Biography
Alex Bushell has worked in progressive roles at CANARIE, the federal partner in Canada’s National Research and Education Network, since 2016. In his current role as Director, Public Affairs, he is accountable for leading government relations, policy engagement, and public affairs strategy for the organization, and advancing strategic initiatives and special projects on behalf of CANARIE’s executive team.. Additionally, Alex serves as a member of Secretariat of the Global R&E Network CEO Forum, a group of executive leaders from a range of leading national and regional research and education networks from around the world. Prior to joining CANARIE, Alex spent six years working for national politicians in both Canada and the U.K. In Ottawa, Alex worked on analyzing and producing policy on a range of consumer-related finance and industry topics, including spectrum allocation and credit card regulation. Alex has also worked in the private sector as a government relations consultant, proving strategy and insight to leading consumer tech companies. Alex holds a BA (Hons.) in Politics and Parliamentary Studies from the University of Leeds in the U.K., and an MA in Political Science from Carleton University.
Talks
- Lilla Salen
- Thursday 09:00 - 10:30
Biography
Alexander van den Hil is an international policy and strategy advisor at SURF, where he discusses the importance of maintaining the Netherlands' position as a digital hub in Europe. He is involved in discussions about the balance between national autonomy and international clout, the risks and benefits of international cooperation, and the importance of making conscious choices in collaboration. His insights are valuable for understanding the complexities of digital leadership and the need for strategic partnerships in the digital age.
Talks
- Lilla Salen
- Thursday 09:00 - 10:30
Biography
Andy has over 30 years experience in AI, Cloud, HPC infrastructure, Telecoms and Finance in leadership roles. Prior to Verda, Andy was CEO of Hydro66, an award winning 100% renewable powered datacentre in the north of Sweden and held leadership roles at Nexgen Cloud, Easynet, BSkyB, Fisher Investments and AllianceBernstein. He holds a degree in Computer Science from the University of Edinburgh.
Talks
- Lilla Salen
- Tuesday 11:00 - 12:30
Biography
Andy Byrne has worked in the networking industry for over 25 years. He has extensive experience in developing long-term strategic plans and advising stakeholders on best approaches within the field of data networking. He is currently a Project Manager at Asiera. His previous roles include Technical Consultant, Account Manager, and NOC Engineer, held across organisations such as Agile Networks, Telindus, eir, and Siemens. He has a strong passion for energy efficiency and is particularly interested in how the industry can deliver more capability and performance while using less energy
Talks
- Martin + Ingemar
- Thursday 09:00 - 10:30
Biography
Björn Sjöholm is a cybersecurity specialist and entrepreneur with more than 35 years of experience in IT Security, information security, and compliance. He has held roles as an advisor, auditor, speaker, and trainer. Björn has founded and grown companies such as Unilog Systems, Europoint Networking, and Seadot Cybersecurity, and has also held management roles at Nexus and Nixu. He is currently active in his own company, Unidot. Björn holds a M.Sc. in Computer Science and is certified as a CISSP, CISM and CRISC.
Talks
- Martin + Ingemar
- Wednesday 11:00 - 12:30
Biography
Börje Josefsson is a Swedish networking and IT infrastructure specialist with a long career in higher-education technology. He studied computer science at Luleå University of Technology and worked in university IT as a systems operator, team leader and CTO before joining SUNET, the Swedish University Network. At SUNET, he has served as CTO and COO, contributing to the design and development of Sweden’s high-performance, highly resilient research and education network. He has particular expertise in network architecture, reliability, operations and infrastructure.
Talks
- Martin + Ingemar
- Thursday 09:00 - 10:30
Biography
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Talks
- Martin + Ingemar
- Wednesday 11:00 - 12:30
Biography
I am Head of International at Jisc, which is a really broad and varied role as “international” cuts across almost all parts of our business. I offer relationship management for NRENs, universities, and UK sector bodies who want to work more closely with Jisc on international collaborations. It’s my job to understand the needs of our members and align the parts of Jisc to respond to international challenges – essentially getting the right people in the room to deliver results. Some of the themes I’ve worked on this year include: • Initiating the Security Policy Alliance • The GEANT Twinning Programme • Satellite eduroam • Jisc’s support for transnational education • Secure travel advice for senior leaders • Business development for Jisc products and services • Governance of international activity at Jisc • Policy alignment with UK sector bodies I’m based in Edinburgh, UK and travel extensively around the country speaking to our members and stakeholders
Talks
- Lilla Salen
- Thursday 09:00 - 10:30
Biography
Devaraju Narayanappa is a Senior Application Scientist at CSC – IT Center for Science, Finland. His work focuses on high-performance computing, climate modelling, and digital twin technologies supporting large-scale Earth system simulations. He is actively involved in the European Destination Earth initiative, contributing to the ClimateDT and TerraDT projects, with particular interests in climate data infrastructures, large-scale simulation workflows, and enabling access to climate information through advanced data services and computing platforms.
Talks
- Martin + Ingemar
- Tuesday 14:00 - 15:30
Biography
Elin Nurges is the Chief Information Security Officer and Information Security Advisor at the University of Tartu, where she led the work that made it the first ISO/IEC 27001:2022 certified university in Estonia. She has more than ten years of experience in information security, spanning ISO 27001, 27005 and 31000, NIS2, GDPR, ITIL processes, risk and continuity management, and internal and external auditing. Alongside her work at the university, Elin advises and audits organisations across Estonia's regulated sectors and teaches and trains information security professionals and auditors. Her focus is on turning standards into practical, workable management systems in complex, real-world environments.
Talks
- Martin + Ingemar
- Wednesday 11:00 - 12:30
Biography
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Talks
- "Library"
- Tuesday 11:00 - 12:30
Biography
Esther Hahyeon is a Postdoctoral Researcher at Aalborg University (AAU), Department of Computer Science, where her work focuses on reinforcement learning, control optimization, and energy-efficient systems. Until 2025, she was a PhD fellow in the same department, developing reinforcement-learning methods for control optimization grounded in formal methods. She now investigates how to reduce the energy consumption of computing systems, including the software behind large language models themselves. Her current work brings together agentic AI and sustainability.
Talks
- Martin + Ingemar
- Thursday 09:00 - 10:30
Biography
Evelien Renders is an Advisor for Internationalisation of Education at SURF, the Dutch IT cooperative for education and research. She specializes in system interoperability, IT architecture, and standards in education. Evelien’s background includes roles at Radboud University as Erasmus+ coordinator and information manager. As the President of EUNIS, she advocates for open standards and public values, and fostering collaboration among IT stakeholders in education.
Talks
- "Library"
- Thursday 09:00 - 10:30
Biography
Gunnar Ingi Ómarsson is the Project Manager of IT at the University of Akureyri, where he has worked since 2015 and is responsible for the university's IT operations, infrastructure, and information security. His career in technology spans more than 20 years, beginning in sales before moving into technical support while completing a B.Sc. in Computer Science. Since 2010, he has focused on IT operations, building extensive hands-on experience across infrastructure management, cybersecurity, cloud services, troubleshooting and digital transformation. Having worked across nearly every layer of IT, from customer-facing support to systems administration, security, and strategic technology planning, Gunnar brings a practical perspective to the challenges modern organizations face. Today, his focus is on delivering secure, reliable, and user-centered technology services while helping institutions navigate the opportunities and challenges of emerging technologies.
Talks
- Martin + Ingemar
- Thursday 11:00 - 12:30
Biography
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Talks
- "Library"
- Tuesday 11:00 - 12:30
Biography
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Talks
- Lilla Salen
- Thursday 13:30 - 15:00
Biography
Jakob Mellberg is an IT architect and software developer who spends his time building and maintaining campus networks. He’s passionate about bridging the gap between networking and software, with years of hands-on experience in the field.
Talks
- Lilla Salen
- Wednesday 14:00 - 15:30
Biography
James Catmore has been a member of the ATLAS Collaboration since joining as a Ph.D. student with Lancaster University (UK) in 2003. Following a post-doctoral position in Lancaster and a Fellowship at CERN, he moved to Norway where he now works as a permanent researcher at the University of Oslo. Since the start of his career he has been closely involved with software and computing in ATLAS. He coordinated the reprocessing of the earliest ATLAS data, and later helped to devise the ATLAS distributed production and analysis workflows for Run 2. Catmore was elected Computing Coordinator by the ATLAS Collaboration Board for the 2019-2020 term, serving as deputy in the preceding year. He is now the ATLAS software co-coordinator.
Talks
- Martin + Ingemar
- Tuesday 11:00 - 12:30
Biography
Jeanette Nilsson has an engineering degree from Luleå University of Technology and has worked with business development on a national, regional and local basis. She has close to five years of experience working with lobbying in Brussels. Currently, Nilsson works at RISE as AI Ecosystem expert with the goal of making Sweden leading in Europe when it comes to using artificial intelligence technology to strengthen societal development. Jeanette is also active in HPC community and part of the group that is building up Swedens AI Factory with the responsibility of connecting industry and SME. Jeanette is a board member of BDVA and leading the AI Agendan for Sweden.
Talks
- "Library"
- Thursday 11:00 - 12:30
Biography
Johan Peterson is an IT Architect at Linköping University and the ECIU University Alliance, specializing in digital infrastructure, identity management, interoperability, Microsoft 365, Power Platform, and automation. He contributes to several European initiatives and projects, including the EU Digital Wallet, supporting the development of digital ecosystems for innovative learning and micro-credentials. Johan is passionate about creating scalable solutions that connect people, systems, and institutions.
Talks
- "Library"
- Thursday 09:00 - 10:30
Biography
Johan Johansson is the COO of UniDig. He has a background as President of ITCF, the Swedish higher education CIO forum, and as IT Director at Lund University. He has extensive experience in IT and its contribution to organizational development and he works to strengthen collaboration between universities and establish a stronger collective voice in national and international digitalisation efforts. He is also a board member of the Swedish NREN, Sunet.
Talks
- "Library"
- Wednesday 14:00 - 15:30
Biography
Johan Sörmling is VP Reusable Identities & Wallets at Signicat, where he is responsible for the strategy and direction for EUDI Wallets and reusable identities. He has worked with digital identity and authentication for more than 15 years, across both technology, product and business roles. Today his focus is very much on how we move EUDI Wallets from regulation, pilots and PowerPoints into something that actually works in the real world. At Signicat, Johan works closely with the product and technology teams on both sides of the wallet ecosystem — how organisations can accept identities and attestations from wallets, but also how they can issue credentials and services into them.
Talks
- "Library"
- Tuesday 14:00 - 15:30
Biography
Josefine Nordling is a Senior Open Science Specialist specializing in FAIR implementation, Open Science, persistent identifiers, and research reproducibility. As part of the Finnish EOSC Node, she contributes to the development of the European Open Science Cloud (EOSC) through the EOSC Federation Handbook and Legal & Governance Working Groups. She also leads internal engagement and use case development and coordinates organizational efforts to advance FAIR adoption. As Deputy Node Coordinator, she supports stakeholder collaboration and the development of sustainable governance and operational practices. Combining agile leadership with strong project management expertise, Josefine helps research organizations advance open, interoperable, and reproducible science
Talks
- "Library"
- Thursday 11:00 - 12:30
Biography
Director of the Swedish Polar Research Secretariat
Talks
- Lilla Salen
- Tuesday 09:00 - 10:30
Biography
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Talks
- Lilla Salen
- Thursday 11:00 - 12:30
- Lilla Salen
- Thursday 13:30 - 15:00
Biography
Kurosh Bozorgebrahimi is Senior Advisor in Optical Networks at Sikt-Norwegian Agency for Shared Services in Education and Research. He has a long and deep expertise in optical fiber communication and advanced fiber optic services. He holds a master's degree in physical Electronics with focus on Optical Communication from the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU) in 1995 and has extensive industry experience from his time at Telenor’s transport network and innovation divisions. He joined Sikt in 2006 and have been working with a mix of optical related research and operation projects.
Talks
- Lilla Salen
- Wednesday 11:00 - 12:30
Biography
Joined NORDUnet in 2006 following a career in the telecom industry. Lars has worked on a great number of projects and been dedicated to the joint efforts with GÉANT where he also serves on their board of directors.
Talks
- Lilla Salen
- Tuesday 14:00 - 15:30
Biography
Laura Luotola is an experienced customer success and customer insight professional specializing in customer understanding, stakeholder engagement, research, and organizational development. She has led customer insight initiatives, feedback programs, and strategic transformation efforts across multiple sectors. Laura is passionate about turning customer and stakeholder insights into practical actions that improve services, strengthen relationships, and support organizational growth. Currently Laura Luotola is working as a customer success manager, and she is responsible for developing CSC’s customer work.
Talks
- "Library"
- Wednesday 14:00 - 15:30
Biography
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Talks
Biography
Mari Riipinen is a research administration and research support professional with extensive experience in research management and the advancement of open science. She holds a PhD in Geography from the University of Oulu and has dedicated her career to strengthening the conditions for high-quality research. Currently Mari Riipinen is working as a director at CSC with the responsibilities on developing customer relations and RDI engagement. Previously she held a leadership position in research administration and support services. In her role, she worked closely with researchers, university leadership, and external stakeholders to develop research support structures, facilitate research funding activities, and promote open science practices.
Talks
- "Library"
- Wednesday 14:00 - 15:30
Biography
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Talks
- Lilla Salen
- Tuesday 14:00 - 15:30
- Martin + Ingemar
- Wednesday 14:00 - 15:30
- Lilla Salen
- Thursday 11:00 - 12:30
Biography
Mattias Sällström is the architect at the Ladok Consortium, responsible for technical strategy, APIs, and interoperability for Sweden's national student information system. He has been involved in the development of Edu-API from an early stage and led Ladok's work towards becoming the first organization certified for the standard. Mattias represents Ladok in several international standardization initiatives and has a particular interest in API design, interoperability, and building sustainable digital ecosystems for higher educatio
Talks
- "Library"
- Thursday 09:00 - 10:30
Biography
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Talks
- Lilla Salen
- Wednesday 09:00 - 10:30
Biography
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Talks
- Lilla Salen
- Thursday 11:00 - 12:30
- Lilla Salen
- Thursday 13:30 - 15:00
Biography
Peter is a dedicated leader with over 20 years of experience driving impactful change across commercial and public sectors. His expertise spans policy, program, project, and people management, with a strong focus on large-scale digital IT transformation, public procurement tenders, and multi-national research initiatives. At the European Commission, Peter shapes digital policies on open science cloud (EOSC), high performance computing (HPC), artificial intelligence (AI Factories), and research network connectivity through GÉANT. Previously at Oracle, he excelled as a solution engineer and cloud architect, later advancing to Digital Transformation Specialist for the EMEA public sector, education and research markets. His role at GÉANT Association (formerly TERENA) involved defining and implementing cloud technology policies for higher education & research, collaborating closely with the European Commission. With extensive experience as an EC project coordinator and open-source community organizer, Peter brings strategic vision and a results-driven approach to every initiative.
Talks
- Martin + Ingemar
- Tuesday 11:00 - 12:30
Biography
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Talks
- Lilla Salen
- Tuesday 14:00 - 15:30
Biography
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Talks
- Martin + Ingemar
- Tuesday 14:00 - 15:30
Biography
Rune Sydskjør has 25 years of experience in networking and security and is team lead for the role eduCSC/Sikt has as a sectoral CERT for Norwegian research and education under the Ministry of Education and Research. Rune has himself been part of the team operating the research network (Uninett), which is among Norway's most powerful network infrastructures. Having access to and experiencing the activity across such a diverse environment as the knowledge sector has given Rune a unique insight and extensive experience in handling various types of attacks, such as DDoS attacks.
Talks
- Martin + Ingemar
- Wednesday 14:00 - 15:30
Biography
Timothy Gibbon is the coordinator of the NordicQCI project. He is a researcher at the Research Institutes of Sweden (RISE) and collaborates with industry and academia across topics of quantum, photonics, biophysics and telecoms. Timothy holds a PhD in Physics and was previously Associate Professor at Nelson Mandela University.
Talks
- Lilla Salen
- Tuesday 14:00 - 15:30
Biography
Tine B. Larsen is a Senior Research Seismologist at the Geological Survey of Denmark and Greenland (GEUS). She holds a Ph.D. in Geophysics and Scientific Computing and has 25+ years of experience in seismology. A central part of her job is seismological monitoring covering the whole range from microseismicity in CCS to earthquake monitoring, glacial earthquakes and nuclear explosion monitoring. She works with data from seismographs as well as from DAS on subsea cables.
Talks
- Lilla Salen
- Wednesday 11:00 - 12:30
Biography
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Talks
- Martin + Ingemar
- Thursday 11:00 - 12:30
Biography
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Talks
- Martin + Ingemar
- Tuesday 11:00 - 12:30
Biography
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Talks
- Martin + Ingemar
- Thursday 11:00 - 12:30