Future Talent Programme

At GÉANT believe it is crucial to engage, foster and develop future IT professionals. This sentiment holds true now, more than ever, as the sector undergoes a period of considerable growth.  As we are committed to the up-skilling of Europe’s future IT workforce, we have set up the GÉANT Future Talent Programme.

Future Talent Programme is a gateway to young professionals to meet the European and global networking community. The Programme offers young professionals an opportunity to grow and develop their skills through free webinar series, internships or coaching. Furthermore, it rewards the learning by offering free admission to international, prestigious events to those, whose work was recognised by an independent panel.

GÉANT learning and Development GLAD) teams up with GÉANT project partners to reach out and mentor young talented professionals to participate in one of our initiatives. Since the start in 2017 the Future Talent Programme had participation from 22 NREN, featuring 44 bright and young professionals. The programme is funded by the GÉANT Project.

We invite you to join.  

Who can participate in this programme?

Any young candidate nominated by a GÉANT Project NREN partner registered at a university or college in a GÉANT partner country.

How many candidates can you nominate for the programme?
We accept max 3 candidates per NREN.

What kind of candidates should you look for?
Ideal candidates are (under) graduate, master and PhD students (possibly interns at the NREN), who want to commit time and energy to learn and develop themselves beyond the basic university programme.

What kind of topic can be submitted for a lightning talk
The subject matter of each presentation could be any idea, project or research or innovation the candidate have been working on that addresses a technical, economic, legal, security or environmental aspect in any IT and networks field. Previously submitted topics.

How competitive is the programme?
All nominated candidates that comply to the programme requirements will be admitted to the Future Talent Programme - which in itself does not have a competitive element. The competing element comes with the acceptance of the proposal for the lightning talk at TNC where the candidate competes with all the other proposals the conference will receive. The TNC programme committee decides on the winning proposals based on original content and clarity. The training we offer aims to bring young, often unexperienced applicants in a better position to be selected.

What do you need to send to Future Talent Programme to nominate a candidate?
A complete application includes the online registration at EVENTR including your contact details as a mentor, your candidate’s contact details and university and a short description of the topic the candidate wants to submit as a Lightning Talk. The application must be submitted by 28 February 2018.

What is the duration of the programme?
The programme runs for 3 months from March to June.  Depending on the number of participants the e-workshops will be organised in groups of max 5 participants and will run in March and April. Finalists whose proposals are accepted by the TNC Programme Committee will get 1:1 coaching from a professional coach prior to the conference. The TNC conference will take place from 17-20 June in Tallinn, Estonia.

What will be your role as a host and mentor?

Your role as a mentor is to engage with your candidate on a regular basis, provide encouragement and advice during the programme and attend related events. If your candidate is selected to speak at TNC, we encourage you to support him or her at the conference. Travel cost for mentors can be funded. We ask the hosting NREN to support the candidate's travel arrangements. Candidates' travel and accommodation is funded by the programme and can be reclaimed from GN4.3-WP1-T5 following the normal GÉANT project claimant rules and procedures.

Have a different question?

Email: glad@geant.org

Email: glad@geant.org