Jon Crowcroft is a pioneer in network technology, having developed the theory and practice of routing data across interconnecting computers. He has made pivotal contributions throughout the course of the Internet’s development as a means of mass communication. Jon’s work on satellite interconnection is helping to bridge the ‘digital divide’, enabling remote communities — rich or poor — to have broadband internet access.

Jon founded opportunistic networking: how network nodes can use real-time information about their connections to choose how to route data packets towards their destination. He is at the forefront of developing algorithms that can facilitate effective large-scale peer-to-peer networks. Jon’s work also extends to investigating social networking sites.

He is a former member of the Internet Architecture Board of the Internet Society, which works to promote the development of the Internet for the benefit of all people. In 2009, Jon received the SIGCOMM Award for lifetime contribution to the field of communication networks.