Focus: T&I, agile software development, idea prototyping, public speaking skills, mentorship

TIM (Trust and Identity Incubator Mentorship) Programme is an initiative that brings together ambitious young minds and subject matters experts to pioneer and prototype new ideas in the Trust and Identity field.

TIM is a collaboration between subject experts (SME's and also known as content mentors) of WP5 T2 - T&I Incubator task, GLAD, NRENs (home mentors) and young professionals (participants) across Europe. The overall aim of the program it to contribute to a viable and sustainable pipeline of T&I products and services for the GN4.3 project and ultimately, for the European NREN community.

Nominated by their home NREN, participants (and their home mentors)are integrated into the work of the T&I incubator right from the start. They collaborate directly with the Incubator SMEs on the topics provided by SME's and NRENs. On this journey, they are mentored by the Incubator experts as well as their home NREN. GLAD provides additional support through 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 place in the form of a paid internship where the  participating NRENs and young professionals get reimbursed for the time dedicated to the T&I Incubator. The process of reimbursements is defined by the financial rules of GÉANT 4.3 project. 

The expected duration of each TIM programme cycle is 6 months. See table below.


Cycles TIM internship start dateRecruitment opening dateRecruitment closing date
1st

 

 

 

2nd

 

 

 

3rd

 

 

 

4th

 

 

 


What is in it for the young professionals?

TIM offers participants 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 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 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

What is in it for the home NRENs?

If you are a NREN, TIM helps you strengthens collaboration 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


What is the role of GLAD?

GÉANT Learning and Development team (GLAD) is passionate about building, diversifying and strengthening capabilities of European NREN community. With the help of TIM, we hope to disseminate and build T&I competencies across Europe to build the workforce of the future.

In course of TIM programme, GLAD is committed to deliver the following skills to the TIM participants and mentors:

  • mentorship skills
  • public speaking skills
  • agile software development/ SCRUM training



NREN TIM application process

Step 1 Recruit* your candidates

Step 2 Identify the home mentor

Step 3 Submit application by email to glad@geant.org. The application should include:

  • A TIM participant's CV
  • A TIM participant's motivation letter explaining in a few paragraphs why they would like to take part in this initiative
  • An NREN motivation statement, a paragraph of why the TIM work is important and how the internship arrangement will work locally 

Step 4 Receive the results of the application process. The application process is managed by the TIM Selection Committee which includes:

  • a representative of WP5T2 Niels van Dijk (SURFnet)
  • a representative of GLAD  (GÉANT Association)
  • a representative of the community (Ann Harding (SWITCH)

The Selection Committee is there to ascertain the level of participants' expertise and motivation to take part in the TIM challenge. It is also there to ensure that home NRENs are equipped to support the TIM participants.

Step 5 Formalise the internship with the TIM participant based on the local NREN rules

Step 6 Join the work of T&I incubator together with the TIM participant






Submit Application!

Application deadline  for NRENs 
15 June 2020

Technical Areas

Identity and Access Management

Identity and Access Management (IAM) is about creating and managing digital identity for users, which can be used to represent a person in the digital world. Using state of the art authentication and authorization methods ensures that only the owner can access his identity and only entitled can access a resource.

In this area, it is all about Identity Providers, Identity Federation, Service Providers and Discovery Services. Your project may improve existing software solutions or create new applications for a global community.

Standards and Protocols

Building on top of existing infrastructure and applications, Standards and Protocols is about creating new ways to for applications and users to communicate.
This area is all about protocols and standards used or being developed in the global Trust and Identity community, like the Security Assertion Markup Language (SAML) and Open ID Connect (OIDC), which will be used to integrate new capabilities in an already existing large infrastructure.

Security and Privacy

Security is an integral part of most applications and infrastructures. Ensuring data protection, privacy and safety by using measures like encryption and cryptography is nowadays mandatory.

In this area, you may investigate, test and integrate new security features in existing Trust & Identity applications or to create new services that help secure our community, by working on for example multi factor authentication or HSM technologies.




Schedule  

Jun-Dec 2020

Application deadline 
15 June 2020
Candidates have been selected and NRENs informed
wk 25 

Time for NRENs to set up internship logistics and contract ( mentor, (virtual) workspace, contract, timesheets etc.
wk 25-27 

Start TIM internship programme  
wk 28-53



Promotion materials  

To help NRENs promote the programme and recruit participants we have available the following materials :

  • TIM logo files
  • Email Banner
  • Boilerplate text targeted to students (from NRENs to students)
  • Presentation slides targeted to NRENs/mentors

Download materials


News and Copy

Also, feel free to use words and copy from news items we create in different places to promote the programme:

https://learning.geant.org/geant-internships-through-tim-programme/

https://blog.geant.org/2019/06/21/brighten-the-future-of-trust-identity

https://blog.geant.org/2019/08/30/lets-talk-about-the-trust-identity-mentorship-programme


Frequently Asked Questions

TIM programme is a mentorship programme. What we mean by that is that it aims to advance participants' careers and professional skills through a collaborate and -creative work on real-life projects. For this TIM participants (mentees) join T&I Incubator team (mentors) and work hand-in-hand with them on the current, live T&I projects. This -creative and dynamic context allows participants to develop their expertise in T&I field  advance their interpersonal skills, such as communication and influencing.

To reinforce and support these learnings, GLAD team will offer to the participants Agile/SCRUM training and a communication skills training.  There is also a local mentor who can assist participants on their learning journey. ‘Learning by doing’ and ‘learning through doing’ represent the underlying ethos of the programme, therefore proactive attitude and growth mindset are an absolute must. 


Any early career candidate nominated by a GÉANT Project NREN partner registered at a university or college in a GÉANT partner country or working in the NREN community.

Participation happens through a paid internship at the hosting NREN, who will claim manpower from the GEANT project and pays the trainee.


Depending on the number of  candidates in the programme, maximal 1 candidate per NREN.


Ideal candidates are last year's BA, Master and PhD level students in Computer Science, Engineering or other Technology fields with in computer networks who want to commit time and energy to learn and develop themselves beyond the basic university programme.


A six months' professional internship requires time and dedication and interest from all parties involved. Motivation is essential both for the student as for the NREN.  After  a positive review, the T&I selection Committee will invite the hosting NREN together with their candidate for an  interview to complete the recruitment.   


A complete application includes a motivation letter of the hosting NREN and the candidate's motivation letter and CV. Send this to glad@geant.org.  



Your role as a mentor is to engage with your protege and provide encouragement and advice during the programme and related events.  You can find more info on the mentor role in the NREN_mentorship presentation slides available in TIM Resources Package ( for NRENs)


Have a different question? 
Email: glad@geant.org or leave a comment at the bottom of this page.