Community News T&I Incubator

Brighten the future of Trust & Identity

The TIM – Trust and Identity Incubator Mentorship – programme is a new and exciting initiative that brings together ambitious young minds and subject matter experts to pioneer and prototype new ideas in the field of Trust and Identity.

Introducing TIM

TIM is a collaboration between the GÉANT Trust and Identity Incubator and GLAD – the GÉANT Learning and Development team. Together, they aim to engage with students and young professionals within national research and education network organisations across Europe, with the goal of enabling new people to participate in developing exciting T&I products and services for the GÉANT project and ultimately, the European NREN community.

Nominated by their home NREN, participants, and their NREN mentors, are integrated into the work of the T&I incubator right from the start. They collaborate directly with the incubator subject matter experts (SMEs) on a topic provided by SMEs. On this journey, they are mentored both by the incubator experts as well as their home NREN. GLAD provides additional support trough training opportunities both for participants as well as for the NREN mentors. Finally all participants are expected to present their work at an international event or conference as advised by TIM.

TIM takes the form of a paid internship where the participating NRENs and young professionals get reimbursed for time dedicated to the T&I Incubator. The process of reimbursement is defined by the financial rules of the GÉANT 4.3 project. The expected duration of each TIM programme is 6 months.

Why join?

If you are a student or young professional, TIM offers a fantastic opportunity to join the development of cutting edge solutions in Trust & Identity on a pan European scale. It is a unique learning and professional development opportunity that includes:

  • A paid professional internship (which may be combined with thesis writing)

  • Working in an international team with networking opportunities with the wide range of experts in Trust and Identity and the NRENs

  • Training and skills development in the fields of public speaking and agile software development

Participant requirements are:

  • Final year Bachelors, Masters or PhD level students in the fields of Computer Science, Engineering or other technology related fields and an interest in Trust and Identity

  • 6 months availability with an approximate workload of 3 days per week

  • Excellent command of the English language, both spoken and written

  • All participants must be nominated by a GÉANT participating NREN

If you are an NREN, TIM helps you strengthen collaborations across Europe with other NRENs in developing new T&I products and services. It is also an opportunity to foster local T&I expertise, learn from experienced SME’s and expand the portfolio of services. In addition it may strengthen relationships with your institutions as well as identifying promising young talents to join the NREN world.  To participate we expect the NREN to:

  • Be a member of GÉANT 4-3 project

  • Be willing to facilitate and administer a paid internship based on the local HR/ legal requirements

  • Be willing to mentor participants locally (for example, be a sounding board to the experience, provide a working space, introduce to the home NREN and NREN world in general)

  • Have a mentor with an availability to support your participant in TIM with a workload of 0.5 to 1 day per week based on a 6-month cycle

How to apply?

The first TIM cycle will start 12 November 2019. A selection committee will review proposed participants and will select a maximum of four participants. The window for applications is 28 June to 31 October 2019, noon CET. More detailed information on the application process can be fond in the TIM wiki at: https://wiki.geant.org/display/GIG/TIM+Programme

Do you want to brighten the future of Trust & Identity? Join TIM today!

About the author

Niels van Dijk

Niels van Dijk is a technical product manager Trust and Security at SURFnet, the Dutch National Research and Educational Network.
Niels has been working in the GÉANT project for many years. Previously he led the service development of both the eduTEAMS service as well as the InAcademia simple validation service.
In the current GÉANT 4-3 project he is the work package lead for the Trust and Identity Incubator, which investigates new technologies that currently have no place (yet) in the services ecosystem of the GÉANT project.

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