From 8 to 12 June 2026, Helsinki plays host to TNC26, the leading international conference dedicated to networking for research and education, organised by GÉANT in collaboration with CSC, the Finnish national centre for scientific IT infrastructure, which operates Funet, the Finnish research and education network.
With over 900 participants from more than 70 countries, TNC is an essential point of reference for those working in the field of knowledge networks, bringing together experts in security, digital identity, data management, infrastructure and innovation. The conference takes place at the Helsinki Music Hall (Musiikkitalo), an exceptional venue that is home to the Sibelius Academy and two symphony orchestras.
This year's theme is "Digital Sisu". Sisu is a Finnish concept encompassing inner strength, tenacity, determination and courage in the face of adversity. In a rapidly changing world, the theme feels particularly apt: the research and education community needs to embrace the spirit of sisu to make difficult decisions with courage, ensure a sustainable future for its activities, and preserve the strong ecosystem it has built over time. It is an all-purpose philosophy of life, one that underpins every aspect of the NREN community.
The TNC26 programme offers a rich mix of plenary sessions, parallel sessions, lightning talks, and much more. Among the central themes of this edition, security takes pride of place, with dedicated workshops designed to make cybersecurity knowledge more accessible across the research and education community. Considerable attention is also given to digital identity and federated services, with sessions on eduGAIN, eduVPN and eduroam. On the network infrastructure front, the programme includes sessions on Campus Network as a Service, quantum technologies for NRENs, and the EuroHPC HyperConnectivity project, which explores what it truly means to interconnect Europe's most powerful supercomputers. There is no shortage of discussions on network sustainability and digital sovereignty, alongside sessions focused on the human dimension: one dedicated to recruitment in NRENs examines how to attract talent whilst balancing efficiency with a mission-driven culture, whilst another addresses organisational strategy and how to bring it to life in a meaningful and measurable way. The programme also tackles the distribution of ultra-precise time signals over existing fibre infrastructure, independently of satellite systems. The lightning talks — one of the most eagerly anticipated sessions of the entire event — range from AI applications in meteorology and log data analysis, to the use of generative AI in universities, network automation and cross-continental collaboration.
GARR is once again present with a number of contributions:
- On 10 June, Davide Vaghetti co-chairs, alongside Tobias Dussa (DFN-CERT) and Daniel Kouřil (CESNET), the Birds of a Feather session "Incident Response in eduGAIN", focusing on the security aspects of federated authentication and authorisation.
- On 11 June, Matteo Colantonio presents the lightning talk "Streamlining Multi-Vendor Automation: Auto-generated RESTCONF Clients from YANG Models", showcasing a tool developed in-house at GARR that ensures runtime validation of network configurations, making interactions with devices from different vendors safer and more seamless — a concrete contribution to NREN network automation in multi-vendor environments.
- On 12 June, Davide Vaghetti chairs the side meeting "eduGAIN Town Hall and 50th REFEDS Meeting". This is a doubly special occasion: the eduGAIN Town Hall — the forum where the international research and education community discusses the latest hot topics in trust, identity and federated authentication — this year joins forces with the 50th REFEDS Meeting, the event dedicated to research and education identity federations, where the latest developments from active working groups and recent specifications are presented and discussed.
Beyond the presentations, GARR's participation in TNC26 reflects its ongoing commitment to the development of global digital infrastructures and to sharing expertise in order to face future challenges together. And it is in the very spirit of sisu — that quiet yet resolute determination — that we build, together, a more resilient future for research and education.
TNC26 can also be followed online, free of charge: plenary sessions and panels will be livestreamed on the event website