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Selection Committee

Thank you to our outgoing Selection Committee Members

We would like to extend our deepest gratitude to Jaya Baloo, Flavio Luciani, and Samaneh Tajalizadehkhoob, the Selection Committee members who are stepping down, for their invaluable contributions and dedicated service to the committee. Their expertise and commitment have significantly enriched the process, and their impact will be felt in the projects selected.

Selection Committee Members

The RIPE NCC Community Projects Fund Selection Committee currently consists of the following members.

Aydin Aslaner

Aydin Aslaner

Community Projects Fund Selection Committee Member

Aydin Aslaner is the Head of Microsoft Cybersecurity Public Sector team in the Middle East and Africa with twenty years of experience in security, identity and cyberspace. As part of his current role, he engages regularly with many enterprises, governments, and telecom providers to help build nationwide cybersecurity strategies. He has also worked on multiple IPv6-related initiatives over the last 15 years to help prepare large scale deployments across enterprises. Aydin is also a regular speaker at industry events and loves to share his experiences.

Fiona Krakenbürger

Fiona Krakenbürger

Community Projects Fund Selection Committee Member

Fiona Krakenbürger has a background in Open Source funding and has worked in Berlin and Washington D.C. as a Senior Program Manager. She is one of the initiators of the Sovereign Tech Fund, a fund dedicated to Open Source Infrastructure based in Germany. Previously she has worked at the US-based Open Technology Fund, supporting Internet Freedom projects worldwide, at the Prototype Fund in Germany she supported Civic Tech projects. Fiona has been an activist for digital literacy and diversity in tech for more than ten years.

Sami Salih Photo

Sami Salih

Community Projects Fund Selection Committee Member

Sami Salih, PhD., PMP®, is an ICT Regulatory Expert with a comprehensive 'pracademic' background in ICT Regulation, boasting over fifteen years of involvement in the ICT sector. His experience spans across prestigious organisations such as STC (Saudi Telecom. Company), TPRA (Sudanese telecom. regulatory authority), and SUDREN (Sudanese NERN). Additionally, he has been an active participant and contributor at various international organizations, including ITU, ETSI, ICANN, ISOC, UbuntuNet Alliance, and AFRINIC. Sami has also dedicated six years to teaching ICT at both undergraduate and postgraduate levels.


Apart from his academic engagements, Sami has played a significant role in the evaluation of academic performance at both regional and international levels, notably for FIRE Africa facilitated by AFRINIC and the Sponsored Research Program (SRP) provided by the Project Management Institute (PMI). His pracademic experience uniquely positions him to bridge the gap between academic evaluation methodologies, which focus on qualitative assessments and deep analysis of the impact of proposed projects on the RIPE NCC community and the broader Internet ecosystem.

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Lidia Stępińska-Ustasiak

Community Projects Fund Selection Committee Member

Lidia Stępińska-Ustasiak is a sociologist with a PhD in Sociology, specializing in the social impact of technology, digital skills, and the implications of ICT for human and institutional capacity building. With over 15 years of experience combining roles in the private sector, public administration, and academia, Lidia has made significant contributions in telecommunications and ICT sectors at organisations like T-Mobile, Orange, and UPC Poland.

As an International Collaboration Expert at the Polish Chamber of Commerce for Electronics and Telecommunications and Co-Founder of Polistratos – Institute for Systemic Innovation, she has a rich history of engagement in both policy and practical aspects of technology. Previously, Lidia served as the deputy director of the Department of Foreign Affairs in the Office of Electronic Communications (UKE) in Poland, overseeing international collaborations and contributing significantly to global conferences and forums.

Renowned for her insights into the societal implications of technology, she emphasizes the importance of sustainable digital ecosystems, ethical considerations in technological advancement, and the bridging of digital divides. Her unique perspective is informed by extensive experience in Responsible Research and Innovation, ensuring a balanced approach to technology that is inclusive, ethical, and forward-thinking, aiming to create a resilient and sustainable internet framework for the future.

Nuno Garcia

Nuno Garcia

Community Projects Fund Selection Committee Member

Nuno M. Garcia, a distinguished academic in the field of Computer Science Engineering, holds a PhD from the Universidade da Beira Interior (UBI, Covilhã, Portugal). His career is marked by a blend of entrepreneurship and scholarly pursuits, having been a member of the research teams at Siemens SA and Nokia Siemens SA, and Head of Research at PLUX SA. Currently, he serves as the Vice Dean of the Faculty of Engineering at UBI, as well as an Assistant Professor in the Computer Science Department at UBI and Invited Associate Professor at the Universidade Lusófona de Humanidades e Tecnologias in Lisbon, Portugal.

Nuno's experience extends to his role as the coordinator of the Cisco Academy at UBI. His professional and academic endeavors have deeply involved him in areas such as Next-Generation Networks, predictive algorithms for healthcare and well-being, distributed and cooperative algorithms, and advocating for a Free and Open Internet.

Having previously been a member of the first RIPE NCC Community Projects Fund Selection Committee, Nuno brings a nuanced understanding of the project submission process, particularly valuing innovation, community impact, diversity in team composition (preferably international), and well-structured plans and budgets. His scientific background and practical experience enable him to make well-informed decisions regarding the reliability and feasibility of the proposals, making him an invaluable asset in any project evaluation and selection process.

Job Snijders

Job Snijders

Executive Board Member

Job Snijders is a principal engineer at Fastly where he analyses and architects global networks for future growth. Prior to this role, Job led routing security initiatives at NTT Ltd's Global IP Network.

Job has been actively involved in the Internet community in both an operational and engineering capacity, and is a frequent presenter at network operator meetings such as RIPE, ITNOG, DKNOG, NANOG, APRICOT and NLNOG. Job co-chairs the IETF GROW working group, and is a director of the Route Server Support Foundation and PeeringDB. Job also is an OpenBSD developer

Website: sobornost.net/~job/
Twitter: @JobSnijders

Affiliated organisations:

  • Route Server Support Foundation
  • PeeringDB

Number of affiliated LIRs: 3