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Mgr inż. Maja Górecka-Wolniewicz and dr Tomasz Wolniewicz from the NCU Information and Communication Centre have been honored with the prestigious GÉANT Community Award.

GÉANT is an international organization that brings together 43 European member states and works closely with academic IT networks around the world. The GÉANT Community Award has been awarded since 2012 (initially under the auspices of the international TERENA organization) for unique contribution to the common environment surrounding national academic computer networks and the development of IT services and new technologies. In the years 2012-16 nine awards (including 3 posthumous ones) were awarded. Prize winners are selected once a year, and the award ceremony takes place at TNC's annual conference, the most important European networking conference in science and higher education. This time the event is held in Linz, Austria (29 May - 2 June). The laureates from the NCU received the award on May 30.

This year's edition of the GÉANT Community Award is unique for several reasons. For the first time the team award (for Maja and Tomasz Wolniewicz) has been awarded for the joint network projects, especially for their contribution to the development of eduroam and eduGAIN. It is the first time the jury has decided to award 3 prizes in different categories. It is also the first time women have been awarded.

Maja Górecka-Wolniewicz, the Head of the NCU Network Systems Team and the Laboratory of University Network, and Tomasz Wolniewicz, the NCU CIO and the Director of the NCU Information and Communication Technology Centre received this prestigious award for their work commissioned by the Poznań Supercomputing and Networking Centre (PSNC), which represents Poland in the GÉANT Community. The participation of the Wolniewicz family in these works is regulated by the agreement concluded between the Nicolaus Copernicus University and the PSNC.

Eduroam is probably the most widely known project initiated within GÉANT. This is a global initiative that allows college staff and students to enjoy free wireless access to academic institutions around the world. Maja Górecka-Wolniewicz and Tomasz Wolniewicz jointly created the foundations of eduroam in Poland and then the Polish identity management federation PIONIER.Id.

Both of them make a significant contribution to the development of eduroam support tools, among others they are members of a team of eduroamCAT developers and maintainers for eduroamCAT. This tool is currently used by over 1500 academic institutions around the world and millions of users in these institutions. Tomasz Wolniewicz is also co-author of the official RFC document describing the principles of eduroam (RFC 7543).

Other GÉANT Community Award winners are: Hannah Short of CERN's IT Department and Massimo Parovel of the Giuseppe Tartini Conservatory of Music in Trieste.

Website of the GÉANT Community Award