TNC26 now open for Lightning Talk, BoF meeting and Community Hub session proposals
Europe’s largest research and education networking conference, TNC26, is now accepting proposals for Lightning Talks, Birds of a Feather (BoF) meetings and Community Hub sessions. The call for proposals closes on 10 March 2026. The event will be held in Finland for the first time on 8–12 June 2026.
This year’s conference theme, Digital Sisu, highlights resilience, courage and solution‑driven thinking in a changing world. In this spirit, TNC26 welcomes contributions that showcase new insights, lessons learned and collaborative approaches for advancing research and education networks.
Finnish contributors warmly encouraged
As TNC26 will be hosted in Finland for the first time, CSC warmly encourages Finnish higher education institutions, research organizations and other stakeholders to submit proposals and take part in the event. TNC26 offers a unique opportunity to showcase Finnish expertise and innovation to an international audience, as well as an excellent setting for networking and building new connections.
All proposals must be submitted through the TNC26 website. Applicants will be notified of the decisions in March 2026.
Three different ways to join the programme
TNC26 offers three distinct ways to contribute to the programme and share your expertise: concise Lightning Talks, participant‑driven BoF meetings and the versatile Community Hub sessions. These formats enable everything from quick idea sharing to deeper discussions and hands‑on demonstrations.
- Lightning Talks – short insights on stage
- Lightning Talks are presentations of up to five minutes, each focused on one clear idea. They can highlight, for example, a new project initiative, a call for collaboration, a key insight or a brief technical demo.
- Birds of a Feather (BoF) – participant‑led discussions
- BoF meetings provide an opportunity to explore a specific topic through relaxed, interactive discussion. Participation is limited to 40 people, and the sessions take place during the main conference days, 9–11 June. Each session may last up to 90 minutes.
- Community Hub – Plugged‑in, Unplugged and Opportunity Corner
- The TNC26 Community Hub offers three formats: Plugged‑in sessions, focusing on visual presentations, technologies, tools and demos; Unplugged sessions, centred on discussions, stories and collective ideation without slides; Opportunity Corner, where participants can leave project flyers, ideas and questions for others to explore
- Plugged‑in and Unplugged sessions run for 30–45 minutes. More information on the session types is available at tnc26.geant.org/community-hub.
TNC26 in Helsinki, 8–12 June 2026
TNC26 will take place at the Helsinki Music Centre, with CSC serving as the host organisation. Further information on the programme, highlights in Helsinki and the latest event updates can be found at the event page.
Remember also the Early Bird registration, open until 24 March 2026.
