Internet Research Task Force (IRTF)

From Wikipedia: Internet Research Task Force:

The Internet Research Task Force (IRTF) is a sister group to the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF). Its stated mission is “To promote research of importance to the evolution of the future Internet by creating focused, long-term and small Research Groups working on topics related to Internet protocols, applications, architecture and technology”.

The IRTF is managed by the Internet Research Steering Group (IRSG) which corresponds to the similar organization called Internet Engineering Steering Group (IESG) on the IETF side.