Claudia Behnke will join SIDN, the registry for the Dutch .nl domain, as Manager Labs, DNS & Data on 5 January 2027. She will head the value chain for research, development, innovation and management of DNS, BGP, NTP and the .nl zone. She will also join the management team. Behnke is moving over from SURF, where she leads the Data Services department.
SIDN has brought together its teams with specialist internet expertise in the new Labs, DNS & Data value chain. It comprises three teams. The first is responsible for DNS management and resolution, the second for managing and providing access to (internet) data. The third team, SIDN Labs, carries out applied technical research into the security and stability of the internet infrastructure. Behnke will lead these three teams.
Collaboration between three teams
According to CTO Loek Bakker, Behnke’s task will be to strengthen collaboration within Labs, DNS & Data, so that the three teams can together make a greater contribution to the internet and to the .nl domain in particular. Bakker says that in Behnke, SIDN is bringing in a manager with expertise in data, research, IT and digital infrastructures. He expects her to be able to support the organisation with the challenges facing the value chain. SIDN does not specify in the announcement what those challenges are.
Background at SURF and EUDAT
Behnke has worked since 2019 at SURF, the ICT cooperative of Dutch education and research. She started there as a technical adviser and was team manager of the Research Helpdesk from 2020 to 2023. She then became Domain Manager Research Development. Since January 2026 she has headed the Data Services department, which supports scientists and research institutions with data storage, data management, cloud computing and digital research environments.
During her career, Behnke has worked on the development of data ecosystems, research infrastructures and FAIR data, the principle that research data should be findable, accessible, interoperable and reusable. She is also active internationally. Since 2025 she has been (co-)chair of the Collaborative Data Infrastructure Board of EUDAT, the European collaboration for research data infrastructures. She is also involved in projects around the European Open Science Cloud (EOSC).
Before moving to SURF, Behnke worked from 2017 to 2019 as a project officer on a scientific outreach project run by CERN and TU Dresden. Prior to that, she obtained her PhD in particle physics at the University of Frankfurt and the GSI Helmholtz Center.
Motivation for the move
Behnke says she is particularly drawn to the combination of technology, data and the societal role of a reliable and open internet infrastructure. In her view, SIDN brings together precisely the disciplines that interest her. She is looking forward to getting to know the organisation and the people behind the .nl domain.
About SIDN
SIDN registers .nl domain names and ensures that the more than 6 million domain names now registered remain reachable. According to the company, its systems handle more than 10 billion queries every day. Through SIDN Labs, the organisation develops techniques and systems for the stability and security of .nl, the DNS and the wider internet infrastructure. In addition, SIDN is involved in social initiatives relating to internet use, both directly and through the SIDN fonds. The company is based in Arnhem.
This article was originally published in Dutch on MSP Business. Read the original →
