Biography

Giuseppe Aceto is Associate Professor at the University of Napoli Federico II. He has a PhD in telecommunication engineering from the same University, where he teaches Bachelor and Master courses in computer engineering, about computer programming and decentralized applications. His work falls in monitoring network performance and security. His recent research focuses on advanced Deep Learning architectures for traffic classification and prediction, on which he has co-authored highly-cited papers in top-notch international journals. He is the recipient of several awards including the 2018 Best Journal Paper Award by IEEE CSIM, and the Computer Networks 2020 Best Paper Award.

Presentations

• Mobile App Network trAffic Nutrition fActs (MANANA)

Presentation

• Leveraging EUMETCast Terrestrial and NREN Infrastructure for Efficient, Reliable Near Real-Time Weather Data Distribution

Presentations

• Unlock Argus: Transform Your NOC Through the GÉANT-Argus Collaboration!

Presentations

• SIG-Procurement Community Hub

Presentation

• Risks of Distributed Digital Identity in Education and Research Wallets

Presentation

• Hidden Routes: The Invisible Impact of MANRS

Presentation

• Security Bootcamps - from Zero to Hero

Presentations

• Are You Ready for a Security Bootcamp?

Biography

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.

Presentation

• Building a community: A bright light from below the waves

Presentations

• Fibre Sensing for NRENs-Security and Governance

Biography

Jess Auerbach Jahajeeah is an interdisciplinary social scientist and Associate Professor at the Graduate School of Business, University of Cape Town. She has worked across Africa and the Americas, exploring digital inequality, knowledge systems and inclusive innovation. Jess has published widely in both the popular and scientific press and has won several awards for her research and teaching. She holds a PhD from Stanford University and an MSc from Oxford University.

Presentation

• Keynote: Networks and Knowledge Futures: the architecture of imagination

Biography

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.

Presentation

• Digitally Identifying Individuals Uniquely Across Borders

Presentation

• Token based authorisation - the key to the future of High Energy Physics computing

Biography

Rene Belso has worked in international research strategy, policy, and infrastructure since 1999, building on degrees in Political Science and Computer Science. After 8 years at the Danish research ministry and the Nordic Council of Ministers, he led national High-Performance Computing (HPC), and its integration into the Danish e-infrastructure Consortium (DeiC). With focus on international collaborations in data and computing infrastructure, Rene has served as independent expert for the European Commission, the UK Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council, and the Czech Ministry of Education. He has contributed to numerous research infrastructure projects, including SUBMERSE which explores Fibre Optic Sensing.

Presentation

• Fibre Optic Sensing - A Disruptive Technology on top of GÉANT Network Infrastructure

Presentation

• Enhancing Security and User Experience with Passkeys: An alternative to solutions from cloud vendors

Presentation

• Next Level Orchestration at SURF

Presentation

• From Regulation to Innovation: What the EU AI Act Means for EdTech

Presentation

• Leveraging EUMETCast Terrestrial and NREN Infrastructure for Efficient, Reliable Near Real-Time Weather Data Distribution

Presentations

• Meet the e-infra’s!

Biography

Sebastiano Buscaglione, is a professional, with many years of experience supporting large scale data networks. Before joining DANTE, now GÉANT, in 2012 where he is currently employed as Senior Network Architect he worked as part of the At&t global operations department. Currently, Sebastiano leads the GN4-3N task looking at the definition of the future topology of the GÉANT Network.

Presentation

• How to build an Internet sub-marine cable?

Biography

Enzo is the Head of the Research Engagement and Support Team in GÉANT, in charge of providing user support for pan-European and international scientific groups and collaborations, and of the Science and Research engagement activities. With a background in computer science and networking, his previous positions were network architect and manager with the Department of Physics of the University of Naples, in charge of the computing for physics experiments, and Technical Associate to the ATLAS experiment collaboration at CERN and to the Italian National Institute for Nuclear Physics (INFN).

Presentation

• Navigating the data storm

Biography

Jean Carlo Faustino is service manager at RNP, where has worked for over twenty years, currently managing Trust & Identity services. Jean holds a degree and master at Unicamp, doctorate at Federal University of São Carlos (UFSCar) and, between 2015 and 2016, was visiting researcher at King's College London.

Presentation

• Simplifying Digital Signatures: How RNP's One-Time Certificate Approach Bridges Security and Usability

Biography

Dr. Barb Carra was appointed President and CEO of Cybera, Alberta’s Research and Education Network in 2019. She is a respected leader and collaborative partner within Canada’s National Research and Education Network (NREN) landscape. Barb is a champion for the digital needs of Canadians, and frequently meets with all levels of government to ensure that Albertans have access to a connected, secure, and equitable digital future. Provincially, Barb works to strengthen how Alberta’s public sector organizations collaborate with each other through trusted partnerships to collectively increase impact, relevancy, and value. Barb currently sits on the Boards for The Calgary Zoo and Wilder Institute, CANARIE, and in 2022 received a Governor in Council appointment to The Canada Revenue Agency Board of Management. Barb earned her Master's of Science at the University of Calgary and her Doctorate from Wilfrid Laurier University.

Presentation

• From the beach to the snow: delivering a collaborative SOC which spans the globe

Presentation

• Communication Plan for ICT Nerds

Biography

Dr Tim Chown is the Network Development Manager for Jisc, who operate Janet, the UK's research and education network. He is Work Package Leader for the Network Technologies and Services Development WP of the new GÉANT GN4-3 project, which runs until December 2022. His interests include network service orchestration and automation, network monitoring, IPv6, network security, and end-to-end network performance. He is a Visiting Fellow at the University of Southampton, co-chair of the UK IPv6 Council, a PC member of UKNOF, and an active contributor to the IETF, where he sits on the Internet and Operations Area Directorates.

Presentations

• Optimising Performance of Networked Applications

Presentation

• How can we approach scientists?

Presentation

• It's ITSM, Jim, But Not as We Know it: De-siloing an NREN with service management.

Biography

I'm Mike, a lively student at HoGent (Belgium). After my graduate in programming, I wanted to extend my knowledge, currently finishing my applied informatics degree. I enjoy assembling pieces of code in order to create new functional implementations, test them or debug problems. My bachelor thesis about the AI jump rope judge allowed me to combine both of my passions, programming and jump rope. This also strengthened my passion in the field of computer vision.

Presentation

• AI judge assistant for recognition of jump rope skills in videos

Presentation

• Digitally Identifying Individuals Uniquely Across Borders

Biography

I joined the UK Joint Network Team in 1986 when NREN backbone speeds were typically 64 Kbps, up to a maximum of 2Mbps. Since then, I have held senior positions at JANET, TERENA and GÉANT. I authored “The Case for NRENs” and was responsible for leading the GN3 ASPIRE foresight study. In 2014 I became a trustee on the board of the Vietsch Foundation.

I passionately believe the development of the Internet continues to be accelerated by the strength and collaborative nature of the education and research networking community and that the Internet is a public good for the good of the public.

Presentations

• Fast and Simple Seed Funding for Rapid Community Innovation

Presentations

• Advancing Our Communities Through Professional Growth Opportunities

Presentation

• What’s in the head of a network architect?

Presentations

• Building a Network Data Repository

Biography

Sabrina currently supports BCNET as Director, Member Engagement and Communications, where she leads initiatives that strengthen relationships across the organization's broad stakeholder community.

An accomplished professional with a passion for cultivating meaningful connections and making a positive impact, Sabrina draws on a strong background in leadership, stakeholder relations, and strategic communications. Throughout her career, she has successfully developed and implemented corporate-level programs that have elevated public awareness and enhanced organizational reach.

Sabrina is recognized for her talent in creating collaborative environments and aligning diverse stakeholders toward shared objectives. Her unique ability to foster effective, productive, and inclusive relationships makes her a driving force behind collective success.

Beyond her professional achievements, Sabrina brings energy, vision, and authenticity to every project—building bridges that drive innovation and lasting impact.

Presentation

• The Art of Tough Talks: How to Say the Hard Things Without Making It Weird

Presentation

• The Role of Strategic Design in Shaping Feide's Future

Presentation

• Tales of FEII - Function, Efficiency, Innovation & Integration

Presentations

• Expanding SURF Research Cloud as a Digital Research Environment for SUNET and Beyond

Biography

Mary Friedrich is the Director of ShareIT and Member Relations at Cybera. She is a true advocate for shared services and the power of community through driving economies of scale, information sharing, and collaboration.

Mary is also a champion and a strong steward of national partnering. Mary has led multiple provincial and national collaborations for a variety of shared procurements and initiatives with peers across the NRENs, group purchasing ogranizations, CUCCIO, and IT leaders in higher educations - all with the goal of bringing together like-minded individuals across the country to share best practices. Mary is a graduate of the Global Leadership Development Program within the Global Research and Education Network community and active participant in the Supply Chain Canada Leaders Council for the Public Sector. She is a sought after speaker on topics related to building effective collaborations, talent management, and running a shared public procurement program on both the provincial and national level.

Mary’s career portfolio includes leadership roles in regional management, change management, learning and development, instructional design, business analysis, project implementation, and organizational effectiveness.

Presentation

• It's all in the cards: a practical and fun tool to help you understand what motivates your team members

Biography

More than 20 years of experience in Cyber Security, working as Information Security Manager, Leading Red and Blue Team, Data Privacy team (LGPD) and Identy and Acess Manager Team.
Graduated in Computer Network Administration, MBA in Cyber Security and certificated in CEH Practical and Master, ISO 27001, DPO, Data Privacy Foundation and Praticioner, Itil.

Presentation

• Method for Cyber Risk Assessment, developing risk assessment capabilities in NRENs

Biography

Tom Fryer joined GÉANT as a member of the International Relations Team in 2008. In March 2019 he became Head of International Relations, leading a team of six that supports GÉANT’s relationships with R&E networking partners in other world regions and manages EU-funded regional development projects, including EaPConnect and AfricaConnect3. Tom supports dialogue specifically with global R&E network partners in the Americas, and leads GÉANT’s involvement in the BELLA programme. He will have the role of Task Leader in the forthcoming GN5 IC1 (Intercontinental Connectivity) project. Tom has a degree in modern languages and linguistics from the University of Essex.

Presentations

• GÉANT in the Intercontinental Connectivity Fabric of the Future

Biography

Joost Gadellaa is a Technical Product Manager at SURF, the Dutch NREN. He works and advises on their services such as email security and certificate infrastructure. Currently, he's also working on supporting offensive testing (red teaming, hacking events, attack surface mapping, etc.) as a new way of increasing cyber resilience of SURF's members.

Presentation

• Making yourself vulnerable to become less vulnerable

Biography

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.

Presentations

• SIG-NOC at the Community Hub

Presentations

• EOSC NREN Community Meet-up

Presentations

• Are You Ready for a Security Bootcamp?

Biography

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.

Presentation

• In The Field Stories: Celebrating a Decade of Global NREN Collaboration

Biography

Dr. Mary Grammatikou (female) is a Senior Researcher at the NETMODE laboratory of NTUA and she serves also as a Teaching Assistance in the School of Electrical and Computer Engineering in NTUA. She obtained her Diploma and the PhD degree in Electrical and Computer Engineering, both from NTUA. Her main research interests lie in the areas of service management, security, cloud computing, e-service & e-learning architectures, 5G networking architectures and multimedia analysis. She has been involved in various relevant RTD projects (e.g. Up2U, GN3, GN3PLUS, GN4, GN4-3, GN5-1,2, SUCCESS, Up2DigiSchool, We-Collab, NOVI, SOULSS, OpenLab) where in many time she was actively involved in the technical coordination of innovative technical solutions on the field of digital learning architectures, network monitoring and data analytics. The last years she has actively involved in the coordination role as Technical Coordinator of the Up2U European project (how to bridge the gap between the secondary education and University). She has served on several journal and conference editorial positions (e.g. JONS, SPECTS, SAM). She has more than 80 publications in high level international journals and conferences.

Presentation

• FedXAI4DNS: Explainable AI for DNS Security in Privacy-aware NREN Federations

Presentations

• FedXAI4DNS: Explainable AI for DNS Security in Privacy-aware NREN Federations

Biography

Annabel joined GEANT in 2012. She is the Work Package lead for Stakeholder Engagement in the GN5-2 project.

Presentations

• Meet the e-infra’s!

Biography

Simon is the Technical Manager for Network and Services at SingAREN. He is one of the operators managing the SingAREN Open Exchange Points-of Presence within Singapore, UK and US,

Presentation

• Keeping the research data flowing across the global R&E network pipes

Biography

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.

Presentation

• Brighter Together - Stronger Together: The Leadership Equation of Diversity, Inclusion, Psychological Safety & Social Conscience

Biography

While pursuing his master’s degree at Brno University of Technology, Oliver is also a part-time researcher at CESNET, the Czech national research and education network. His work centers on boosting the performance of stateful network applications and developing smart caching techniques.

Currently, he is developing a versatile FPGA accelerator designed to handle stateful network processing at speeds of up to 400 Gbps, utilizing external memory for record storage. This concept originated in his bachelor’s thesis and has since evolved into a patent-pending solution.

Presentation

• Lightning-fast Stateful Applications on FPGA

Biography

Chris Hancock is Chief Executive Officer of AARNet, Australia’s Academic
and Research Network. Chris came to the role in 2004 with 25 years of
executive leadership experience, including 15 years in the media and
telecommunications sectors.
As CEO, Chris has overseen extraordinary growth. Under his leadership, AARNet
has extended the nation’s advanced network infrastructure and developed a suite
of leading-edge technologies and solutions, enabling Australia’s participation on
the world stage for research, science, education and innovation. Today, AARNet
serves Australian universities and the CSIRO, as well as many health and research
organisations, schools, vocational training institutions, cultural organisations and
specialist content providers.
Chris has an Executive MBA from the University of New South Wales. Prior to
joining AARNet, he held several senior executive positions at the Seven Television
Network, Vodafone and Optus. At Optus, Chris was Managing Director of Optus
Business and an integral member of the senior executive team that completed
the IPO and subsequent sale of Optus to Singtel.
Chris is a past Chair of the Internet Industry Association and a member of the
Global REN CEOs Forum and Cyber Security Group. He is a director of the
board of the Australian American Leadership Dialogue and a past director of
the boards of the New England Girls’ School, the Smart Services CRC and the
Starlight Foundation. In January 2021, Chris was awarded a Member of the Order
of Australia (AM) for significant service to education an online research networks,
and to Australia-USA relations.

Presentation

• From the beach to the snow: delivering a collaborative SOC which spans the globe

Biography

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.

Presentation

• It's ITSM, Jim, But Not as We Know it: De-siloing an NREN with service management.

Biography

Peter Havekes is a Technical Productmanager in the Trust & Identity team of SURF. Working on identity and access solutions such as eduID, Openconext and SURFconext invite.

Presentation

• Automating International Guest Student Enrollment

Presentations

• Precise Time with SDN Whiteboxes

Biography

Ariela is a Communications Officer at Arnes, the Slovenian NREN. Recently graduating with a Master's Degree in English and General Linguistics, she is especially fond of finding ways to join different cultures, experiences, and projects in unifying collaborations that - at the same time - highlight the differences which enrich our world. Her passion is in visual and performing arts, as well as learning new things with curiosity.

Presentation

• Bring it HackathON!

Biography

Edit is Director General of the strategic foresight company, Vision & Values situated in Brussels and is Senior EU Liaison Adviser for GÉANT. She is Chair of the Administrative Board of the European Union’s Agency for the Cooperation of Energy Regulators (ACER). She Chairs the Science Business Widening group. She is Board member at Research Data Alliance (RDA) Europe and at the Transatlantic Policy Network (TPN). She co-chairs the RDA FAIR Data Maturity Model Working Group.
Prior to establishing her company, she served two consecutive terms in the European Parliament as an Member (MEP) (2004-2014). She served on Committees regarding the budget, budgetary discharge, internal market, industry, research, and space policy as well as energy. She also served on the governance of several parliamentary forums (European Energy Forum, European Internet Foundation, Knowledge 4 Innovation, Kangaroo Group etc.). Prior, she was member of the Hungarian Parliament in which role she was delegate to the Council of Europe. Before her political engagement, she worked for the private sector as regional sales and technical manager for a specialty chemicals company, National Starch & Chemical (part of Unilever and later ICI).
She has an MSc in food conservation engineering. She was Research Fellow at the Hungarian Academy of Sciences and Teaching Assistant at the University of Horticulture. Edit holds a Certificate of Company Direction for strategic marketing, financial management and company law from the Institute of Directors.

Presentation

• Building trust

Presentations

• EU Liaison/Public Affairs Clinic

Biography

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.

Presentation

• Unlocking the Potential of Network Monitoring Data for Scientific Research

Presentations

• Building a Network Data Repository

Biography

Sarah is passionate about helping people to develop personally and professionally. She joined GÉANT in 2021 to lead GÉANT’s Learning & Development team (GLAD) and the GN5-1 Human Capital Development task (WP1 T5), which is responsible for developing the skills of GÉANT’s project contributors and sharing knowledge with the wider Research & Education community. Learning plays a key role in attracting and retaining talented people, so GLAD delivers a range of programmes to develop vital skills and engage the next generation.
Sarah loves European culture and history, and travels to France and Italy regularly, having lived and worked in both as a student. Before GÉANT, she spent 10 years as an Executive Coach, working one-to-one with leaders and high potential employees, and 10 years in sales and customer relationships, which took her all over Europe and beyond.

Presentations

• Meet your Mentoring Match: Discover GEM, the GEANT Mentoring Programme

Presentation

• Next Level Orchestration at SURF

Presentation

• Exploring XDP, the new addition to the Cesnet NDK

Biography

Hendrik Ike is a Public Affairs Specialist who works for GÉANT, a European association which serves the research and education networking community by providing connectivity and developing services. GÉANT's essential terabit-ready network is the most advanced and well-connected research and education network in the world. Hendrik is responsible for developing and maintaining channels of communication with European institutions and the National Research and Education Network community, and is also responsible for GÉANT’s positioning towards global Internet Governance.
Prior to his position at GÉANT, Hendrik worked in the policy-making sphere in Brussels, both for the public sector within the Cabinet of the President of the Committee of the Regions, and for FleishmanHillard, a global public affairs consultancy.

Presentations

• EU Liaison/Public Affairs Clinic

Presentation

• Breaking Silos With The Devops Mindset

Presentation

• Cybersecurity in Schools: On Wednesdays We Wear Pink Hats

Presentations

• ZoomIn4PinkHats - The Ripple Effect

Presentation

• Balancing big tech demands, community & values

Biography

Specialist in regulation and compliance

Presentation

• Digital inclusion: collaborative approaches in changing times

Presentation

• GEANT Twinning Programme - KENET and Jisc

Presentation

• Why Your Wristwatch Won’t Cut It: The Story Behind Precision Timing Demystified

Biography

Naira Kocharyan is the Communications Manager at the Institute for Informatics and Automation Problems of the National Academy of Sciences of Armenia. She holds an MBA and a Master’s in Political Science and International Affairs from the American University of Armenia.

With over a decade of experience in science communication and international collaboration, Naira has contributed to EU-funded projects such as EaPConnect, Erasmus+, and others. From 2019 to 2024, she served on the Steering Committee of SIG-Marcomms, supporting cross-community initiatives and representing the Eastern Partnership region. Her work focuses on strategic communication, stakeholder engagement, and advancing innovation in research and education.

Presentations

• GÉANT Community for NRENs by NRENs: A Changing Landscape

Presentation

• Researcher Identity – It’s All About Attributes, Not Authentication

Biography

Nikos holds a diploma in Electrical and Computer Engineering from the National Technical University of Athens (NTUA). He is currently a Ph.D. student at NTUA focusing on network security. He participates in GN5-1 as a member of WiFiMon and RARE teams.

Presentation

• FedXAI4DNS: Explainable AI for DNS Security in Privacy-aware NREN Federations

Presentation

• On Quantum-Secure Layer 3 (IP) and Layer 2 Networking

Presentation

• Enlightening the Submarine Cable: Unlocking Ocean Insights with SUBMERSE

Presentations

• Precise Time with SDN Whiteboxes

Biography

Denim Latić is currently a bachelor student in his final year in Nancy, France while in parallel working for Restena as a Security Analyst.
Cybersecurty is an ever-evolving field and so, he embarks on a perpetual journey to do his best to be able to face new and old threats in the cyberspace. Furthermore, he is enthusiastic about raising awareness on cybersecurity related issues to both small and large audiences.

Presentation

• It's all trash or not?

Presentations

• Enabling Open Science: NREN Research Data Management Needs

Presentations

• Optimising Performance of Networked Applications

Biography

Stefan is working at the Swedish NREN Sunet as a service manager for the e-signature service eduSign. He is also involved in EU collaborations such as the European Digital Student Service Infrastructure (EDSSI) project and the development of the EU Digital Identity Wallet (EUDIW).

Presentations

• EU Digital Identity Wallet for Education

Biography

Dona Lolić is a cybersecurity adviser in National CERT sector in CARNET - Croatian Academic and Research Network. She has a Masters Degree in computer science research (Information and Communication Sciences). She is a member of Incident Handling Team, and her duties include reporting on national and EU level, incident handling and cyber crisis management. She has experience in organizing national CTF competitions, raising security awareness and she was the project coordinator for ZoomInPinkHats project.

Presentation

• Cybersecurity in Schools: On Wednesdays We Wear Pink Hats

Presentations

• ZoomIn4PinkHats - The Ripple Effect

Biography

Vuong Mai is an Assistant Professor at the School of Computer Science, AI and Electronics, Faculty of Engineering and Digital Technologies, University of Bradford, UK. He is also a core team member of the Bradford-Renduchintala Centre for Space AI. Prior to joining Bradford, he worked as a Research Assistant Professor at the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST), South Korea. His current research interests include optical wireless, B5G/6G, aerospace communications, and space AI.

Presentations

• Laser Satellite-Airborne Networks for Global Connectivity

Biography

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.

Presentations

• EU Liaison/Public Affairs Clinic

Presentation

• SURF's QKD testbed deployment

Biography

Edoardo Martelli is an experienced network engineer in the Communication Systems group of the CERN IT department. His expertise is in the field of Internet connectivity, campus and datacentre networks, network security and firewalls. Edoardo chair the community that provides LHCOPN and LHCONE the international networks for the Worldwide LHC Computing Grid

Presentation

• HL-LHC network challenges

Presentations

• Design User Experiences for Digital Identities (DuxDI)

Biography

Garvan is HEAnet's Brokerage Services Manager. He has over 30 years experience in ICT across a range of sectors including education, telecommunications, manufacturing and financial services.
He holds a B.Sc. in Computer Applications from DCU and an M.Sc. from TCD in Management of Information Systems.
When not thinking about how to save HEAnet's clients time, effort and money, he enjoys training guide dog puppies as well as all things Italian.

Presentation

• A Bright Future in the Cloud – Unique Collaboration on Cloud Procurement

Presentation

• Accelerating the Event Horizon Telescope's Speed to Science: Leveraging High-Speed Networks for Early Data Validation

Presentations

• Advancing Our Communities Through Professional Growth Opportunities

Biography

Sikt's senior advisor international strategy, long term contributor to the European and Nordic NREN communities, chair of the FIleSender & SimpleSAMLphp open source community boards and co-chair of the EOSC Task Force for Financial Sustainability. Leading the Above-the-net Strategy task in the GN5-1 cloud work package.

Presentation

• A bright future together

Presentation

• Breaking the Mold: Building the Future Cyber Workforce with Non-Traditional Talent

Presentation

• Balancing big tech demands, community & values

Biography

Neda Moeini is a Senior Software Engineer with over 10 years of experience in developing software solutions for complex, high-performance systems.
She currently works at GÉANT, developing software solutions that support the operation, automation, and evolution of the GÉANT network.
Her expertise spans backend development, software architecture, DevOps practices, and infrastructure automation.

Presentation

• Orchestrating the GÉANT packet layer network

Biography

Kellie leads strategic projects on digital accessibility, assistive technology, and inclusive practice in UK further and higher education at Jisc. Jisc is the UK digital, data and technology agency focused on tertiary education, research and innovation. She is co-chair of Accessible Digital Futures (2023-25), a collaborative project looking at unlocking the potential for accessible digital and AI technologies in higher education, and project partner for the second phase of the UKRI-funded project, Teaching Accessibility in the Digital Skill Set (2025-28). She represents Jisc at the Parliamentary Internet, Communications and Technology Forum (PICTFOR) and the All-Party Parliamentary Group for Assistive Technology. Published research includes 'Technology acceptance and trust: Overlooked considerations in young people's use of digital mental health interventions' available as an open access article in Health Policy and Technology (2022).

Presentation

• Digital inclusion: collaborative approaches in changing times

Presentation

• Accelerating the Event Horizon Telescope's Speed to Science: Leveraging High-Speed Networks for Early Data Validation

Presentation

• HAWAT: An Agentic AI Assistant for Network Troubleshooting

Presentation

• From Dark to Green: Energy efficiency and sustainability in network infrastructure

Presentation

• Killing two birds with one node

Biography

Karl Newell is a Network Software Architect at Internet2 (US national Research & Education network) where he leads their network automation and orchestration efforts. He is currently focusing on helping the Internet2 community jump start and expand their network automation endeavors.

Presentation

• HAWAT: An Agentic AI Assistant for Network Troubleshooting

Presentation

• Does the World Need More NRENs?

Presentation

• How a shared heartbeat ignites a purposeful Service Portfolio

Presentation

• What Got You Here, Won’t Get You There: New Strategies for Network Talent Management

Biography

eduroam technical wonk at Jisc. Messing about with RADIUS since 2013.

Presentation

• OpenRoaming 101 - A whole new world of Wi-Fi roaming beyond eduroam

Presentation

• Calling for REN Engagement in Climate Research Collaboration in Nepal

Presentation

• Automating International Guest Student Enrollment

Presentation

• AI and DH in action: the Proste Pismo platform for plain language communication

Biography

I am the Head of International at Jisc, where I lead on our international engagement with NRENs and global partners, and give strategic guidance on the internationalisation of Jisc's products and services.

Presentations

• Twinning for Collaboration: Strengthening NREN Partnerships

Biography

Senior Procurement Manager at GÉANT Amsterdam since July 2021. Specialised in European (and Dutch) Procurement Law and Contracting law. Monique is the task lead of the procurement of the new cloud tender OCRE2024 within the GN5-1 project.

Presentation

• A Bright Future in the Cloud – Unique Collaboration on Cloud Procurement

Biography

Researcher / Cloud R&D Engineer. His current research interests include virtualisation, intelligent service management in the context of 5G/6G, and orchestration platforms for Cloud Continuum based on SDN/NFV. He has experience in Cloud migration, CI/CD & DevOps methodology, and is accustomed to scoping and leading proof of concept (PoC) and pilot deployments. Open source advocate.

Presentation

• CaaS and Moodi: Simulation and Monitoring of Network Changes

Presentations

• GÉANT Community for NRENs by NRENs: A Changing Landscape

Presentations

• Support for URAN-Lessons Learnt: Humanitarian Support in the Community Programme

Presentation

• A Framework for Structuring the AI-driven Transformation in Higher Education Institutions

Biography

Evelien Renders facilitates international collaboration in higher education at SURF, the cooperative organisation for IT in Dutch education and research. Complex processes, manageable data, and interoperability between systems make her happy. She keeps track of international developments in student mobility and other logistical processes. In doing so, she contributes to flexible and agile education, both in the Netherlands and abroad. With a commitment to public values and open standards, Evelien advocates for communication, trust, and collaboration between IT stakeholders in higher education.

Presentation

• The strategic crossroads of higher education’s digital future

Biography

Jose Rezende received the B.Sc. and M.Sc. degrees in Electronics Engineering from Federal University of Rio de Janeiro in 1988 and 1991, respectively. He received the Ph.D. degree in Computer Science from Université Pierre et Marie Curie in 1997. Since 1998 he is associate professor at Federal University of Rio de Janeiro and since 2016 he is also R&D consultant at RNP. His current research interests are in mobile networks, wireless communication, performance evaluation and experimental platforms.

Presentation

• Unlocking the Potential of Network Monitoring Data for Scientific Research

Presentations

• E-Mail Abusemanagement-Sharing NREN Approaches and Seeking Ways to Collaborate

Presentations

• Design User Experiences for Digital Identities (DuxDI)

Biography

Léonie Schäfer is Senior Manager Global Liaison at the German National Research and Education Network (DFN). At DFN, she is responsible for coordinating DFN's contribution to international projects and joint developments. At GÉANT, Leonie represents DFN as a delegate and takes on various tasks in the area of programme planning, EU liaison, international relations and stakeholder management within GÉANT projects.
Prior to joining DFN, Léonie worked for several years in science, where she conducted her own research and was responsible for the management of EU research projects. Later, she worked as a Scientific Officer at the EU Commission, DG INFSO, dealing with innovation policies, new research trends and emerging research communities in ICT-related technologies. Léonie holds a diploma and a PhD in Computer Science from the Technical University Berlin.

Presentations

• Shaping the Future - A Policy Special Interest Group
• Twinning for Collaboration: Strengthening NREN Partnerships

Presentation

• Technology and scientific opportunities with submarine cables - with focus on Polar Connect

Presentations

• Optimising Performance of Networked Applications

Biography

John is the Head of Projects & Managed Services at the Australian Access Federation. He is the product manager for AAF's cloud identity provider service (Rapid Identity Provider) and privacy-preserving student verification service (VerifID). With 25 years’ experience in the higher education and research sector, John has a strong track record of successfully delivering large, complex projects and in developing innovative approaches to business and technology solutions.

Presentation

• Researcher Identity – It’s All About Attributes, Not Authentication

Biography

Director of Service at Jisc (UK). Responsible for the end-to-end service lifecycle across network, cloud and cyber security product portfolios.

Presentation

• “It’s fine” – a story of NREN culture

Presentation

• A Common IAM Solution for Higher Education in Norway

Presentation

• Don't trust everything you read in a SAML assertion

Presentation

• Accelerating the Event Horizon Telescope's Speed to Science: Leveraging High-Speed Networks for Early Data Validation

Biography

Mira works in the Partner Relations team at GÉANT, bringing a strong background in programme coordination, strategic support, and facilitating collaboration across diverse research and education communities. Before joining GÉANT, she supported a programme funded by the Dutch Research Council, focusing on FAIR data, sustainable research software, and open science infrastructures. Her interest in the GÉANT community was sparked during her time at CARNET.

Presentation

• What Are Bridges Made Of?

Biography

Agnieszka Stokłosa has over 20 years of experience in managing European Union funding programmes. She previously served as an administrative and financial coordinator for numerous projects under various European Commission Framework Programmes. Currently, she leads the Projects Administration Department at the Poznań Supercomputing and Networking Center (PSNC), managing a team of 11 experts.
She has extensive experience in interpreting and applying EU regulations, directives, and research and development programme guidelines, ensuring their effective integration into internal organizational policies. Her professional interests lie in the broad field of R&D project management.

Presentations

• Shaping the Future - A Policy Special Interest Group

Presentation

• Enlightening the Submarine Cable: Unlocking Ocean Insights with SUBMERSE

Biography

Mohammad is a senior software engineer with experience in both startups and enterprise environments. He values open source, simplicity, and useful results. He enjoys coding and DevOps, and is now focusing on network automation and workflow orchestration in GÉANT.

Presentation

• CaaS and Moodi: Simulation and Monitoring of Network Changes

Biography

With over 7 years of experience in software development, Nino Tsulaia specializes in both frontend and backend technologies. She has deep expertise in Python, working extensively with Django, Django REST Framework, and Celery to build scalable web applications. Nino also has strong proficiency in React.js for web development and React Native for cross-platform mobile applications on iOS and Android.

Her experience extends to RESTful API development, integrating diverse systems efficiently. She is skilled in MySQL, PostgreSQL, and Cassandra databases and has over a decade of hands-on experience with Linux systems (Ubuntu/CentOS), including both server and desktop environments.

Beyond software, Nino has 10+ years of networking experience, working with Cisco, Juniper, and Sophos devices, including firewalls, routers, and access servers. She also has hands-on expertise with OpenStack Cloud, utilizing its RESTful API for cloud management and automation.

Presentations

• Business Platform for OpenStack Clouds

Presentation

• Effective Stakeholder Engagement for NREN Sustainability: Experiences from RENU

Presentation

• The Role of Strategic Design in Shaping Feide's Future

Biography

Mark van de Sanden is working as an Enterprise Architect at SURF. He has more than 25 years of experience in managing supercomputers, large scale data infrastructures and has been participating in European projects. He is a data and storage expert and has been leading the data services team for more than 10 years. In EUDAT, Mark is a member of the secretariat. He has been involved in many EOSC related projects (e.g. EOSC-Hub, EOSC Future, DICE, FAIRCORE4EOSC, EOSC-ENTRUST, AARC-TREE) and has been member of the EOSC Architecture working group and the EOSC-A task forces on technical interoperability.

Presentations

• Meet the e-infra’s!
• Enabling Open Science: NREN Research Data Management Needs

Presentation

• Quantum-Safe Communication at Scale: Leveraging MDI-QKD for On-Demand Key Distribution

Presentation

• Zero trust for NRENs: because even your network lies

Presentation

• Redefining Global Connectivity: The Next-Generation Submarine Cable System for Research and Education Networks

Presentation

• How to build an Internet sub-marine cable?

Biography

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.

Presentations

• Quantum Community Get-Together and Launch of SIG-Quantum

Biography

Ines Vodopivec is deeply committed to advancing digitization theory and practice within heritage institutions on an international scale. Her notable roles include serving as Deputy Director of the National and University Library of Slovenia, being a dedicated member of the UNESCO Memory of the World National Committee, and participating as a member of the IFLA Digital Humanities – Digital Scholarship Committee; Member of the DARIAH Research Data Management Working Group and Member of the RDA Node Slovenia.

More recently, she assumed the role of Secretary General of AI4LAM (Artificial Intelligence for Libraries, Archives, and Museums), further solidifying her leadership and influence in the fields of digital heritage and innovative methodologies. Ines also holds the position of Vice Dean at Nova University’s Faculty of Slovenian and International Studies, where she serves as a distinguished University Professor specializing in Interdisciplinary Methodology and Digital Humanities.

Presentation

• AI4LAM: Advancing AI in Libraries, Archives, and Museums through Collaboration with the Geant Community

Biography

Cynthia Wagner is the Chief Information Security Officer and Security Manager at the Restena Foundation, the national research and education network in Luxembourg. Previously, Cynthia was managing the Restena-Computer Security Incident Response Team. She graduated with distinction from the University of Luxembourg with a PhD in computer science, where she studied the effects of various Machine Learning approaches on flow measurements for improving security. Besides her daily work, she is an active member in different working groups at Geant (the collaboration of European National Research and Education Networks). On a national plan, she is active in various advisory boards and co-founder of Restena’s CyberDay.lu and the Data Privacy Day conference. The more, she is active in teaching.

In her spare time, she loves to work in the garden and exploit new recipes in her kitchen (successfully and not).

Presentation

• LuCySe4RE - A security education framework for R&E in Luxembourg

Biography

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.

Presentation

• How a shared heartbeat ignites a purposeful Service Portfolio

Presentations

• Optimising Performance of Networked Applications

Biography

A software engineer of Peking University, core member of CARSI federation technical team (Peking University)

Presentations

• Challenges and Opportunities in the China CERNET Identity Federation (CARSI)

Biography

Stefan studied Compter Science at the (now) Karlsruhe Institue of Technology, and is working in NREN space at Restena ever since graduating.

His areas of work include European projects, eduroam, AAI infrastructures and, as of recent, management duties in the context of ISO27001 certification.

Presentation

• OpenRoaming 101 - A whole new world of Wi-Fi roaming beyond eduroam

Presentations

• Twinning for Collaboration: Strengthening NREN Partnerships

Biography

Albert is the Service Manager of the InCommon Federation, the US R&E identity federation.

Presentation

• Leveling Up Identity Assurance: MFA, Phishing Resistance, and the Path Forward

Biography

Hussein is a distinguished Computer Science Lecturer and dynamic communications specialist with extensive expertise in digital storytelling and strategic communications. He serves as the Chief Communications Officer at SomaliREN and as a Communications Advisor at Hormuud Telecom. Additionally, he contributes as a freelance storyteller for the BBC, where he highlights untold Somali histories and human-interest stories.

Presentation

• Marcom in Crisis Management: Communicating NREN Network Outages, Cybersecurity Incidents, and Service Disruptions

Presentation

• Breaking the Mold: Building the Future Cyber Workforce with Non-Traditional Talent