[Npoc-discuss] Ioana Stupariu - Candidate Statement

Thu May 28 13:35:35 UTC 2020

Dear all,

Thank you first of all for the nomination and the trust shown - I feel humbled and honored, at the same time, by your trust, and will do my best to fulfil your expectations, if I will be elected.

You can find below my statement, as per NPOC's elections rules.

Name: Ioana Stupariu
Region of residence: Europe (currently in Romania/often in Hungary)
Gender: Female
Affiliation: President of two NGOs (Lawyr.it Association, which is an NPOC member, and AGORA Debate), Associate Professor at Babes-Bolyai University Law School (Romania), GigaNet Secretary. Also a tech regulation strategist, working with SMEs, owning and managing ReadyTech Consulting (independent consultancy)
Position applied for: NPOC Vice-Chair
Statement of interest: available here<https://community.icann.org/pages/viewpage.action?pageId=71605420>, also LinkedIn profile<https://www.linkedin.com/in/ioanastupariu/>.

Why you are running for the position?

My statement will have both a professional, as well a personal part - both of which I see as relevant, as the majority of you do not know me.

My experience in IG

I have been involved in Internet Governance ecosystems since 2017, when I first got introduced to the ICANN environment in an outreach campaign in Central Europe. I had already been aware of DNS policies and interference with human rights and society due to my master and doctoral research (on data regulation and privacy), so this allowed me to quickly become attached to what ICANN is doing. I have then become involved in South Eastern Europe Dialogue on IG (as an Ambassador) and organized an IGF (Hungary), the first of its kind. For those in academia, I am also a GigaNet Secretary since January 2019 (The Global Internet Governance Academic Network).

Since joining ICANN, I have been 3 times a fellow, twice a coach, and an NPOC mentee, having participated in almost all meetings since joining. I contributed primarily to comments (fellowship, privacy, budget), penned a couple, joined CCWG. I am currently in the NextGen evaluation committee and a CROP coordinator for NPOC. I am also an individual member of Euralo and NCUC, but I decided my main contribution should be towards making NPOC a stronger piece in the ICANN ecosystem, as leader of one of the NGOs I founded. Since joining NPOC as a mentee in 2018, I have followed discussions closely and tried to contribute as much as I could. For instance, throughout last year, I supported Caleb on implementing NPOC communications strategy. At the moment, I am happy to fill in as a Membership chair since earlier this year and be a CROP coordinator since last autumn, both roles allowing me to get a closer look at the intricacies of NPOC.

Why I am a good fit

For those that do not know me personally: I am a person of action. I don't speak much and often, and especially not unless I have something constructive to add. As a researcher, I like to be well documented before I issue an opinion, especially on those areas I do not usually deal with. I seek to always carry out my commitments, and make promises only inasmuch I can deliver on them. My time is divided among numerous commitments, so I like to be efficient and I do well with time (and project) management. I appreciate honesty and always seek to be straightforward.

I also have a varied experience and background (legal, civil society and academia, specialized in tech regulation), which allows me to better understand different views and positions, as well as to see things in perspective. Though I work with businesses, I ended up caring a lot about NPOC primarily because I care about not-for-profits and civil society, being an advocate for their rights, so much more relevant now, in the context of digitalization. If you wish, take this as a "hobby", what I like to do in my spare time, what motivates me and gives me joy.

Why I am running for this role

I strongly believe in the importance of representation and multi-stakeholderism, not just within ICANN, but in the broader society. I joined NPOC because I felt that not-for-profits' voice was not as strong as it should, within ICANN, and I was confident, due to my background, that I could contribute to changing this:

  *   I run two NGOs active in promoting democratic values, so I am well familiar with not-for profits' particular issues.
  *   As a tech strategist and law professor, I can also understand the material (legal, human rights) issues regarding DNS matters.
  *   I am (rather) young, I am a female in a highly male-dominated field, and from an underrepresented geographic area within ICANN, so I am well accustomed to having to work hard to make your voice heard and bring your contribution.
  *   I am also (relatively) new to ICANN, especially compared to many of my peers present here on the ICANN discussion lists.

All this gives me a unique understanding of what newcomers face, as I know, as a recent outsider, that it is not easy to get in. It is not easy to fully grasp the often complicated mechanisms within ICANN, and it certainly is not easy to make a real contribution, regardless of how competent or experienced you are outside ICANN.

As a Vice-chair, my personal focus would be, on the one hand, on engaging current members, finding out their relevant struggles and how we can better represent them, and on the other, bringing in new members, other not-for-profits that may not even be aware, at this point, of our existence. Moreover, having recently joined the NPOC EC and NCSG EC as a temporary Membership chair, I would continue to support the leadership in identifying and bringing forward our members' concerns to the broader ICANN community and leadership, with more transparency and better representativity.

I believe such a position would be a great fit for me, and the one in which I could best serve NPOC, as it would allow me to work together with each of my EC colleagues (Communication, Membership, Policy) on improving NPOC's position, adding my youthful energy and expertise. I think the current EC has done a tremendous job in their mandate, bringing a lot of positive changes, and I would very much like to continue walking on their steps. So I hope you will trust me with your vote for the next year!

Do you have any conflict(s) of interest? No.
How many hours per week you are able to dedicate to the position? 6-10h, depending on the need.
Are you involved in any working Groups or PDP efforts? Not actively at this point.

Ioana Stupariu
SJD Candidate - International Business Law
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Central European University
Department of Legal Studies
Nador u. 11, 1051 Budapest, Hungary
Phone: +40744251228
Stupariu_Ioana at phd.ceu.edu | www.ceu.edu<http://www.ceu.edu>

[Risultati immagini per ceu logo][https://drive.google.com/uc?id=1BagXXaNk9Ct-0E173kqDcdjXA1Ul7dPB&export=download]

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