This year the GÉANT Community Award has been awarded to two winners: Ronan Byrne and Nicole Harris.
Ronan Byrne, CEO of HEAnet
“I’m honoured to receive the GÉANT community award. It’s been a pleasure to work with my NIAC colleagues advising GÉANT on the GN4-3N network project and, more recently, on intercontinental connectivity. I also hugely valued working with many GÉANT and NREN colleagues in responding to the recent EuroHPC Connectivity bid, which amounted to a most impressive collective team effort! It’s a great privilege to serve on the Board of GÉANT and to work closely with the GÉANT Executive Team where we support one another in driving GÉANT forward. Time and time again we see that by combining local NREN expertise with the aggregation strength of the GÉANT Association, we generate a very potent super-power!”
About Ronan
With over 20 years’ experience at the Irish NREN, HEAnet, Ronan brings valuable experience and leadership to our community. Since 2019, he has served as Community Chair of the GÉANT Network Infrastructure Advisory Committee (NIAC) which has been a key advisory to the GÉANT Executive in its successful delivery of the GN4-3N pan-European network project. Since his election to the GÉANT Board in November 2023, Ronan has Co-Chaired a working group to redefine our Interconnection and Peering Policy and, in a GÉANT Board liaison role, he has supported GÉANT and the NREN collective in responding to the recent EuroHPC Connectivity tender. With the support of the NREN community, Ronan was elected to the inaugural Board of the EOSC Association in 2020, and he was the Irish representative on the EOSC Governance Board before this.
“I’ve had the pleasure of working with Ronan for over ten years on all sorts of projects – both strategic and long term, and the deeply technical. He has always brought his natural leadership, steady hand, and engaging personal touch. Ronan has a real knack for big ideas, and there’s no doubt HEAnet wouldn’t be where it is today without him. He’s also genuinely great company – approachable, supportive, and a person of wit and warmth.”
Brian Boyle, Technical Services Director.
Nicole Harris, Senior Trust and Security Manager, GÉANT
Nicole Harris joined GÉANT in March 2013 as a Project Development Officer to support the global GÉANT Community Programme. She works primarily in trust and security and specialises in managing global IT initiatives, policy and legal issues and open-source developments. Since 2010, Nicole has been involved in REFEDS (Research and Education Federations) and continues that role as part of her GÉANT responsibilities. REFEDS is the voice that articulates the mutual needs of research and education identity federations worldwide, and provides a range of working groups, advisories and services to enhance interaction and interoperability between identity federations.
Nicole was responsible for TF-CSIRT, GÉANT’s forum for CSIRTS, and continues to support GÉANT’s successful TRANSITS training programme as well as managing a variety of security related projects for NRENs. Prior to joining GÉANT, Nicole worked at Jisc for 10 years, supporting a range of programmes and services in the middleware, research and open-source spaces. Whilst at Jisc, Nicole established the UK Access Management Federation, one of the earliest research and education identity federations to emerge. Nicole holds a Master of Arts degree in Children’s Literature, which has been more useful in her technical career than people might think.
“Nicole has contributed immensely to the GÉANT community in many capacities including the GÉANT Community Programme, REFEDS, TCS, the content side of TNC, and many other initiatives in the Trust & Identity and Security space. Nicole has championed gender equality within our community and, frankly speaking, I cannot think of a worthier recipient of the Community Award.”
Klaas Wierenga, Chief Information and Technology Officer.
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