UN Working Group on Open Compute for Research, Education and Innovation 2026

The United Nations Office for Digital and Emerging Technologies (UN-ODET) is inviting experts to join its Working Group on Open Compute for Research, Education and Innovation. The group will develop a voluntary governance framework for shared computing infrastructure used in research, education and innovation, with particular relevance to researchers and educators in developing countries that have limited access to advanced computing capacity. The working group will have at least 30 members serving in their personal capacity. Members will be assigned to one of five task forces covering data immunity and control; access, allocation and continuity; safety and harmful-use prevention; sustainability, standards and enablement; or technical interoperability. Its final package, including a data immunity protocol and an interoperability and portability profile, is due to be presented at UN Open Source Week in May 2027. This is a remote expert working role. The plenary will meet virtually for 90 minutes each month. Task forces will normally meet virtually for at least one hour every fortnight, increasing to weekly meetings during drafting periods. English is the working language. The official materials do not state a stipend, honorarium or other financial award. Applicants should have relevant expertise in at least one of these areas: research and academia; compute provision and operations; public policy and regulation; open source and digital commons; standards, assurance and civil society; or financing public-interest infrastructure. Selection will consider expertise, gender parity, regional representation and the balance requirements in the Terms of Reference. The application asks for the applicant's professional profile, current role and affiliation, areas of expertise, years of relevant experience, a statement of up to 300 words on relevant expertise, links to relevant publications or projects, task-force preferences and a contribution statement of up to 250 words. Applicants must confirm that they can meet the schedule, work in English, serve in their personal capacity, disclose relevant commercial interests, file a declaration of interests if selected and keep unpublished drafts internal to the group. Applications are open until the end of September 2026. The public call states 30 September 2026. Applicants should submit the official online form before the deadline and read the linked Terms of Reference in full.

Open globally to individual experts. Applicants should have relevant professional experience in research and academia, compute provision and operations, public policy and regulation, open source and digital commons, standards, assurance and civil society, or financing public-interest infrastructure. Members serve in their personal capacity, must be able to work in English, attend monthly plenary and fortnightly task-force meetings through May 2027, disclose relevant commercial interests and accept the declaration and confidentiality requirements. Selection also considers gender parity and regional representation.