverbom (Denmark), Joris van Hoboken (The Netherlands), and Joanna Kulesza (Poland).
From a disciplinary point of view, GIG-ARTS members are Social Sciences researchers. Four main disciplines are represented: Law (7 researchers), Political Sciences (6 researchers), Media and Communication Studies (5 researchers) and Economy (1 researcher), as shown in the members’ summary table. Network members are themselves characterized by their scientific approaches and interests spanning disciplinary boundaries (political economy; political sociology; regulation and policy studies; law and economics; communication and policy; science, technology and society; sociology of organisations; international relations; development studies; etc.).

Relevance of the GIG-ARTS network scientific competence and experience

GIG-ARTS members are experts in global Internet governance research, researching it through different research topics and angles, making almost all Internet governance related issues addressed by the network. As their publications and other productions show, in addition to their respective reputations in the field, they count among the most renowned researchers on global Internet governance, producing state-of-the-art scientific analyses in the field, particularly on the scientific set of questions the targeted H2020 project will address, namely: Actors, Regulations, Transactions and Strategies in global Internet governance processes. Space does not allow the inclusion in this document of a comprehensive list of references relevant to the GIG-ARTS proposal. However, the publications list of all GIG-ARTS partners (available through their websites provided above) already covers a great deal of scientific productions on the topic, almost their entirety if we considered authors they are themselves citing. The choice was thus made not to provide any reference in this project proposal document, as this would have been necessarily incomplete and not even reflecting the whole range of issues this proposal intends to address.
In addition, most of the GIG-ARTS partners have been working on or are actively engaged in regional or global Internet governance policymaking processes and arenas, such as the UN Internet governance Forum and similar settings. Many GIG-ARTS network members works and/or have long established professional relationships with most of the concerned intergovernmental organisations, such as the OECD, the Council of Europe, the UNESCO, the ITU, the WTO, the WIPO and, of course, relevant European Union bodies (including regulatory agencies) and own national government agencies and regulators. Relationships with civil society and Internet technical organisations is also common among partners, some of them being involved in the works of such organisations and a number of them working on related issues.
Finally, as their respective biographical information show, most of the GIG-ARTS Network members serve or have served in major scholarly associations and editorial boards of academic journals relevant to the targeted work according to its stated objectives, both scientific and organisational.

Possible GIG-ARTS Network extensions

The disciplines represented in the current network are: Political Sciences; Law; Media and Communication; and Economy. They are considered as the most relevant with regards to the main scientific objectives stated for the targeted H2020 project: exploring global Internet governance political actors, issues, and institutionalisation processes involve the study of power relationships between these actors and of the strategies they develop to advance their objectives; given the highly dialogic and discursive features of Internet governance arenas, and more generally speaking the vision of the Internet as a public sphere, the analysis of the communication strategies and discourses at work is of crucial importance; law and normative orders studies are obviously involved in the study of regulations and human rights and democracy principles at stake with Internet governance issues; and finally, the economy of regulations and transactions is an important dimension of the defined set of scientific questions for this targeted project. Although very quickly and ideal typically stated here, the scientific objectives and approaches of the targeted project fully justify the selection of currently represented disciplines. Possible disciplinary extensions of the network may however involve a consolidation of the Economy dimension and, if need be, the inclusion of Sociology.
In terms of countries, there is a need for geographic extensions, if only to fulfil the organisational objectives of the targeted proposal (both “Organising the global Internet governance academic community” and “Knowledge-sharing and networking with non academic stakeholders”). As for now, only three third countries are represented in the network, chosen because of their important participation in global Internet governance processes and, in the specific case of Brazil, the originality of the national Internet governance process which led to the adoption of the Marco civil da Internet (the Brazilian framework of Internet rights and principles). However, Internet governance obviously has a global impact, including on countries and regions where the Internet infrastructure and Internet uses are not yet as developed as in other parts of the world. The GIG-ARTS Network will thus explore possible other partnerships with colleagues from Africa, Asia, and the rest of Latin America. In addition and as already said, the targeted H2020 project intends to particularly address the EU Eastern and Southern neighbourhood. To this end, partners from these countries will be also included.
Finally, extension to non-academic stakeholders is a necessary move for a project targeting science diplomacy. The GIG-ARTS Network will thus establish contacts with this category of organisations and institutions, nationally, regionally and globally as well as thematically considering their respective mandates. However, rather than looking for full partnership with them, the GIG-ARTS Network will probably work on establishing some kind of “club of GIG-ARTS associates”, as this sounds more relevant for relationships with non-academic organisations.