Fatani first gained academic insight into the different layers of the Internet architecture, its constraints and the development of its various standards and applications, experiencing Internet governance through the prism of the development of its technical infrastructure during his Engineering and computer science programme at the undergraduate level.
Upon continuing his studies at the postgraduate level, Fatani had the opportunity to explore technology from the perspective of the freedom of expression, privacy, and safeguarding of national interests which provided him with a better understanding of Internet governance as a multidisciplinary phenomenon. Fatani's MA dissertation on The Global Governance of the Internet: Context, ICANN and the Case Study of the Domain Name System Root, and his interaction inside the Department of Politics helped him develop a good comprehension of the social, cultural, and legal challenges that arose from the rapidly evolving Internet. This proved to be very influential when he came to consider possible prospects of doctoral research.
The decision to undertake a PhD program reflected Fatani's genuine interest in further exploring and contributing to the debate of the future of technological evolution. Through the course of Fatani's doctoral studies, he has had the opportunity to participate in both Rio and Hyderabad IGF as well as the regional UK IGF, enhancing his understanding of the different stances and dilemmas faced by stakeholders. Moreover, participating in an online course with Diplo Foundation, which introduced analytical insight in challenging Internet governance related topics, expanded his horizons on innovative methods of online learning and research.
While Fatani is currently interning at the Secretariat of the Internet Governance Forum in Geneva, his research is in the process of developing an open-source platform, through which different stakeholders can provide direct user-generated input to his thesis as a new form of data collection. If marketed appropriately, this could provide an excellent set of primary data that would otherwise use up a lot of time and resources. Although not a completely novel idea, Fatani believes the use of similar methodologies will pave the way for a new frontier of social science research.