At the RIGF 2026 closing ceremony, the results of the sixth Special Course for Youth were summarized, and the abstracts by its participants were presented.

During the course, the participants attended six expert lectures and took part in three interactive workshops, where they developed abstracts reflecting young people’s perspectives on current issues in internet governance.

As the course curator, Arevik Martirosyan noted, significant effort went into not only organizing the lectures but also engaging with participants throughout the workshops and supporting the preparation of the final abstracts.

“This marks the sixth time the special course on internet governance for young people has been held, and the steadily growing interest each year is a clear evidence of the continued relevance of this topic. It is also important to highlight the outstanding work of the participants, who began to carefully develop their theses from the very first day. As a result, they produced 42 pages of high-quality material covering the six key themes of RIGF 2026. This comprehensive effort reflects a strong grasp of the subject, a thoughtful analytical approach, and the collaborative spirit of young people ready to contribute to shaping the digital agenda,” she added.

Anastasia Savelyeva, curator of the Summer School on Internet Governance and an invited expert for the Special Course, presented the Coordination Center’s youth project ecosystem. It includes the Digital Reality podcast and discussion club, the Youth Council of the Coordination Center, the Summer School on Internet Governance, and the RIGF Special Course.

Graduates Alyona Tsyplankova and Alexandra Ivanitskaya also shared their experiences of participating in the RIGF Special Course.

Both the short and full versions of the youth abstracts are available on the forum’s website, along with recordings of the webinars held as part of this year’s Special Course for Youth.

Recordings of the webinars held as part of this year’s Special Course for Youth are also freely accessible.

For reference, this year’s Special Course received 183 applications from participants across seven countries. In addition to Russia, applications came from Azerbaijan, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, China, and the Republic of Malawi. The majority of applicants were under the age of 22, followed by those aged 23 to 27. In terms of educational background, the largest groups included master’s degree holders, young professionals, researchers, and bachelor students. Women comprised the majority of applicants, accounting for more than 56% of the total.

Following the test assignment, 89 participants were admitted to the Special Course, of whom 60 advanced to the final stage. As in previous years, the group represented a wide range of professional backgrounds, including lawyers, political scientists, sociologists, psychologists, educators, journalists, economists, designers, and, of course, ICT professionals engaged in the development, administration, and security of information technologies.