Experts reflect on the implications of blockchain for research

Reporting from the APE2018 a recent conference gathering the who’s who of scholarly publishing in Berlin on 16th and 17th January 2018, EuroScientist Editor, Sabine Louët interviews several experts on their views on how blockchain technology will change the world of scientists.

First, we hear from Lambert Heller, who is the head of the Open Science Lab at TIB Hannover, the German national library for science and technology, who gives his perspective as a digital librarian. He gives the bigger picture of how blockchain is going to help science become more open and help remove the current bottlenecks in the scientific endeavour by increasing the connectivity, accessibility and storage of scholarly objects, such as research papers and databases, through metadata and interplanetary data systems

Second, Amsterdam-based Joris van Rossum, director special projects, Digital Science, London, UK, highlights key findings of a recently published report about Blockchain for Research he has written. In particular, he outlines the many aspects of the research endeavour that could benefit from tracking, including through the use of blockchain technology, which can be in the form of data layer underneath the current research ecosystem.

Then, comes Berlin-based, Sönke Bartling, founder of Blockchain for Science, whose mission is ‘to Open up Science and knowledge creation by means of the blockchain (r)evolution’ speaks about how blockchain could change the way science is being funded via the creation of cryptocurrencies.

Finally, we hear from Eveline Klumpers, co-founder of Katalysis, a start-up aiming to redefine the value of online content and focusing on developing blockchain solutions for the publishing industry. Based in Amsterdam, The Netherlands. She gives some concrete examples of how blockchain technology–which can store transparent immutable smart contracts defining how the content should be shared. This approach can give power back to authors of original work and help them monetise it. It could also help ensure reproducibility in research.

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Sabine Louët

Former editor at EuroScientist

Sabine has a passion for all things related to European research. A physicist by training, she has been covering stories in life science, the physical sciences, technology, policy and innovation for the past 20 years. She was previously the news editor at Nature Biotechnology. She was also involved in the creation of AlphaGalileo. She is the Founder of SciencePOD translating complex science and tech concepts into high-quality articles written in simple language.

Latest posts by Sabine Louët (see all)

• All good things come to an end - 30 March, 2018
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• Podcast: How open science could benefit from blockchain - 31 January, 2018