OpenSSL Conference 2026 - Trip Report - Academics

Hi all,

It was great to see familiar faces again and meet so many new people at the conference! I was also really happy to meet some of the people who had reached out to us in the past and are now getting involved in the community.

One thing that came up in our discussions was that we should be more proactive in reaching out to academia. We already have ways for researchers and students to get in touch with us (and some already did in the past!), but I think we should also make more of an effort to go where they are. That's something we'd like to focus on going forward, with more talks, outreach, and opportunities for collaboration.

We're already looking into a few opportunities, but if anyone knows of relevant academic events, university groups, or places where we could give a talk or connect with researchers and students, feel free to share your ideas here! :)

– Nikolas

Hi everyone,

It was great meeting everyone in person. I finally got to see the faces behind the screens in real. I also met people whose names I had only heard, who are working to improve OpenSSL every day.

I agree with Nikolas’s point. Academics are one of the communities with the least engagement, and we should focus more on increasing their involvement in the community. This year, I’ve seen a lot of talk from academics, which is a positive sign, but this shouldn’t be limited to just talks. Outreach is a great way to start, but real involvement will come when students actively participate in community discussions and share their opinions. In my opinion, the best way to do this is to directly interact with university students and researchers through participation in academic events.

If anyone has a different idea, please drop it here so that we can think about how we can work on it together and make it a success. Thanks again to all those joining the conference. I hope to see more from academics next year.