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Humanitarian Support Group: learning from URAN and building resilience together

Group photo
Humanitarian Support Group at TNC26

The GÉANT community’s Humanitarian Support Group for NRENs continues to support solidarity, knowledge-sharing and practical resilience across the international research and education networking community.

As part of this ongoing work, two upcoming URAN infoshares will bring colleagues together to learn from the experience of Ukraine’s National Research and Education Network and the wider Ukrainian community. The sessions focus on practical lessons learned through prolonged crisis, from personal preparedness and resilience to keeping critical network infrastructure operating during extended power outages.

Be Prepared: Lessons in resilience from Ukraine

29 October 2026 | 15:00 CET – Register today

What can we learn from nearly five years of full-scale war about preparing for and living through prolonged disruption?

This session shares practical experience from Ukrainian civilians, covering blackout preparedness, physical safety and psychological resilience. The online event focuses on the everyday practices that help individuals and families continue to function, make decisions and stay resilient under prolonged uncertainty and danger.

Although shaped by the experience of war, many of these approaches are relevant to other emergencies, including natural disasters and major infrastructure failures.

The session is open to anyone in the GÉANT community, regardless of technical background, and will include interactive polls and time for Q&A.

Keeping the network running: URAN’s experience of wartime blackouts

26 November 2026 | 15:00 CET – Register today

How do you keep a national research and education network running when the power supply is unpredictable and modern backup equipment is difficult to obtain?

URAN will share concrete, field-tested approaches developed while operating through prolonged power outages caused by attacks on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure. The session will cover power generation, energy storage, reducing node energy consumption and the transition to passive CWDM solutions.

This is an account of how URAN has adapted available resources under extreme operational pressure – offering other NRENs a practical reference point when considering their own resilience and continuity planning.

The session is aimed particularly at network engineers, infrastructure architects, NREN technical leads, system administrators and power/energy specialists, with interactive polls and Q&A.

Meet the Humanitarian Support Group at the GÉANT Symposium

The Humanitarian Support Group will also be represented at the GÉANT Symposium in Brussels 6-8 October, where colleagues will have an opportunity to learn more about the group’s work and the wider community effort to support NRENs facing severe crises.

Attendance at the Symposium is limited to GÉANT Project participants, but for those attending, it will be another opportunity to connect with the people involved and hear more about the group’s work.

Join the Infoshares, share your experience and help strengthen resilience across our community.

 

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