SURF Members' Council highlights 18 June
Appointments
This Members’ Council meeting included several appointments on the agenda. Pauline Satter was appointed as a member of SURF’s executive board. She will take up her post on 1 November 2025 and has been appointed for a term of four years. Machteld Roos of the University of Twente has been appointed chair of the SURF Members’ Council, also for a term of four years. Inge Grimm of Saxion University of Applied Sciences has been appointed vice-chair, likewise for four years. She previously held this role, though representing a different SURF member organisation.
Annual report
The annual report, comprising the substantive report from the supervisory board and executive board and the 2024 financial statements, was discussed and approved. In addition, there is also a concise annual summary to see at a glance how we made an impact together as a cooperative in 2024.
Core package of services
The Members' Council adopted the core package for 2026 unchanged, as there is no reason to change it.
The core package includes the services that a member is obliged to purchase from SURF, if the institution has a need for these services. The composition of the core package is determined annually by the Members' Council at the proposal of the Executive Board. The Executive Board requests advice in advance from the SURF Portfolio Advisory Committee (SPA), which is made up of representatives of all the sectors participating in SURF.
SURF fit for purpose
During the previous Members' Council meeting, it was requested that this topic be addressed in more detail at the current meeting. The Members' Council was briefed on the background and current status of the reorganisation of SURF, the first component of SURF Fit for Purpose. The main decisions relating to changes in the organisational structure have now been taken. In the coming period, the vacant positions will be filled, including a new layer of senior management beneath the executive board. The organisational changes will take effect on 1 January 2026.
Another aim of Fit for Purpose is to improve internal systems and processes, work on which is already under way. The target is to have these operational from the start of the 2027 financial year. A third component of Fit for Purpose concerns the long-term financial sustainability of SURF. Members are facing financial challenges, and SURF is no exception. In the period ahead, particular attention will be paid to reducing SURF’s structural costs. These discussions are also being held with the CSCs.
AI factory
The Members' Council has been updated several times on this initiative. Meanwhile in the proposal has been submitted by the consortium to EuroHPC in Luxembourg. Now it is waiting for the response from EuroHPC, which is expected after the summer.