The 50th APAN Meeting and the very first APAN Conference, originally to be held at City University of Hong Kong, became an online event due to the COVID-19 pandemic. With free registration, the conference was successfully held from 3 August to 7 August 2020, attracting over 1200 registrants worldwide, a multi-fold increase compared to previous APAN Meetings.

The Joint Universities Computing Centre (JUCC) assisted in coordinating and hosting APAN50 at a time when JUCC was celebrating its 50th anniversary. This double-50 made this APAN meeting exceptionally memorable. In line with APAN’s tradition of show casing the host economy’s local traditions, the cultural performances prepared by City University of Hong Kong, Lingnan University and Beijing Dance Academy added a splash of colour to the online event!

APAN50’s theme was “The Future of Networked Research and Education”. Keynote speakers and panel discussions were used to develop the theme during the conference segment of the event. The keynote speakers included Michael A. McRobbie (President, Indiana University), Geoff Huston AM (Chief Scientist, APNIC), and Dominic Orr (Chairman, Ordr Inc). For details of the conference, please refer to:https://apan50.hk/.