Event

EventWorkshop

One Day Workshop on Blockchain, Trust and Global Challenges

9am – 5pm May 31 2018

Room 6.02, Chrystal Macmillan Building, The University of Edinburgh

Can blockchain restore trust in aid, humanitarianism and international development?

We invite you to explore the future of blockchain research by joining this interdisciplinary workshop supported by the Edinburgh Futures Institute and hosted by the School of Social and Political Science. The workshop is designed to bring researchers with an interest in blockchain, global challenges and the Global South together to explore current research agendas and plan future work.

Blockchain offers ways to radically reshape trust by providing novel means to authenticate and exchange value, demonstrate transparency and devolve authority. There is already an array of platforms across supply chains, biodiversity conservation, and international development and humanitarian finance, which all make promises to address pressing global challenges. However, there is a growing need to address issues of inequality, governance, automation, tokenisation and concentration of power by an emerging ‘tech elite’, which are not addressed in the current blockchain hype.

The workshop will be facilitated by Kate Dodgson from the HumanityX Lab at Leiden University’s Center for Innovation. Researchers from the University of Edinburgh and its current or potential partners are welcome.

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Room 6.02, Chrystal Macmillan Building, 15a George Square, Edinburgh EH8 9LD