APAN51
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51st Asia Pacific Advanced Network Meeting Proceedings
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Hosted by PERN (Pakistan Education & Research Network) and the Higher Education
Commission of Pakistan.
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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.
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The conference was held from February 1 – 5, 2021 and offered free registration. Over
1100 people from 55 countries registered for the event.
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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.
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Participation of Pakistani Academia in APAN51
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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.
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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.
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Cultural Performance during the APAN51 Inauguration:
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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.
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Registrations Statistics:
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Registrations
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1121 Registrations from 55 Countries
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Keynote speakers included: ( Pictures are in the folder "Keynote speakers" )
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Prof. Dr. Omer Rana,
Professor,
Cardiff University,
United Kingdom
The
Intelligent Edge: Integrating AI & Edge Computing
Prof. Dr. El-Nasir Lalani
Director & Professor,
Aga Khan University,
Pakistan
From hope
to cure: The advent of Stem Cell
Prof. Dr. Jun Murai,
Dean and Professor,
Keio University,
Japan
Asia-Pacific Internet and its REN Strategy
Eric Yen,
Research Scientist,
Academia Sinica Grid Computing
Centre, Taiwan
Experiences
from regional collaborations on disaster mitigation
Louis Hyunho Choi,
Executive Officer,
TEIN,
Korea
NREN
sustainability: a journey, not a destination
Louis Hyunho Choi,
Executive Officer,
TEIN,
Korea
The
Challenge of R&E Network Research after COVID
Chieh-Chih Estelle Cheng,
APAC Manager,
ORCID,
Taiwan
ORCID and
How it Works with Research Community
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Social Interactions
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Whova Event Management platform was selected by the APAN Program Committee for the
event.
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• The platform has the capability of Zoom integration, built-in chat, Q&A, polls and
feedback options.
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• 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:
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a. 158 photos shared
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b. 4357 messages exchanged
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c. 318 Pakistani channel messages exchanged
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d. 69 community board topics
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News Coverage
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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
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Feedback/ Appreciations/ Comments
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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.
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• Gerrit Bahlman, APAN Deputy Chair remarked, “Well done everyone - long live APAN!!”
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• 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”.
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• 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”
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• 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”.
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For more information on APAN51, please visit
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https://apan51.pk / https://apan51.apan.net
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