This year’s GÉANT Community Award was presented to two winners: Sebastiano Buscaglione from GÉANT, in the category “initiators of significant new ideas or improvements which have had lasting impact on the organisation, project or community”, and Sabine Jaume in the category “impactful contributors to the GÉANT project or wider community activities over a sustained period of time”. The awards were presented by Paul Rouse, co-Chair of the GÉANT Community Committee, on Tuesday 6 June, during TNC23’s opening plenary, in Tirana, Albania.
Sebastiano Buscaglione, Senior Network Engineer, GÉANT
Bram Peeters, Chief Network Operations Officer at GÉANT, adds
“I’m very happy to see Sebastiano receiving this welldeserved community recognition. His ability to blend technical insights with an appreciation of who we do it with and for is truly remarkable and noteworthy. Seb’s dedication to ensuring that the solutions are not only technically sound, but also beneficial for the community is really admirable. We have seen that in the GN4-3N network project Seb will help to make sure we get there together, in a very positive and calm way. I’m consistently impressed by his skill in balancing multiple responsibilities, processing all the information, and generously sharing his expertise. Congratulations, and I hope we can continue to work together on good things for a long time!”
Sebastiano reacted,
“It is a great honour for me to receive this award, and I want to use this occasion to thank this community for the amazing trust and support I received throughout the years. It is an incredible privilege to be able to do the work I do as I truly believe that what we do is important. Each of us working together with all our differences toward common goals; this community is a beautiful, living example of what can be achieved with trust, collaboration, and passion. There is no better place to be!”
About Sebastiano
Sebastiano has made an impressive contribution in planning and designing the next evolution of the GÉANT pan-European network. His technical acumen and his ability to relay complex issues are paired with his ability to engage successfully with all stakeholders (GÉANT, NRENs, European Commission reporting, as well as a wide breadth of providers in the Telco and network technology marketplace). Sebastiano’s commitment to the GN4-3N project has been unwavering and he is always on top of what is a very wide scope of work to manage. In addition, he always maintains a calm disposition, he’s respectful of all views, and his subject matter expertise is always assuring.
Sabine Jaume
Erik Huizer, Chief Executive Officer at GÉANT, says
“A driving force behind AfricaConnect projects working to help establish stable NRENs in the region, a quality controller in several GÉANT committees, with a keen eye for detail and a dedicated GÉANT board member with NREN interests at heart, to name but a few examples – this is Sabine. She is a wonderful, open, and warm person who has contributed to our community on various levels with great energy and dedication, and if anyone deserves recognition for contributions that benefit all NRENs, it is Sabine.”
Sabine reacted
“This award is an utmost honour. I am very grateful to those I am working with for 28 years and who made it happen! It also very nicely bootstraps a new chapter of my career. Our GÉANT Community is made of amazing people continually engaging with all stakeholders: users, NRENs and RRENs, funding bodies, policy makers, and industry. Because no matter the frontiers, research and education deserve top class networks, security, and digital services. I am so proud to be part of this Community. Let’s keep on innovating together for a bright future!”
About Sabine
For over 28 years, Sabine has been one of the most valuable members of both the European and international community. She had a key role in setting up the French NREN, RENATER, and advocated for GÉANT and European NREN collaboration as we know it now. Over the years, she has been a member of several Boards and Committees (GÉANT Board, GÉANT Community Committee, GÉANT Community Programme, and the Programme Committee of TNC20 and TNC21). A strong advocate for NRENs around the world, she was not only involved in the BELLA and AfricaConnect projects, but she kick-started and led many initiatives for NRENs in Africa. With her welcoming and supportive disposition, she always goes the extra mile to share her expertise, help newcomers, and support innovation in the community.
Paul Rouse concludes with saying
“The Community Award embodies the uniqueness of what it is to be involved with research and education networks. In this community organisations come together, bound by trust in one another to deliver the services needed for research and education on a global scale. It is the people within these organisations that enact this, and the Community Award is a chance for us to recognise those who have made such a great impact.The nominees for 2023, like previous years, allow us to showcase some of the great work being done in our community. Having been lucky enough to work closely with the two winners this year, I am really pleased to see how our community has chosen to recognise their fantastic work. If you are inspired by their stories, remember the Community Award is there for you to nominate next year – let’s keep celebrating the achievements of our colleagues.”
Claudio Allocchio, co-Chair of the GÉANT Community Programme, added:
“The GÉANT community is the main reasoning for GÉANT itself to exist, and those who provide outstanding work for the Community are our champions we need to honour! This year we celebrate a person who dedicated her whole career to make out Communit grow, meet, and progress, and another person who is the “deus ex machina” of our top of the art new network… different roles, different expertise, but one very clear common goal: make all of us better and better”
This article is featured on CONNECT43! Read or download the full magazine here
