Mastodon pilot for research and education

SURF and Universities of the Netherlands are jointly exploring Mastodon as an open source platform for education and research in the Netherlands. In which public values are paramount. Join us and discover how students, researchers, staff and institutions can experiment with Mastodon in a low-threshold way.

Easy-to-use experimentation with Mastodon

Mastodon is increasingly seen as an important alternative to X, formerly Twitter. SURF is therefore working with the research and education sector in the Netherlands to explore how this community platform can be of value to education, research and knowledge-sharing.

The pilot is available free of charge to institutions in higher education (universities and universities of applied sciences), vocational education (MBO), research organisations and university medical centres (UMCs). This enables them to get to know Mastodon easily, without having to set up their own IT environment or bring in specific technical expertise.

All about the pilot

The Mastodon pilot in brief

Who is it for: institutions in higher education, higher professional education, vocational education, research and university medical centres.
Duration: the pilot will run until the end of 2027. If SURF members approve the proposal, Mastodon will then continue as a regular service.
Cost: participation is free of charge.
Registration and login: via social.edu.nl.
Any questions? Please contact us at mastodon@surf.nl.

10 reasons to explore Mastodon for education and research

Get started straight away
SURF hosts and maintains the platform, so institutions do not need to set up their own IT infrastructure.
Easy experimentation
Students, researchers, lecturers, staff and institutions can easily discover what Mastodon has to offer them.
Learning together in practice
The pilot offers opportunities to gain experience, explore questions and share knowledge within the sector.
Building a constructive community
Together, we are exploring what a safe, open and valuable network for education and research might look like.
Control over identity and usage
Users can participate openly or more anonymously, whilst the platform fosters trust and responsibility.
Space for group accounts
Institutions, (research) groups and events can also use group accounts, for example for customer support, communication, projects, research groups or communities.
Insight into new technology
The pilot provides experience with the Fediverse, ActivityPub and decentralised social networks.
Public values at the heart
We are investigating how Mastodon can contribute to privacy, transparency, accessibility, openness and independence.
Strengthening digital autonomy and sovereignty
With Mastodon, we are exploring how education and research can gain greater control over their digital communication channels.
Less dependent and more resilient online
The pilot investigates how the sector can become less dependent on commercial platforms and communicate more resiliently in an online environment where disinformation is playing an increasingly significant role.

The pilot in the media

A selection of articles (most of them in Dutch):

Public values first

“Reach, ease of use and cost are important, but they must not be the only criteria. As an institution dedicated to education and research, we must also ask ourselves how much it is worth to us not to be dependent on platforms where a single owner, unknown shareholders or a business model based outside Europe dictate the rules.That is precisely why we are exploring Mastodon: as an alternative that can contribute to digital autonomy, academic freedom, reliable communication and public values.”

Wladimir Mufty, Programme Manager for Public Values at SURF