Policy Fellows
2026 Policy Fellows
The 2026 cohort of the APNIC Policy Fellowship brings together three emerging leaders from across the Asia Pacific region. Each Fellow brings a unique perspective, background, and interest in Internet number resource (INR) policy.
Rafeeun Nobby Babir
Economy: Bangladesh
Rafeeun Nobby Babir is a network and Internet infrastructure professional from Bangladesh, currently working in gateway operations at Summit Communications Limited. He has experience across multiple areas of Internet infrastructure, including international connectivity, routing, peering, and network operations. He is also an APNIC Community Trainer and actively participates in regional technical communities such as bdNOG, SANOG, APRICOT, and APNIC.
His interests include Internet number resource policy, IPv6 deployment, routing security, network resilience, and capacity building. He is particularly interested in understanding how policy decisions affect real-world network operations and how increased community participation can strengthen Internet development across the Asia Pacific region.
Through the APNIC Policy Fellowship, Rafeeun hopes to deepen his understanding of the Policy Development Process, learn from experienced community members, and contribute practical operator perspectives to policy discussions. He also aims to encourage greater participation from Bangladesh’s network operator community by sharing knowledge gained through the fellowship and supporting more engineers to engage with APNIC’s policy processes.
Adelaide Sumartina
Economy: Timor-Leste
Adelaide Sumartina is from Timor-Leste, and has worked with Timor Telecom for more than 12 years. During this time, she has been involved in network monitoring, service quality, customer support, account management, reporting, and staff training. She has also completed training in networking, cybersecurity, IT support, and digital technologies.
Her interests include network performance, service improvement, cybersecurity, customer experience, and broader digital development. She is particularly motivated by opportunities to learn new technologies and share knowledge with others through training and mentoring.
Through the APNIC Policy Fellowship, Adelaide hopes to continue building her skills and knowledge while contributing to improvements in network services and customer experience. She also aims to support digital growth in Timor-Leste by sharing what she learns and helping others develop their technical capabilities.
Kaime Kipi
Economy: Papua New Guinea
Kaime Kipi is the Senior Manager of Sales at PNG DataCo Limited, with more than 20 years of experience in the ICT industry. He began his career as an IP Design and Planning Engineering Officer, and later worked as a Level 2 ISP Support Engineer, gaining extensive experience in designing, configuring, and deploying Wireless Local Loops (WLL), IP networks, and ISP points of presence across Papua New Guinea. In his current role, he engages with customers on technological solutions, network infrastructure, digital literacy, and telecommunications best practices.
He is passionate about bridging the digital divide and expanding access to reliable and affordable Internet services in underserved and unserved communities. He believes equitable connectivity is essential to enabling education, business, and socio-economic growth, and is motivated by the view that Internet access is increasingly a necessity rather than a luxury. He is also interested in the role of policy and regulatory frameworks in supporting safe, fair, and inclusive digital environments.
Through the APNIC Policy Fellowship, Kaime hopes to strengthen his understanding of how policy and regulatory frameworks shape Internet development and governance. He aims to contribute to discussions that support inclusive connectivity and to collaborate with others to improve access, innovation, and sustainability across the region.
2025 Policy Fellows
The 2025 cohort of the APNIC Policy Fellowship brings together three emerging leaders from across the Asia Pacific region. Each Fellow brings a unique perspective, background, and interest in INR policy.
Dr Saima Nisar
Economy: Pakistan / Malaysia
Dr Saima Nisar is a Lecturer at Xiamen University Malaysia with a Ph.D. in Information Technology. Her research is about how people use technology, how policies shape Internet use, and the governance of digital resources. She actively participates in policy discussions through roles such as NetMission Asia Pacific Public Policy Observatory (APPO) Policy Analyst, membership in Asia Pacific Regional Internet Governance (APrIGF), and as a Fellow at APNIC 56, APrIGF 2024, and Asia Pacific Advanced Network (APAN) Meeting 58.
Dr Nisar is particularly interested in connecting the technical and policy communities involved in Internet governance. She believes that policies should consider end-users’ experiences and needs, an idea she explored deeply in her Ph.D. research. She supports efforts to create policies that are both technically sound and easy to apply in practice.
Through the APNIC Policy Fellowship, Dr Nisar wants to better understand APNIC’s policy development process and actively contribute to policy discussions. Her main goal is to use what she learns to help develop practical policies that are fair, inclusive, and support sustainable digital growth.
Tsung-Yi Yu
Economy: Taiwan
Tsung-Yi is currently a student at National Yang Ming Chiao Tung University, focusing on network engineering, Internet governance, and public policy research and practice.
He was awarded an APNIC 54 fellowship and an Asia Pacific School on Internet Governance (APSIG) 2023 fellowship. He independently organized various regional Internet governance seminars and workshops, collaborating with experts and scholars across an Asia Pacific region.
On campus, he serves as a core member of the Youth Internet Governance Forum (yIGF), organizing regular reading sessions and hands-on projects to deepen peers’ understanding of digital rights, cybersecurity, and policy issues.
Passionate about the intersection of technology and regulation, he is particularly interested in AI governance, the European Union (EU) AI Act, and the Digital Services Act (DSA), aiming to combine his technical expertise with a public policy perspective to promote a more inclusive and secure Internet ecosystem.
Christopher Hawker
Economy: Australia
Christopher Hawker is a systems and network engineer with over a decade of experience in the industry, working on a range of networks from small office networks, up to designing and managing networks across enterprise, hosting, and carrier-grade environments. His professional background includes working on multi-site data centre operations, deploying border gateway protocol (BGP) and IPv6, and managing Internet infrastructure.
Christopher became actively involved in the APNIC PDP in 2023 and authored prop-156: Assignment of Temporary IP Resources, which he presented at APNIC 57.
He was also selected as an APNIC Foundation Internet Standards Fellow for Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) 119 and currently serves on the board of Internet Australia, the national chapter of the Internet Society.
He is particularly interested in enhancing transparency and accessibility in INR policy, with a focus on supporting small operators, community networks, and the practical realities of IPv6 adoption and address stewardship. His goal is to ensure that policy development remains grounded in operational experience and inclusive of diverse stakeholder perspectives.
Through the Policy Fellowship, Christopher hopes to deepen his engagement with the Internet governance community, refine his policy development capabilities, and collaborate with peers to address regionally significant challenges. He is committed to bridging the gap between technical practitioners and policy decision-makers to support a more resilient, equitable, and community-driven Internet.