Team

John Domingue
Professor of Computer Science (Project Champion)

John Domingue Photo

I’m interested in how blockchains can be used within higher education and corporate training and also the relationship between semantics, big data and blockchains. Within the learning area I see a number of scenarios where radical improvements may occur including: embedding micro certification within blockchains; the development of educational currencies to support the crowdsourced accreditation of ‘soft skills’ such as collaboration, communication and leadership by peers; and new disruptive models for teaching and learning where intermediary layers are removed resulting in dramatically reduced costs and increased openness. Interoperability between blockchains and the automation of a number of tasks associated with the development of blockchain applications (DApps) through semantic technologies is a second focus.
Michelle Bachler Photo

Michelle Bachler
Research & Innovation Software Manager

Danny Barthaud  Photo

Danny Barthaud
Research Software Engineer

Niaz Chowdhury Photo

Niaz Chowdhury
Research Associate

Robert Herian Photo

Robert Herian
Lecturer in Law

Pasquale Iero Photo

Pasquale Iero
Research Assistant

    Zeeshan Jan Photo

    Zeeshan Jan
    PhD Research Student

    Alexander Mikroyannidis Photo

    Alexander Mikroyannidis
    Research Associate

    Bashar Nuseibeh Photo

    Bashar Nuseibeh
    Professor in Computing

      Blaine Price Photo

      Blaine Price
      Professor of Computing

        Kevin Quick Photo

        Kevin Quick
        Communications Project Manager

        Manoharan Ramachandran Photo

        Manoharan Ramachandran
        Res. Asst. for Blockchain Learning Verificatiion

        Stefan Rueger Photo

        Stefan Rueger
        Professor of Knowledge Media

          Aisling Third Photo

          Aisling Third
          Research Associate

            Chris Valentine Photo

            Chris Valentine
            Research Associate

            Yijun Yu Photo

            Yijun Yu
            Senior Lecturer in Computing

              Consultancy

              How can we help you?

              The OpenBlockchain team have a wealth of knowledge and experience and a testbed architecture to support investigations in the use of blockchain in almost any scenario imaginable. We provide Research Consultancy Services that are tailored to your individual needs and can support anything from improving your understanding of the potential of blockchain, to in depth technical discussion and testing of scenarios at prototype stage. We are keen to build research relationships with commercial and academic partners and to identify sources of research funding that we can leverage to fund longer term relationships. We have already submitted a number of bids to research grant funds in the UK, working with commercial partners in domains including energy management, professional development, teaching and recruitment.

              Pricing

              Our Research Consultancy starts from as little as £1000 per day and we will always enter into initial conversations without any fee.

              Contact Us

              If you have an idea you would like to discuss, just use the contact form and tell us a little about it – we will be happy to start a conversation and work out how we can help you.

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              Latest Media

              YouTube Premiere: Blockchains, Fact and Fiction - a legal perspective

              This video was filmed in July 2019 as part of The Open University Business and Law Festival, during The Open University's 50th Anniversary celebrations. #OU50 Following the announcement from Facebook that they will launch their own cryptocurrency (Libra) in 2020 interest in blockchains and claims about their potential continue to grow. Karen Foley interviews John Domingue and Dr Robert Herian, who will very briefly explain what this technology is and then explore its implications for the legal arena. Their shared viewpoint is based on experiences in implementing and deploying blockchains in a variety of contexts and working with and advising a wide variety of players including startups and large companies and the European Commission.

              #OU50

              Recent Talk

              Blockchain: Hope or Hype? - John Domingue & Sajida Zouarhi

              How does blockchain work and has its usefulness been over or under estimated? John Domingue and Sajida Zouarhi show how blockchain is being implemented in a real-world setting. Blockchain, the technology that underpins cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin, has an almost unlimited number of applications beyond finance. From digital identities to kidney transplants, blockchain technology solves the problem of intermediary trust between parties without a central authority.

              This event took place on the Monday 24th September 2018

              Upcoming Event
              The Role of Web 3.0 and Blockchain in the Future of Education Logo

              The Role of Web 3.0 and Blockchain in the Future of Education

              11th October 2022, University of Patras, Greece

              Alexander Mikroyannidis gave a keynote talk at the 7th panhellenic scientific conference “Integration and Use of ICT in Education”, organised by the University of Patras in Greece. The event was very well attended by researchers and educators from higher and secondary education. Participants exchanged best practices on the effective use of ICT in different stages of the teaching and learning process. Alexander’s keynote talk was entitled: “The Role of Web 3.0 and Blockchain in the Future of Education”. In his talk, Alexander discussed the potential impact that emerging decentralisation technologies, such as Web 3.0 and Blockchain, can have on the future of education. In particular, Alexander presented the pilot that he has led in the context of the European project QualiChain. Within this pilot, Alexander has investigated the use of decentralisation technologies towards providing lifelong learners with transparent and immutable educational accreditation. A key output of this pilot is the Badged Open Course (BOC): “Decentralising Education Using Blockchain Technology”, which introduces Blockchain technology and its potential for decentralising and transforming education. The course is available on the Open University’s OpenLearn Create platform and is licensed under Creative Commons BY-NC-SA 4.0, which allows the reuse and adaptation of the course materials for non-commercial purposes. Upon completion of the course, learners earn a free statement of participation.

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