Hosted by PERN (Pakistan Education & Research Network) and the Higher Education Commission of Pakistan.
The impact of Covid19 once again forced the APAN Meeting and Conference to move online for APAN51. The hosts of the event, PERN, gave the APAN community a wonderful sense of the cultural richness of their country leaving many of us regretting our inability to visit Islamabad and experience it directly.
The conference was held from February 1 – 5, 2021 and offered free registration. Over 1100 people from 55 countries registered for the event.
The Conference was opened by the President of Pakistan, Dr Arif Alvi whose comments and remarks underscored the Pakistan Government’s commitment and support for research and education within the country. As you would expect, there was extensive local and international media coverage of the event.
Participation of Pakistani Academia in APAN51
Pakistan’s participation in APAN51 was phenomenal. A total of 256 Participants participated from Pakistan that included 215 men and 41 women. The primetime of two days of the five-day event was handled by Emcees from PERN, Pakistan that include Osama Qadir Khan from Riphah University and Arsalan Ahmed from National University of Science & Technology.
The academia partnering with Asi@Connect on different projects remained actively engaged during the APAN51 by organizing sessions around their projects that include Software Defined Optical Network Session and SOC, SOAR & CTI Training. Further, PERN engineers actively collaborated and assisted with NSRC Instructors for the Routing Infrastructure Security Operations Workshop. The diverse inclusion of Keynote speakers was appreciated throughout the communities.
Cultural Performance during the APAN51 Inauguration:
PERN in collaboration with a media university, Shaheed Zulfikar Ali Bhutto Institute of Science and Technology, Islamabad and support from the Asi@Connect/ TEIN produced a cultural performance with the performances of the students. This was a unique showcase where all the performances, productions, recordings, designing, sound etc. were supported by the faculty members and the students. The performance, included, songs from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Punjab, Baluchistan and Sindh representing major Pakistani traditions.
Registrations Statistics:
Registrations
1121 Registrations from 55 Countries
Keynote speakers included:
Keynote: The Intelligent Edge: Integrating AI & Edge Computing
Prof. Dr. Omer Rana,
Professor,
Cardiff University,
United Kingdom
Prof. Dr. El-Nasir Lalani
Director & Professor,
Aga Khan University,
Pakistan
Keynote: Asia-Pacific Internet and its REN Strategy
Prof. Dr. Jun Murai,
Dean and Professor,
Keio University,
Japan
Eric Yen,
Research Scientist,
Academia Sinica Grid Computing
Centre, Taiwan
Louis Hyunho Choi,
Executive Officer,
TEIN,
Korea
Louis Hyunho Choi,
Executive Officer,
TEIN,
Korea
Chieh-Chih Estelle Cheng,
APAC Manager,
ORCID,
Taiwan
Social Interactions
Whova Event Management platform was selected by the APAN Program Committee for the event.
• The platform has the capability of Zoom integration, built-in chat, Q&A, polls and feedback options.
• The platform was also used for social interactions with the participants, where, Pakistani culture, heritage, music, food etc. channels were created and shared amongst the community. Some details of the Whova interactions are as follows:
a. 158 photos shared
b. 4357 messages exchanged
c. 318 Pakistani channel messages exchanged
d. 69 community board topics
News Coverage
President of Pakistan, Dr. Arif Alvi graced the inaugural ceremony of the conference. His presence has shown the Pakistan’s Government conviction as well as HECs commitment and support for the cause of research and education in the country. News coverage of the APAN51 can be found here
Feedback/ Appreciations/ Comments
Higher Education Commission and Pakistan Education & Research Network were appreciated by all communities for a well-organized virtual event, including the Chair of APAN, Prof Dr. Jilong Wang from Tsinghua University ,members from the APAN program committee, technical committee members, keynote speakers and the overall audience.
• Gerrit Bahlman, APAN Deputy Chair remarked, “Well done everyone – long live APAN!!”
• Andrew Howard from National Computational Infrastructure, Australia, Chair APAN technical committee, remarked, “Thanks for the massive hard work everyone”. Andrew said, “APAN51 even being virtual was a great Pakistan touch. He further remarked that PERN has raised the bar for Indonesian NREN who are APAN52 hosts”.
• Douglas Harre from New Zealand commented, “the whole PERN team did a great job. I certainly look forward to meeting you in Pakistan sometime soon”
• Markus Buchhorn, APAN General Manager remarked, “Thank you to the great hard-working teams, the LOC, the Sec, and all our committee volunteers. And what a great way to close the event”.
For more information on APAN51, please visit
https://apan51.pk / https://apan51.apan.net
