Jennifer Arbour, MBA is the Global Lead for Academic Research Strategy at Amazon Web Services (AWS), where she works with researchers, academic institutions, and national research organizations worldwide to accelerate research and innovation with cloud technology. With over 20 years of experience in IT and a career spanning executive leadership roles across higher education, national research infrastructure, and the public sector specializing in national and international research ecosystem strategy. Jennifer brings a deep understanding of the challenges facing the global research community, from institutions and researchers to funders, service providers, and governments. Based in Ottawa, Canada, she is dedicated to helping research and education communities unblock access to cloud services and empowering researchers to focus on what they do best — advancing discovery and driving impact.
Deputy To Manager and Commissioner of Open Government and ICT for strategic planning of ICT and resources at Rovira i Virgili University (Digital Strategist)
Member of the eIDAS Toolbox Process Expert Group (EUDI Wallet)
Convenor Educational credentials use case at EBP (EBSI)
Convenor Educational credentials and professional qualifications use case at eIDAS ToolBox Process
Member of the OOTS & EUDI Wallet Synergies and Interoperability Contact Group
DC4EU Educational credentials and Professional qualifications WP leader
Chris Atherton is a Research Engagement Officer at GÉANT, focusing on providing cutting-edge pan-European networking, and trust and identity services. His role focuses on supporting International user communities and organisations, as well as identifying new solutions to specific research requirements primarily in the Earth Observation, Astronomy and Planetary Science communities. Chris has over 10 years’ experience working in the IT and Space industry prior to joining GÉANT and holds a BSc (Hons) in Computer Networks and Security.
Pål Axelsson is currently leading the Swedish Academic Identity Federation SWAMID that he has been part of since it was created 15 years ago. In his work with SWAMID Pål specializes in identity federation policies and contributes to this area within REFEDS. Pål has since the mid-nineties worked at Uppsala University with AAI architecture until he left for a full-time work with SWAMID at the Swedish NREN SUNET in 2016.
Edward Balas has been developing technical solutions for the R&E community since leaving the industry in the early 2000s. He is currently the Measurement and Analysis Group Lead at ESnet and is the head of the MetrANOVA consortium. His prior experience includes extensive work with Software Defined Networking, Security Analytics, and Network Modeling.
Scott has been involved in securing high performance computing and networking for nearly 25 years, working in a number of research and education related organizations. He is currently working at GEANT as a Security Architect.
Alexander Carôt, born 1974, is professor in media computer science and the dean of the department of computer science and languages at Anhalt, University of applied sciences. Besides a practical training in programming and electrical engineering, he has actively been playing bass and the NS-Chapman-Stick in several rock, pop and jazz ensembles. In 2004 he received a german engineering diploma within an interdisciplinary study program in order to combine the arts and technology. Motivated by the passion for remote music performances with musicians in different places, he completed his PhD in computer science in 2009 at the University of Lübeck/Germany. In 2010 he has been appointed Full Professor in media computer science at the University of Applied Sciences, Anhalt, Germany and additionally received his state doctorate (Habilitation) in the field of audio communication at the technical University of Berlin, Germany in 2021. Since 2005 he has been developing the “Soundjack” software (http://www.soundjack.eu) which has been used in numerous network music performances all over the world. Besides continuously improving “Soundjack” in terms of signal latency, quality and usability he is playing in various remote music ensembles. In his recent research and development activities he is focusing on novel multimodal delay-optimized transmission approaches especially in the context of music ensembles with up to 100 participants.
I am a Senior Scientist in Data Science and Artificial Intelligence at the AIT Austrian Institute of Technology, specializing in applied AI for networking and industrial applications. My research focuses on AI/ML methods for network monitoring, network security, anomaly detection, and industrial AI solutions aimed at improving efficiency, sustainability, and productivity, with a strong emphasis on explainable and scalable AI systems.
I hold Ph.D. degrees in Computer Science from Télécom Bretagne (France) and in Electrical Engineering from Universidad de la República (Uruguay). Before joining AIT in 2016, I worked as a Senior Researcher at the Telecommunications Research Center Vienna (FTW) and as a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the LAAS-CNRS lab, focusing on machine learning, network traffic analysis, and cybersecurity.
Over the past 15 years, I have led and contributed to 34 national and international projects as a project manager, PI, and researcher, published more than 230 peer-reviewed papers in leading networking venues, received 18 international awards, supervised multiple PhD and master students, and served as organizer and chair of major conferences and workshops in network measurement, AI, and machine learning for networking. Check my research at https://pcasas.me/
Dr Tim Chown is the Network Development Manager for Jisc, who operate Janet, the UK's research and education network. He has been active in the R&E networking community for over 25 years, having been involved in the formation of eduroam within the TERENA TF-MOBILITY WG and early European IPv6 deployment projects such as 6NET. More recently he has participated in the large-scale data challenges run by the CERN experiment community and the associated research networking performance tests.
Tim's interests include network performance and monitoring, IPv6, network security, and network automation. He is a Visiting Fellow at the University of Southampton and an active contributor to the IETF, where he co-chairs the happy WG that seeks to improve browser connectivity behaviour and serves on the Internet and Operations Area Directorates.
Matteo Colantonio has been an Optical Network Engineer at Consortium GARR since 2021. Matteo holds a B.Eng. in Electronic Engineering from La Sapienza University of Rome (2017) and an M.Sc. in Photonic Engineering from the Eindhoven University of Technology and the Sant'Anna School of Advanced Studies, Pisa (2020).
Lætitia A Delvaux holds an M.Sc.Eng. degree in Computer Science from the University of Liège, Belgium (1999). She is working for PSNC, the Poznań Supercomputing and Networking Center, and is perfSONAR Service Manager in the GÉANT project. She has participated in different network and services monitoring activities, both on the operational and the software development sides, for many years and various (N)REN (Belnet, Dante, PSNC, WACREN, International Networks @ Indiana University). She is involved in the perfSONAR project since 2008.
Veronika Di Luna is a Programme Manager at GÉANT where for the past 10 years she has led a range of EU-funded projects and strategic internal initiatives. More recently Veronika has been focusing on an internal analysis on future funding and securing a financial framework between GÉANT and the European Commission, as well as contribution to the internal transformation team. Veronika is passionate about diversity and equality, and chairs GÉANT’s Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Committee.
Casper works as a Trust and Security Service Specialist at GÉANT, focusing Trust and Security services, such as eduroam, eduGAIN and TRANSITS.
He is also the task leader Enabling Communities in the GN5-2 project.
Maria is working in the SUNET CERT with focus on incident response and vulnerability scannning. She has a very long experience from CSIRT work in the academic sector. She is now the leader of the Human Factor Crisis Management sub task and is also facilitating crisis exercises for the SUNET community.
Peter Eikelboom is Product Owner of the Npuls Eduwallet Project and has been designing and delivering online and mobile solutions for different organisaties for over 30 years. For the past 7 years, Peter has focused on SSI ecosystems with wallets, digital identities and verifiable credentials. He currently works for Npuls.nl, where he explores what a wallet can mean for education and the labor market.
Mike Erickson is Interim Vice President for Community Engagement and Impact at Internet2. In this role has responsibility for community relationships, membership, and engagement opportunities and programming across the US research and education community.
Prior to working at Internet 2, Mike served as Chief Information Officer at two US universities, most recently at Colorado School of Mines. He is a champion for celebrating and leveraging the diversity that we enjoy throughout the R&E community.
Cheryl Andrea Fernando has a strong interest in the evolving role of AI and its impact on digital security. She is currently pursuing her master's degree in cybersecurity at Radboud University, with keen interest in how emerging technologies shape the security, privacy and resilience of online environments.
While working at SURF, the Dutch NREN, Cheryl explored the challenges in AI bot mitigation. She researched various approaches that help content owners safeguard their material from large-scale automated scraping and sophisticated bots across different infrastructure setups.
Cheryl will be presenting a Lightning Talk at TNC26, which will take place in Helsinki, Finland, from 8 - 12 June 2026.
Amanda Ferrante is a Principal Product Manager for Identity & Access Management at EBSCO Information Services, where she focuses on improving how researchers access scholarly resources while supporting scalable, secure administration for libraries and research institutions. Her work is grounded in the needs of organizations navigating privacy, security, and user experience in a rapidly evolving access landscape.
Amanda is an active contributor to cross-sector initiatives spanning libraries, publishers, universities, and NRENs. She serves on the Community Trust & Assurance Board for Internet2 InCommon, participates in the SeamlessAccess Outreach Committee, and is involved in the Scholarly Networks Security Initiative, working collaboratively to address shared challenges in access, security, and trust across the scholarly ecosystem.
She joined EBSCO in 2017 and holds an MLIS from Simmons University.
Full Professor at the Faculty of Computer Science and Engineering. Teaching and conducting research in the areas of complex networks, service management architectures, cyber security and cloud/edge computing. Has published over 150 papers in various international journals and conferences and participated in a number of national and international projects. Head of the faculty CSIRT and a representative in ACM Women in Computing.
Zoë Fischer works at GÉANT Association as an Information Security Graduate after completing her master’s degree in communication science with a specialisation in political communication at the University of Amsterdam. In her role at GÉANT, she supports the security team by assisting with organisational and communication tasks. This includes coordinating events such as the security conference, writing reports, helping to manage a ISO certification process, and being the service owner for the vulnerability management service.
She is interested in combining her background in communication science, with the technical field of cybersecurity. She sees opportunities to use her understanding of information dissemination to improve cybersecurity strategies, and to bridge the gap between technical complexity and user awareness.
Mark has spent the past decade and a half working with higher education and research organisations across Europe. In addition to being the Microsoft SME for the OCRE frameworks, he brings extensive experience in cloud migration, data governance, HPC, and large scale research data architectures, supporting data driven and AI first institutional strategies.
Bob Flynn is a long-time leader and agitator in the higher education cloud computing community with an obsession for bringing people together to share knowledge, innovate, and create solutions of mutual benefit. Before coming to Internet2, Bob worked for many years at Indiana University. While there, in addition to his day job, he was co-chair of the EDUCAUSE/Internet2 Cloud Computing Community Group (CCCG), and member and chair of multiple higher ed cloud service advisory boards. Bob now provides staff support to the CCCG, runs Internet2’s Cloud Infrastructure Community Program, CLASS training program, and chairs the Higher Education Cloud Forum. He works each day to help advance the exploration, understanding, and adoption of cloud technologies around the research and education community. Bob’s college history may have predated printed records. His degrees were in Russian and Slavic Linguistics, which probably explains how he ended up in IT.
Lise joined GÉANT as CEO in November 2024.
Lise has served as Director General of ETNO, the Brussels-based association representing Europe’s leading telecom operators, for nine years. In August 2022 Lise was nominated as a member of the United Nations Internet Governance Forum Leadership Panel. From 2023 – 2025 she was Chair of the Danish Cyber security organisation “Security Tech Space”, and from 2017 until 2024, Lise was a Board member of European Cyber Security Organisation (ECSO). She served from 2016-2022 as Chairwoman of the Boards of Public Interest Registry (.org domain name registry) and the Public Technical Identifiers (PTI), formerly IANA, and affiliate of ICANN.
From 2009 to 2016, Lise was Chief Operating Officer of DK Hostmaster and DIFO, the company managing .dk domain names. From September 2014 to October 2016, Lise also chaired the Cross Community Working Group for the IANA Stewardship Transition, building on her strong network within the internet community. Lise has over 20 years of experience within the internet, technology, and telecoms industries and is a lifelong member of ATV – the Danish Academy of Technical Sciences – an independent think tank.
John oversees learning across all stages, from primary to higher education, research, and beyond into adult education. His focus is on empowering students, educators, and researchers with Google technology and AI to enhance learning outcomes.
Maria Isabel Gandia is the Head of Communications at CSUC (Consorci de Serveis Universitaris de Catalunya), responsible for the management of the Regional Research and Education Network in Catalonia (Anella Científica), the Neutral Internet Point in Catalonia (CATNIX) and its network services and tools. She is also a member of the GÉANT project, where she works on Orchestration, Automation and Virtualisation topics, like the Network Automation eAcademy. She participates in several working groups and panels of national and international experts related to the network, such as the SIG-NOC Steering Committee, the ESNOG forum, the Euro-IX Board or the Network and Performing Arts Production Workshop.
Sara works at CSC-IT Center for Science in the International Collaboration and Partnerships Unit where she leads the team responsible for CSC’s strategic engagement in European initiatives related to research and education. Examples of such initiatives include EOSC, European Common Data Spaces, AI Factories, Destination Earth and EuroHPC. Sara also serves as Director of the EOSC Association from 2022 and she is a member of the Research Data Alliance (RDA) Council from 2024.
Grace is a Systems Engineer at the Malawi Research and Education Network (MAREN). Her journey into the NREN ecosystem began at UbuntuConnect 2023 in Kampala, Uganda, where she participated in a women-focused hackathon and led Team Malawi to a second-place finish. This experience opened the door to a structured internship at MAREN, which later evolved into a permanent role. Grace’s professional path reflects the impact of the NREN community in cultivating and advancing local talent.
Michel has been active in the network architecture world since early 2000. In September 2021 Michel started at Nomios Netherlands as a solution lead for the Telecommunications and ISP sector. In this role he was technically leading the Telecommunications and ISP team and helping with their network and security related challenges.
In November 2022 his role changed, and he became the customer facing CTO for customers that Nomios serves in the Netherlands for several industries such as education.
Frederic Gerber is a student at EPFL currently working on his master thesis at SWITCH. He studies computer science because he is interested in how computers work, at the boundary between hardware and software. In particular, he is enthusiastic about system development, free and open source software, and knowledge transmission.
The lightning talk he is presenting at TNC22 is about self-sovereign identity, which is the digital identity paradigm he is exploring in his master thesis.
Jane Gifford has built a diverse international career in media, marketing, and communications spanning several decades. She began her career in creative services, publicity, and editorial roles with leading media organisations in London, Sydney, Los Angeles, and New York. Since returning to Australia a decade ago, she has held communications roles across the arts, higher education, and technology sectors. Jane is currently Director of Marketing and Communications at AARNet, Australia’s NREN, where she drives strategic marketing and communications to position AARNet’s technologies and services and highlight their impact on research and education. A passionate storyteller, she enjoys shaping narratives that connect audiences with the transformative power of technology.
Christoph Graf works at Switch, Switzerland’s national research and education network organization, where he focuses on digital identity and access for the academic community in the role of Product Manager. He was one of the architects of Switch edu-ID, the universal login for lifelong learning in the education, research and innovation community of Switzerland. His current challenge is to further develop Switch's identity services towards user centricity and self-sovereignty.
Teresa has over 30 years’ experience in Human Resources, Employment & Workplace Relations. She is a globally recognised leader in the design and delivery of leadership development training programmes, including mentoring programmes, and executive leadership coaching. Teresa has a strong track record of achieving positive and lasting change on initiatives pertaining to diversity & inclusion, gender-based violence, legislative change, Collective Agreement & Union negotiations, complex workplace investigations, acquisitions & divestitures, cultural change programmes, workforce management & structural design, and Board & CEO planning & recruitment. Teresa is currently developing and leading the Global Leadership Development Programme for our global NREN community.
Chin Guok is the CTO and Planning and Innovation Department Head at ESnet, DOE’s high performance network user facility. He has been involved in network engineering at ESnet for over 25 years, architecting specialized overlay services within the ESnet production backbone, prototyping SDN production solutions, and facilitating design and architecture work. Most recently, he served as the lead architect for ESnet’s current network (ESnet6) that came online in mid-2022.
Ann was a student of English and History whose e-mail didn’t work. Learning what was behind a broken email system was one of the steps on a journey that took her to study computers and to become Network Operations Manager at HEAnet. A change of country and NREN to SWITCH found her moving away from the packets and fibres into ten intense, amazing years of GÉANT Activity Leadership She is now Reliability Engineering Coach at SWITCH and continues to believe in a moral imperative that NRENs must do good in what we do and how we do it. She will also talk to anyone willing to listen about standards for incident management.
Sami Hautakangas is a Senior Specialist at Tampere University working at the intersection of higher education cooperation, digitalisation, and policy development. He has extensive experience in cross-institutional collaboration among universities, particularly in developing agreements, practices, and processes related to student mobility, joint studies, and curriculum alignment. In recent years, his work has centred on advancing interoperability between higher education processes and information systems at both national and European levels. His expertise spans organisational, legal, and semantic aspects of interoperability, with particular emphasis on their practical implementation in real-world collaboration contexts.
Network Architect and Researcher at Optical Networks Department in CESNET, a.l.e. .
Gustavo Araújo is an R&D coordinator at RNP, working with development and implementation teams of R&D projects in cyberinfrastructure on the topics of OpenRAN, 5G/6G networks, Software Defined Networks, network visualization, advanced internet, and testbeds.
Felix is studying for a master's degree in architecture at the Technical University of Munich. He works, researches, and designs at the intersection of space, technology, and pedagogy – interested in creating thoughtful and supportive learning and working environments.
He is currently researching the future role of on-campus interaction, supporting the implementation of learning sciences in tertiary design education, and co-designing learning environments. His previous work includes strategic higher education development, instructional and learning space design, workplace consulting, and student participation.
Roman is a master’s student at Brno University of Technology and a developer at CESNET, working within the Network Configuration Tools team. Roman's role at CESNET focuses on low-level C programming, and he actively contributes to open-source projects that build robust network management solutions. While his day-to-day work is centered on networking infrastructure, when stepping away from his keyboard, Roman enjoys scaling walls at the local climbing gym or playing tennis.
Sara is the director for eduroam and certificate services at Internet2. Previously, she served as program manager for Internet2's NET+ cloud infrastructure and platform services offerings.
Raj Kettimuthu is a computer scientist and group leader at Argonne. His research interests include advanced data communication tools for science and quantum networking.
Vojdan Kjorveziroski is a research and teaching assistant at the Faculty of Computer Science and Engineering in Skopje, North Macedonia. He obtained his MSc and PhD from the same faculty. He is actively taking part in multiple international research projects. His main interests include cloud computing, cybersecurity, and distributed systems.
Sergejs Kozlovičs is a leading researcher (a mathematician and computer scientist) at the Institute of Mathematics and Computer Science of the University of Latvia. He is also an associate professor at the University of Latvia. Currently, Sergejs is focusing on quantum communications and quantum-secure cryptography, in particular, on how to connect the Classical and the Quantum Internet. His other interests include mathematical foundations of Computer Science, algorithms, quantum computing, web and semantic web technologies.
Sergejs received the Werner von Siemens Excellence Award for his PhD thesis on software architecture. He is also a hexadecimal dollar owner — an award issued by famous computer scientist Donald E. Knuth, professor emeritus of the Art of Computer Programming at Stanford University.
Evgenija Krajchevska is a researcher and teaching assistant at the Faculty of Computer Science and Engineering, Ss Cyril and Methodius University in Skopje. She is currently pursuing a master degree in cloud computing. Her areas of interest are cloud technologies and infrastructure, distributed systems, computer networks.
Harri has been working for CSC - IT Center for Science in Finland for more than two decades. He has been mainly managing Funet services provided to Finnish NREN community. Harri has also been an active member and co-chairing steering group of GÉANT SIG-MSP (previously known as TF-MSP and before that TF-LCPM).
Roman Łapacz is a network systems researcher at the Poznań Supercomputing and Networking Center. Additionally, he is a member of the GN5-1 Network Platform team (WP6 Task 2), where he focuses on developing programmable network infrastructure, virtualization, automation, and orchestration solutions.
Alicja Laskowska is a Network Services Analyst at the Poznań Supercomputing and Networking Center. Graduate of Poznań University of Technology in computer science (software engineering) and the Top 500 Innovators program at the University of California, Berkeley, in the United States. She has over 15 years of professional experience in research and development and in creating concepts for network services in areas such as open source software, the Internet of the future, e-health, smart cities, agriculture, and Industry 4.0.
Łukasz Łopatowski works in Poznan Supercomputing and Networking Center (Poland) as a Software Engineer and Computer Networks Analyst since 2007. Over the years he participated in a number of EU and national R&D projects focused on developing solutions for next generation networks. Within the GÉANT project involved in the nmaas service design, development and operations since 2015 and currently leading these activities.
Josh Lubuulwa Elias is a full-stack software developer at the Research and Education Network of Uganda (RENU), where he develops scalable digital solutions for academic and research institutions.
He has led and contributed to the development of systems across education and enterprise environments, with a strong focus on improving data management, automation, and user experience in institutional settings.
Josh is also experienced in DevOps practices, supporting the deployment, scalability, and reliability of applications.
Davina Luyten is communications officer at Belnet. She has a background in translation, journalism and multilingual corporate communication. At Belnet, she focuses on external communication, public relations, crisis communication and security awareness. She has participated in the GÉANT project since 2020, where her involvement includes the annual cyber security awareness campaign.
Tanja is a Public Affairs Officer in GÉANT’s EU Liaison Team. As part of her role, she wrestles with EU legislation and helps the team in providing long-term navigation to GÉANT’s governance and the NRENs. Her work focuses on bridging the gap between policy and practice, “translating” and dissecting what happens in the European institutions.
Patrik Maltusch is the head of EA architecture team at Aalto University. He is chairing the Finnish EA-SIG, EUNIS EA-SIG and has been one of the lead educators coaching administration staff in the national Higher Education EA program. Early experience, include working as a customer service instructor and further fifteen years as network architect and business owner for infrastructure design in a global Telco company. Patrik is also a distinguished and accredited security professional, risk manager, system auditor and Education Enterprise Architect. As entrepreneur and start-up facilitator he understands what staying practical means for business. For Patrik interoperability is the key to master the ever-growing digitalization needs in a more complex and complicated ecosystem landscape. https://www.linkedin.com/in/maltusch
Professional experience includes delivering business objectives on a global scale (American Express), as well as project management aimed at adoption of learning technology and developing associated professional competencies when working in the non-profit sector (further education sector and local government, UK). As part of developing the competencies of change management and supporting others to transitioning to a different mindset developed competencies that allowed to become the member of the UK Leadership and Management Institute as well as associated member of the European Mentoring and Coaching council. These competencies together with the Foundation Degree in Computing, experience of working in the commercial and non-profit organisations and a range of interpersonal skills to form effective professional relationship paved the way for managing international development projects (EaPConnect); projects that enable technology to deliver benefits for education, science and research as well as wider societal benefits.
The main areas of professional interests includes the transformative impact of technology for individuals, communities and societies at large, human capital development and organisational development. More personal interests include vintage detective stories and the ambition to qualify as a tea sommelier.
Nicholas Mbonimpa is the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Research and Education Network for Uganda (RENU). He has over 10 years of experience in data network planning and design. He previously worked as the Chief Technical Officer (CTO) for RENU, from 2014 to 2018. Before that, he worked as a Data Network Planning Engineer for MTN Uganda, and as a Satellite Systems Engineer for iWayAfrica (U) Limited.
Michael Meagher is co-founder of the Open Ireland Network and leads strategy and operations at the Open Forum for AI. He has spent over 25 years in the software industry, including senior roles at Microsoft in technical evangelism, academic engagement, and partner development, as well as positions in Innovation and Product for some of Ireland's top startups.
His current focus is on growing open source ecosystems in Ireland and across Europe, spanning open source software, including open source AI. He previously led the MOSS-I research programme at Lero, developing open source policy frameworks for Irish universities.
At TNC26, Michael presents preliminary findings from the G.O. Ready project: a GÉANT incubator feasibility study exploring what a GÉANT-aligned Open Source Programme Office would look like in practice. The study is conducted in partnership with HEAnet and SWITCH.
I work as a Junior Finance Business Partner at GÉANT and am currently pursuing the CIMA certification. In my role, I support international partners with financial reporting, budgeting, and compliance with European Commission eligibility rules across several collaborative projects, including GN5-1, GN5-2, AfricaConnect, EaPConnect, and EUMEDPLUS.
My work involves helping partners navigate financial requirements, ensuring transparency, and supporting sound financial management throughout the lifecycle of each project. I aim to raise awareness about the importance of financial sustainability within organisations and highlight how strong financial planning and resilience are essential in responding to global challenges and future uncertainties.
Monsan Apo Chimène is a lecturer and researcher in computer science at Université Virtuelle de Côte d’Ivoire, with a strong interest in artificial intelligence and data science applied to societal challenges.
Her work explores how data can be transformed into practical solutions, particularly in the context of climate variability and agriculture in West Africa. The project CacaoTech, an innovative AI platform that converts climate, historical, and agricultural data into personalized, actionable recommendations for smallholder cocoa farmers.
Through this initiative, she aims to improve productivity, strengthen climate resilience, and empower farmers to make informed decisions.
Matt Mullins is the Associate Director for Senior Network Engineering at Internet2 (US national Research & Education network) where he leads their senior network engineering team. He is currently focusing on Internet2's upcoming packet platform refresh for the core network as well as using AI to figure out how we can use it to troubleshoot operational issues on the network.
Brenda Namuli is a Systems Engineer at the Research and Education Network for Uganda (RENU), with over five years of experience in cloud infrastructure, identity federation, and automation. She works on designing and supporting OpenStack-based cloud environments, containerized services, and national eduroam deployments that serve universities and research institutions across Uganda. Brenda is passionate about open-source technologies, resilient infrastructure, and empowering institutions through practical, scalable solutions.
Karl Newell is a Network Software Architect at Internet2, the US national Research and Education network, where he leads network automation and orchestration efforts. He is currently driving Internet2's AIOps initiative — an AI-augmented network operations platform built on open-source tooling and designed to expand operational self-sufficiency across Internet2 and its member community. His current work includes an Agent-to-Agent interoperability proof-of-concept with SURF using the Google A2A protocol. Karl has been instrumental in helping the broader R&E networking community explore and adopt network automation practices.
Brian Nisbet is Head of Service Operations at Asiera, the Irish NREN. He's responsible for a wide range of Asiera's client facing and internal services. He is also involved in new service evolution, DR/BCP activities, security planning and response and whatever else happens to come along! He has been with Asiera since 2001.
Brian represents Asiera in a number of communities and he is Co-Chair of the RIPE Security WG and Chair of the boards of both INEX and the Irish Internet Hotline.
In his spare time he plays a lot of games and tries to find ways to make them even more awesome than they already are!
Communications Manager
As associate vice president for NET+ at Internet2, Sean O'Brien provides leadership for service development with commercial cloud providers, vendor management, training and workforce development, and architecture and engineering for Internet2’s research and higher education cloud programs and services.
Murilo Oliveira is an Information Technology professional with a degree in Information Systems and postgraduate MBAs in IT Management and Neuroscience & Positive Psychology in Human Development. He currently works at the Brazilian National Research and Education Network (RNP), leading initiatives focused on operations management, customer experience, and service transformation. He has solid experience in leading multidisciplinary teams, service governance, continuous improvement, and human development, combining strategic vision, innovation, technology, and a results-driven mindset to deliver operational excellence and high-impact experiences.
Rajan Parajuli is the Executive Director of the Nepal Research and Education Network (NREN). He has been actively engaged with NREN communities for the past 17 years, having joined NREN in 2008 and serving the organization in various capacities. In addition to leading the management and operations of Nepal’s NREN, he is also a researcher with a strong interest in ICTs for development, telemedicine and digital health, and technology-driven social transformation.
He holds a doctorate degree from the Asian Institute of Technology, Thailand, with research focused on the intersection of gender, technology, and health, with a particular emphasis on telemedicine applications in rural Nepal.
Jörg Pareigis is an assistant professor in Business Administration and director of library including the Centre for Teaching and Learning at Karlstad University, Sweden. He has vast experience of developing open online graduate courses for lifelong learning based on strategically important research centres at Karlstad University and is co-organizer of the open online course ONL - www.opennetworkedlearning.se.
Born in Rome, for more than 25 years part of TIM Group, contributing and witnessing first-hand the birth and development of the ICT market, holding various positions in the commercial area in different companies within the Group, mainly operating in the Corporate Market.
Since 2016 in Sparkle and currently in charge for the development of the OCRE Framework, supporting the Cloud adoption for the European Research & Education Community.
Natural born curious, passionate about space exploration, astronomy and astrophysics, aviation, motoring, cooking, Juve, and anything else able to trigger me, as well as being a willing drummer!
Dr Kasandra Pillay is a principal engineer at the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), based in South Africa. She has been employed at the South African National Research Network’s (SANReN’s) team for 13 years. She is co-ordinating the Performance Enhancement and Response Team (PERT) within the National Integrated Cyberinfrastructure System (NICIS). A core responsibility of this team is to work with researchers to assist them to move their datasets faster between local and international sites. Her qualifications include a PhD (Engineering Management) from University of Johannesburg, MEng and BEng Hons (Technology Management) from the University of Pretoria, and a BSc Engineering (Electronics) from the University of KwaZulu-Natal. She is registered as a Professional Engineer (Pr. Eng.) with the Engineering Council of South Africa and as a Project Management Professional with the Project Management Institute.
Cornelia Puhze is an IT security awareness specialist at SWITCH. As part of SWITCH-CERT, she supports the Swiss education, research and innovation community in dealing with the human factor in information security. Her aim is to help people understand and care about cyber threats and how to better protect their data. Cornelia is educated to postgraduate level in multilingual, corporate and political communications and has a background in language teaching.
Solution Architect at GÉANT for software development
Janfred is an eduroam expert, currently working at the German National Research and Education Network (DFN). He has been involved in eduroam since 2014, beginning as a student assistant in the WiFi team at the University of Bremen. Today, he manages the eduroam federation in Germany while completing his Master's degree in Computer Science at the University of Bremen.
His research focuses on enhancing IT security within eduroam. His Bachelor's thesis introduced a tool for analyzing the security of eduroam logins, providing actionable insights for eduroam administrators. In his Master's thesis he developed a novel EAP method using Passkeys, aimed at addressing several security and usability challenges in current eduroam deployments. This work is now contributing to international standardization efforts at the IETF, with Janfred actively involved in writing the standard for this EAP method. He will present this work in his lightning talk, along with some challenges that comes with international standardization work.
Florian is a key member of the SRE Team at the Munich University of Applied Sciences, dedicated to modernizing and optimizing the University's infrastructure with a strong focus on security. He specializes in Identity Management Systems, managing the user lifecycle and overseeing secure authentication processes.
Toby Rodwell studied Electrical & Electronic Engineering at the University of Nottingham. After graduating, Toby served in the Royal Navy as a Weapon Engineering Officer, leaving in 2001 in order to pursue a career in IT and telecommunications.
Toby joined GÉANT (then DANTE) in June 2003 as a network engineer. He was the first manager of DANTE's in-house Network Operations Centre, and then in 2013 became head of the newly established Service Management team. He was appointed Activity Leader of "Service Management and Operations" in the GN3 Plus project and continued this role into GN4 and GN5, as leader of Work Package 9 ("Operations Support"), covering the GÉANT Operations Centre, project software Governance and support, GÉANT network services management, and GÉANT operations systems development and support. His core competencies include IP engineering, Operational Support Systems and ITIL. Toby is a member of the Institute of Engineering and Technology and a Chartered Engineer.
Dr.-Ing. Leonie Schäfer is Senior Manager Global Liaison at DFN, the German National Research and Education Network, where she represents DFN within the GÉANT Association and its projects. Her work focuses on European programme strategy, international collaboration, emerging technologies, and stakeholder engagement across the global research and education networking community.
Within GÉANT, Leonie contributes to programme planning and international partnerships and is founder of the “AI for NRENs” Special Interest Group and co-founder of the Public Affairs & Policy Special Interest Group.
Olaf holds a master´s degree in Computer Science and Telematics from NTNU and works as the head of the research and education network in Sikt, Norway.
Jessica is a security engineer and product owner at Switch, the Swiss national research and education network and TLD of .ch and .li. She works to improve the security of the universities and leads the DNS operations team. She has a natural curiosity for complex problems, with a particular love for network forensics and analytical challenges. She is passionate about information security and enjoys sharing this passion with other people.
Jiri is a PhD student at the Faculty of Information Technology, Brno University of Technology, and a researcher at CESNET, the Czech National Research and Education Network. His work focuses on log analysis, anomaly detection, and the application of artificial intelligence methods to large-scale operational data from networks and systems.
His research aims to improve automated analysis of system logs by combining machine learning, data science, and security monitoring techniques. He is particularly interested in developing efficient and interpretable methods for log parsing, anomaly detection, and monitoring in complex infrastructures. Jiri has participated in several national and international research projects focused on security operations and intelligent log analysis.
Goran Škvarč graduated political science at the University of Zagreb, Faculty of Political Science in 2000 and completed a postgraduate professional study programme at National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Department of Economics and Political Science.
He began his professional career in 2003 in the Ministry for European Integration as an analyst. The same year he joined the Croatian Academic and Research Network – CARNET, where he held various positions over the years, from Expert associate, Head of special programs and projects (2005-2008), Head of business communications (2008-2012), to Coordinator of information and public relations (2012-2016) and Coordinator of international cooperation (2016-2020). In December 2020, he was appointed Deputy CEO for Education Support. After that, he moved to the position of Advisor to the CEO of CARNET for public administration.
He managed the Online Database Center as the chief negotiator and procurator of national licenses for access to scientific and professional journals on behalf of the Ministry of Science, Education and Sports, and was the head of procurement of educational microcomputers for the ProMikro project.
He is a member of the Board of Directors of the World Bank’s Global Development Learning Network for the ECA region and has also worked as a consultant on projects for the development of international cooperation and the capacity of academic networks in Southeast Europe.
In December 2023, he was appointed Deputy CEO for International Cooperation.
Øyvind Straume is Head of Legal at Sikt, the Norwegian shared service provider for the higher education and research sector. He leads a team working across privacy law, information security law, and compliance.
Øyvind has worked as Sikt's Data Protection Officer and has extensive experience applying GDPR in complex institutional settings.
Tomasz Szewczyk has been associated with the PCSS since 2001. He specializes in the design, implementation and automation of advanced network services for research and education infrastructure, with a particular emphasis on MPLS technology and carrier-grade networks.
He was responsible for the implementation of MPLS L2/L3 VPN services in the Polish NREN and participated in the design and implementation of multi-domain services. He has extensive practical experience with network solutions from vendros like Juniper Networks, Cisco Systems, Brocade.
Tomasz has participated in several international European research and networking projects, including GÉANT initiatives. His professional interests include MPLS traffic engineering, MPLS VPN services, Metro Ethernet networks, next-generation multicast, network performance measurements, and telemetry.
He also performs advanced network testing and security assessments using platforms such as Spirent TestCenter, Spirent CyberFlood, and previously Agilent and IXIA.
Ville Tenhunen has worked as the Data Solutions Architect at the EGI Foundation since 2020. He assists communities in integrating scientific applications with the technical and operational services provided by EGI and its partners. Currently, Ville works as the technical coordinator of the RI-SCALE project, which is developing the Data Exploitation Platform for European research infrastructures. Recently, he has also participated in the EOSC-A Health Data Task Force. Ville holds a M.Sc. in Physics from the University of Joensuu (currently known as the University of Eastern Finland, UEF).
Applied computer science researcher at Hogeschool PXL
Sasa Tkalcan is an expert in educational technology at the University of Helsinki, where he designs AI-powered learning simulations and trains faculty on generative AI. Trained in the humanities, he brings a learning design perspective to AI infrastructure; building simulations that span criminal law, clinical communication, and organisational psychology, connected through a shared enrolment-to-interaction pipeline. He chairs the GenAI working group of Una Europa and has presented at international events including OEB 2025 in Berlin. He writes at kurkista.fi.
Stela Tsirakis Toti is a Communications and Marketing Manager at RNP, the Brazilian NREN. She has extensive experience in strategic communication, including press and public relations, as well as marketing, leading initiatives in institutional positioning, branding, and stakeholder engagement. She also leads interdisciplinary teams comprising marketing, communication, design, product, and live marketing professionals.
Her work focuses on strengthening organizational visibility, coordinating large-scale events, and developing communication strategies that highlight the impact of digital infrastructure on research and education ecosystems.
Current coordinator of the Italian Identity Federation IDEM and GARR's DPO, he serves also as the eduGAIN service owner in the GÈANT project. He holds a Master degree in History and a post-graduate diploma from the Faculty of Engineer in Internet Technology.
Dobias van Ingen is HPE Networking’s EMEA CTO and VP for Campus & Branch. He drives vision and strategy for next generation campus and branch architectures, focusing on secure, AI powered, Self Driving Networks that simplify operations and enhance user experience. With over two decades of networking expertise, Dobias actively contributes to industry forums and technology groups.
Karel van Klink is a Network Engineer at GÉANT in the Network Services, Architecture, and Evolution team. With a bachelors degree in Technical Computer Science and a masters in Internet Science & Technology, his research ranges from the applicability of Quantum Key Distribution in the GÉANT network to facial recognition on statues of Roman Emperors. Currently, he is working on orchestration and automation of services in the GÉANT network.
Radu Velcea is a Learning & Development Specialist at GÉANT, where he designs and delivers learning initiatives that support collaboration, leadership, and capability development across the GÉANT community. His work focuses on creating engaging learning experiences, developing scalable digital learning solutions, and partnering with stakeholders to align learning with organisational and project needs.
Technology leader and engineering professional with a strong focus on platform engineering, cloud architecture, and developer experience. Passionate about building scalable solutions, enabling high-performing teams, and driving digital transformation through modern software practices and automation.
With experience leading technical initiatives across complex environments, I enjoy connecting technology strategy with practical execution, helping organizations simplify operations, accelerate delivery, and foster a strong engineering culture. I’m particularly interested in platform thinking, developer productivity, and creating systems that empower teams to innovate efficiently.
Dr Domenico Vicinanza is a Senior Research Engagement Manager and the Coordinator for Arts and Humanities at GÉANT. He is also an Associate Professosr of Intelligent Systems and Data Science at Anglia Ruskin University in Cambridge. He received his PhD in physics working at the European Laboratory for Particle Physics (CERN, Geneva) and he is a professional music composer and orchestrator.
He worked for more than a decade as a Scientific Associate at CERN, where he was a member of the Offline Board for the ALICE experiment and worked on research and development for particle physics detectors.
He has an active collaboration with CERN on auditory display, and with NASA, writing music from data collected by the Voyager 1 and 2 space probes and Mars missions.
His research interests are on the applications of scientific data sonification in physics, neurobiology and motor control.
Lonneke Walk is team lead Communications & Marketing at SURF. In that role she is responsible for the positioning of SURF and the services, PR and communications. Lonneke is member of SURF’s portfolio committee which keeps track of the status of ongoing developments within the portfolio of SURF. The portfolio committee ensures consistency, consistent quality and well-coordinated business plans and positioning, and monitors that preconditions are met.
Frans Ward is a Senior Technical Product Manager at SURF and has been responsible for innovation projects in the area of Trust and Identity, Service Delivery and Educational Services. For the past five years his focus was mainly on Open Badges and Micro-credentialing, the Open Educational API and Open Educational Resources; projects that are part of the SURF innovation programme 'Education Innovation with IT'. Frans studied Business Information Technology at Rotterdam University. After working at the Erasmus University IT department for more than 12 years he joined SURFnet in 1999.
Michael Wittel is the Head of Education & Research in Europe at Amazon Web Services (AWS), where he has spent the past five years supporting universities and research organizations in their digital transformation journeys. A seasoned technology leader with over 25 years of IT experience, Michael brings deep expertise across cloud computing, education, and enterprise technology. With more than 15 years dedicated to the education sector and over a decade in the cloud industry, he has held senior management roles in sales and marketing at leading technology companies, including AWS, Microsoft, HP, and Ingram Micro.
I am an experienced engineer and manager with an artistic soul. I combine technical education and broad knowledge of electronics, optics and IT with market experience to create transmission solutions perfectly tailored to the needs of customers as Solution Architect. At Salumanus, I am also responsible for the development of the offer of the most advanced optical modules and the environment of the Smart Recode Device being the foundation of the idea of the Universal Optical Module, co-creating the company's strategy in this area.
After hours, I am passionate about photography and fine wine. I explore some of my favourite wine regions, with Hungary's Tokaj at the forefront.
Anna Maria is a research assistant at Humboldt University Berlin for the Research Centre for Law at DFN-Verein. The Research Centre for Law assesses the development of new technologies and legal frameworks for academic institutions in Germany. Anna Maria’s work focuses on the digital transformation of law and data law. In her role, she regularly writes articles, hosts podcast episodes and gives presentations to inform universities and research institutions about important judgements, legal reform and other discussion points in the legal community.
Anna Maria has studied law at Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne University as part of the Erasmus+ programme and holds a law degree from the University of Freiburg, where she is currently pursuing a PhD in law. In her thesis, she examines the use of digital tools by supervisory authorities in Germany.
Amal Ahmad Zain Al-Din is Director of Scientific Research Directorate at the Palestinian Ministry of Education and Higher Education. She specializes in digital transformation, scientific research policy, and higher education development, with extensive experience in public sector administration and information systems.
She holds a Bachelor’s degree in Computerized Information Systems from An-Najah National University and a Master’s degree in Management. Throughout her career, she has contributed to the development of national research and innovation initiatives, institutional capacity building, and technology-driven transformation within the education sector.
Prior to her current role, she served as Head of the Digital Transformation Department at the Ministry of Education and Higher Education and worked as an Information Technology Consultant with the World Bank
, focusing on digital systems, IT governance, and strategic technology projects.
Her professional interests include innovation in higher education, scientific research development, digital governance, and the advancement of knowledge-based institutions.
