TNC25: Brighton, UK | 9-13 June 2025
TNC25: Brighton, UK | 9-13 June 2025
Lightning Talks
A brief look behind the curtain of web-based federated Single Sign On to uncover some of the reasons what Trust means, where it can go wrong, and why it's so important that everyone involved understands and holds up their end of the arrangement.
Networks are like bad roommates — they let the wrong people in and don’t notice until it’s too late. Unlike traditional security — which trusts insiders by default — Zero Trust always demands proof, following the principle "Never trust, always verify". Zero Trust doesn’t just react to threats; it proactively prepares defenses to minimize damage and contain the impact. It’s the bodyguard you need to ensure your roommate doesn’t let in anyone with malicious intentions in or, if they do, the damage is isolated to a single room, preventing consequences for the entire residence.
This lightning talk introduces RNP's innovative digital document signing service that addresses longstanding challenges in digital signature adoption. Traditional digital signature solutions often require complex key management, expensive hardware tokens, and complicated verification processes. Our approach generates unique signing certificates for each document, eliminating key storage concerns while ensuring 100-year validity. The service leverages blockchain technology to protect against quantum computing attacks while maintaining compatibility with legacy systems. Federation-based authentication through CAFe enables seamless access for the research and education community without requiring pre-issued certificates. This talk will demonstrate how this streamlined approach dramatically lowers barriers to secure digital signing while actually enhancing security, making it particularly valuable for NRENs seeking to provide trusted digital services to their communities.
In an era of rising cyber threats, NRENs must continuously strengthen their security posture. But how can organizations that are lacking on time, people or budget rapidly upskill their teams, foster collaboration, and implement best practices effectively? Security Bootcamps !! a proven model, hands-on, high-impact training tailored to the unique needs of NRENs. Our past bootcamps have been incredibly successful, equipping participants with practical skills, peers and real-world experiences, and stronger security mindsets. Now, we are looking to expand this initiative to reach the entire NREN community and ensure that no organization is left behind in the fight against cyber threats.
Passkeys have been around for a few years now, so the biggest question is: why should you consider implementing them if you haven’t already? Passkeys are a username and password replacement, allowing end users to log in using biometrics, among other options. They represent a simpler and more secure solution for those using personal devices.
At Feide (Norway), we deliver the national solution for secure login in education and research in Norway. Here, there is a significant presence of major cloud vendors, particularly Microsoft. Many companies use Entra ID as an SSO solution, which already includes a passkey option. So, why would we go through the effort of implementing it ourselves?
Often times NRENs forget the fact that they are connected to a valuable resource that they don’t use. University students and staff. Some of the best talents are just within reach. How about we start using those connections and use them for making the institutions more secure?
That’s the concept of the one-day event that SURF and Switch carried out. Whether HALON (Hack ALl the EDucation) or the Swiss equivalent ROESTI (Report Open and Explotable Security Threats and Issues) both follow the same concept: Invite ethical hackers from the community for a one day event where they try to find as many vulnerabilities as possible, following the principles of Coordinated Vulnerability Disclosure. This not only empowers the future generations of security experts but also brings them closer to the universities. We believe that both sides can profit.
Showcasing the Jisc (UK) and KENET (Kenya) partnership, this six-month project focuses on knowledge exchange and connecting digitally excluded communities to research and education. We'll share how we have extended eduroam through innovation with mobile data and LEO/GEO satellite technologies.
We'll share our journey, challenges, and successes in enhancing connectivity and educational opportunities. Through fostering a sustainable, long-term relationship we hope sharing our work will inspire future global NREN collaboration.
Silos in IT (where teams work in isolation) slow down innovation, create inefficiencies, and hinder collaboration. These silos often emerge when developers, operations, and security teams work independently, leading to misalignment, bottlenecks, and friction. As a result, software delivery is delayed, system reliability suffers, and security is often an afterthought rather than an integral part of the development process.
DevOps isn’t just about automation, it’s a cultural shift that transforms how teams collaborate. It fosters a mindset of shared responsibility, continuous improvement, and streamlined workflows. DevOps breaks down traditional silos, ensuring that development, operations, and security teams work together rather than against each other. By embracing DevOps, IT teams can reduce friction, accelerate innovation, and create more resilient systems.
When we start a relationship with a new research institution, we are often met with skepticism by the IT manager and the researchers. The first believes that there is no one better than him to understand his own institution, after all he is the local security hero who needs to protect his kingdom from intruders. The researchers, on the other hand, are extremely independent and creative in their solutions for transferring data to his partners around the world (We’ve heard recently that some of them still transfer data physically using bus/plane to transport hard drives.). So, theoretically, they don't need us to support their job. On the other hand, we must adjust our NREN’s cyberinfrastructure and services in order for them to improve the performance of their massive scientific data transfer.
The solution we found was precisely to use scientific thinking to shorten this barrier. We drew up a process organized in stages to introduce ourselves. We started with online meetings with the IT manager, in which we asked about the challenges faced in transferring massive volumes of scientific data over our network. After a few meetings in which we gradually discuss their greatest problems, our relationship is established and we invite the researchers of the most demanding use cases to unravel the mystery of their scientific workflow. Hence, we start to collaboratively design the architecture (equipment, configuration and security policies) enable them to experiment a high-performance scientific network. We believe that the secret to success in this construction is sharing the context, building the relationship in an incremental and structured way, like scientific thinking, which allows us to break the ice with even the most suspicious scientists.
This lightning talk will present real-world deployment scenarios for NRENs and the transformative potential of a solar-powered eduroam node. More than just a green solution, this node provides a resilient, scalable, and inclusive technology that is redefining eduroam's reach. Join us to discover how this innovation is not only growing NRENs and greening eduroam but also changing lives in underserved areas, one connection at a time.
We will show how NRENs can expand digital access to remote and underserved areas without relying on traditional power grids. It all started with an idea that was born at the Uganda NREN RENU: to develop a solar powered eduroam node which can work with all kinds of upstream infrastructures like 3G, 4G and 5G mobile infrastructures. RENU developed a solar-powered node that provides a groundbreaking solution, not just for sustainability but for resilient, inclusive, and adaptable connectivity.
This lightning talk highlights the need for ‘green networking’ through energy efficiency and optimizing network infrastructure and design for sustainability. The topic ‘From Dark to Green’ stems from the recent South Africa (SA) national energy (load-shedding) crisis, the effect it had on the SA National Research and Education Network (SA NREN) infrastructure and its beneficiary community, and a look into actions and further considerations for sustainability. Collegiality and shared ownership of the NREN had been a model that served the SA NREN community well for the better part of the last two decades. Unfortunately, frequent load-shedding upsets this balance. While some institutions can fund alternative electricity generation, others simply cannot. Most institutions worked closely with their facilities department to optimise the data centre, adjust procurement for frequent generator costs, and plan accordingly to accommodate load-shedding stages. As an NREN, actions such as bolstering backup power solutions in critical areas, network augmentation and the bypass of problem sites through patch-throughs and optical bypasses were implemented. Further network protocols and design improvements were implemented alongside resource optimization strategies through virtualization and consolidation. With no ease in load shedding, as a community, further discussions around renewable energy sources, power purchase agreements, and other regional solutions were investigated to find creative ways to minimize the impact on institutions’ research, teaching and learning activities.
Nepal’s Himalayas are experiencing rapid glacier retreat, rising temperatures, and increasing climate risks like glacial lake outburst floods, making them highly vulnerable to climate change. Despite its critical role in climate research, Nepal’s Research and Education Network (REN) remains largely underutilized, limiting its contribution to global climate studies.
This talk presents an opportunity and a call to action for global research communities and developed NRENs to support Nepal by building research partnerships for climate studies in the Himalayas. Strengthening these collaborations not only helps tackle the urgent climate crisis but also helps improve REN utilization for research activities, a persistent challenge for many emerging NRENs, including NepalREN. By leveraging REN for climate science, we can demonstrate its vital role in addressing one of humanity’s greatest challenges.
In a world where open science and HPC projects are becoming increasingly intertwined and are driving the need for new and more demanding infrastructure, we are obligated to go about this in a sustainable way and ensure that the supercomputing centres and data repositories will be used to build a greener future.
For the past two years, Arnes HackathON has been joining the values of open science and HPC infrastructure to give students the chance to co-create their own sustainable future by following the UNESCO SDGs in their models, applications and ideas, which they also learned to publicly present in an attractive and understandable manner.
The challenges addressed the most relevant and current issues in Slovenia, like climate change, social justice, sustainable energy, and food scarcity. We promoted interdisciplinarity in the teams spanning more than 200 students in the two editions, and put focus on including social sciences like sociology, pedagogy and linguistics.
Effective IT solutions have grown into complex systems that provide services with requirements from a variety of stakeholders. Tales of FEII is a story-driven presentation from the perspective of an NREN, namely Sunet in Sweden, on how such systems can be implemented and improved over time by applying four core values to everything they do: Function, Efficiency, Innovation & Integration.
A function represents the fundamental deliverables of services, provided by implementing essential functionality, covering the majority of the stakeholder requirements. Efficiency is not only required to scale a solution to a certain size but also to remain performant or to use as few (human) interactions as possible to achieve a certain task. Some like to describe those through nonfunctional requirements or other KPIs. Innovation is needed when stakeholders have requirements that have not yet been implemented by the vendor, often requiring a careful assessment of the known unknowns. Integration is the often underestimated effort to combine standalone functionality into a seamlessly integrated solution.
We will walk you through the four core values of FEII by providing representative examples, elaborating further on how one can apply them to their own projects, and how IT solution providers can use them to prioritise some of their development efforts.
At SURF, we learned about the contractual developments between GÉANT and the TCS4 supplier in October 2024. After assessing the situation and concluding that the chance of the negotiations going south was high, we concluded it was time to prepare our constituents for the worst-case: service interruption. In this lightning talk we explain what we did, how we prepared our constituents, why we chose to do this so early in the process and how we onboarded more than 60% of our userbase within the first two weeks of having HARICA as the new supplier.
We all want a more secure Internet, but what if our best security practices are silently breaking connectivity? As NRENs and providers implement MANRS, an unintended consequence is emerging—hidden routes that go unnoticed until they disrupt traffic and drive up costs. How can we fix this without compromising security?
My talk will highlight the issues GÉANT faced in identifying and mitigating the effects of hidden routes, demonstrating why and how other providers and NRENs should detect, analyse, and mitigate hidden routes within their own networks, helping them avoid the pitfalls GÉANT encountered.
Stateful network applications such as firewalls, VPNs, and intrusion detection systems depend on frequent memory access. However, traditional computer architectures struggle to scale effectively under the high throughput demands of modern networks. The primary bottleneck is unsurprising—high memory latency and limited memory bandwidth, which greatly constrain overall performance.
By leveraging FPGA acceleration, we can revolutionise the architecture of high-performance stateful applications, achieving unmatched scalability, efficiency, and real-time processing capabilities. For research networks, ISPs, and cybersecurity infrastructures, this means faster, more adaptive systems capable of handling ever-growing network demands with minimal latency and maximal flexibility.
Anyone working on networking applications sooner or later faces the challenge of making things faster. There is just so much you can do as you patiently wait at your socket for a packet to go layer by layer up the network stack. But what if you didn't have to? Let me introduce you to XDP, a lightweight and highly flexible framework for fast packet processing that is already a part of your Linux kernel.
At Cesnet, we set out to expand our Cesnet Network Development Kit platform with XDP, curious to see if it could match the performance of DPDK and our proprietary solution while using only the tools already available to everyone in their Linux distribution. What we found is a powerful technology that bypasses the kernel network stack and gives you absolute control over the packet processing from the moment the packet arrives on the network card while using the tools you might already be familiar with as a Linux programmer.
In this talk, I'll break down how XDP could help you create high-performance, flexible network applications that can run on nearly any Linux distribution across a wide range of supported hardware.
Judging jump rope freestyle routines at the highest competitive level has become increasingly challenging due to the evolution of jump rope. Both the number of skills that are included in a routine as well as the speed with which these are executed keep increasing. This is particularly evident in so-called Double Dutch Freestyle routines, which is why assigning scores to these freestyles is done by a combination of live and delayed evaluation. The creativity of a routine (including its variation and musicality) is scored in real time, but the assignment of the appropriate difficulty level is done based on a recording of the routine replayed at half speed right after it is performed. Even though this helps reduce errors in difficulty scoring, a certain variability in the assigned scores persists/can still be seen. To make the objectivity in scoring more robust in Gymnastics, Fujitsu collaborates sinds 2017 with the International Gymnastic Federation to develop a Jury Support System (JSS). The results were first introduced at the 2019 Artistic Gymnastics World Championship being the first in the field. Since then, even more accessible AI tools, better computational resources, and pre-trained models have emerged. Inspired by this example and others such as sign-language recognition, or NextJumps speed counter (2023), which outperforms judges in counting speed steps, this study sets out to explore the creation of an AI jump rope assistant capable of recognizing skills based on video recordings, which is different from the sensory input the JSS is using.
The current idea is divided into three independent modular sections, as a simple but rather unique composition. The first section involves localizing the jumpers in the field as most obtained recordings are not fully zoomed in or recorded using a static camera. This means jumpers can be cropped, sparing computational resources. Using Ultralytics latest YOLO version provides satisfying cropping results. While they are not perfect yet, focus is put on the second and third sections, namely skill segmentation and skill recognition.
By integrating state-of-the-art action recognition AI models such as temporal convolutional networks, convolutional networks using attention, or video vision transformers, full recordings can be split into multiple skills, which mostly means splitting the video by leaving or landing on the floor. Processing these predicted action segments, each split should contain one identifiable skill, which can be predicted using the same model or the best model for skill recognition.
In case it works, it is not only useful for jump rope freestyles but also applicable in other judge-related competitions such as gymnastic routines, figure skating, or synchronized swimming. Meanwhile it is usable or adaptable for educational environments, research on movement analysis, or rehabilitation centers keeping track of a patient's evolution.
Using its modularity, training can be done through distributed systems, and in case better models show up for a single module, it can be replaced separately.
The development of AI is transforming all the core activities of higher education institutions (HEIs), with its risks and opportunities manifesting at different scales depending on the context. As AI evolves rapidly, understanding its impacts is also constantly developing, yet discussions can be challenging due to the overlap of technological, ethical, societal, economic, and practical perspectives. Moreover, distinguishing between short-term effects, temporary or solvable changes, and long-term challenges remains difficult.
The AITO Framework (AI in Innovation, Research, and Education), developed by CSC – IT Center for Science, is a tool designed to help higher education institutions navigate the AI-driven transformation. Shaped through joint discussions with Finnish HEIs, the framework provides a structured approach to understanding how AI impacts the core functions of universities – research, education, partnerships, and support services. It covers changes of different scales and time spans.
The AITO Framework can be used in multiple ways to guide and enrich discussions within HEIs, networks, and among different stakeholders as they reflect on AI’s impact and manage the change. It serves as a reference point for strategic planning and supports deeper conversations about the sustainable use of AI in the future.
This lightning talk will offer a brief introduction to the framework and consider the potential role of National Research and Education Networks (NRENs) in facilitating joint discussions and training on AI-driven change in HEIs, its management, both nationally and across borders.
Poznań Supercomputing and Networking Cernter has been involved in supporting cultural heritage and digital humanities sector for more than 20 years now. One of the recent developments, in collaboration with the Poznań City Hall and Adam Mickiewicz University (AMU), is an online platform for supporting activities of various institutions in the plain language context. The main goal of the platform is to simplify official communication (e.g. letters) sent out by local governments or companies to their audience (citizens, clients). The platform, called Proste pismo (Simple writing) was created as a database of official texts to be simplified in the language layer using semi-automated mechanism based on dictionary of simplified phrases. With time new features has been added, such as templates of documents, a dictionary of complex phrases, and an AI (artificial intelligence) module to automate the whole process. The AI module provides simplification for a given text fragment using relevant LLM model. Initially the model used in the AI module was based on BART, however, in subsequent developments and based on executed experiments, the Polish LLM Bielik model has been added. In BART case the basic LLM is trained based on relevant set of training documents prepared by the language experts from AMU. It is worth mentioning that the data processed by the models is not shared outside the service, i.e. the processing part is integrated in the platform. In addition, the results of simplification are processed using the Pisarek index (readability score for Polish language) and the Fog index, both being related to each other. Using other language model in the context of Proste Pismo is possible after appropriate training and parameterization. An important note is also to remember that the task of the AI model is not to replace the human (user) actions, but only to support them. Because of possible errors and hallucinations, any result obtained using AI should be verified by a human, especially in such a sensitive task as communication.
Difficult conversations are inevitable—but they don’t have to be awkward or anxiety-inducing. In this five-minute talk, we’ll cover quick tips for navigating tough discussions with confidence and clarity. From setting the right tone to staying calm under pressure, you’ll learn how to address uncomfortable topics while maintaining relationships and achieving productive outcomes. Whether it’s giving feedback, delivering bad news, or handling conflict, this talk will equip you with practical tools to make hard conversations easier (and maybe even a little less painful).
What do the EURO banknotes and the GÉANT community have in common? This will be the subject of this talk. Taking the audience on a short "tour of time," I wish to showcase the importance of access (windows and doorways) and connectivity (bridges) through time (transformation) as a means to Unite in Diversity.
Used in 20 Member States, and being the world's second reserve currency; the EURO is one of the clearest tangible results of the European Union, and a true example of European compromise. Still, albeit changing hands each day few observe it in detail. Banknotes depict windows and doorways on one side to symbolise openness and cooperation and bridges on the other to symbolise communication between the people of Europe and the rest of the world. As it features seven architectural eras but no concrete structures, the banknotes reflect on the transformation of Europe's cultural, universal heritage, accumulated into the motto of the European Union, 'United in Diversity'.
Similarly, the GÉANT and the NREN networks are used every day. They open windows and build bridges seamlessly over time, facilitating the digital transformation of the Research and Education sector. As the fiat currency, the GÉANT community is also built on trust.
In this talk, I will draw from my personal experience—transitioning from a career as an architectural engineer to working in community and stakeholder management. Reflecting on my current role at GÉANT in partner relationship management, I will explore how designing physical structures has evolved into designing meaningful connections between people and organizations—and why these are often more important than bricks and mortar.
Expanding on the timeless metaphor of building bridges, I will highlight the often unseen work of partnership and community building and its vital role in the ecosystem of R&E networks. I will zoom in on the concept of trust as the building matter of the GÉANT community and proceed to outline a reading of it as an action-enabling factor and a determinant of organizational resilience, especially in the context of our community's diversity.
By using metaphor as both a technique and a lens, this talk aims to make the less tangible aspects of our work more concrete and visible.
TNC, the largest and most prestigious research and education networking conference, attracts a diverse audience of over 800 participants from more than 70 countries and offers a unique collaborative experience.
Hoekenrode 3
1102 BR Amsterdam
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Cambridge CB2 1PQ
United Kingdom
TNC25 is co-funded by Europe’s NRENs and the European Union (EU).
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