Recently we have been receiving many international visitants at our labs. Some researchers come for short stays while others come for longer periods, as in the case of Denisa Kera, who will be with us until 2020. She comes from Charles University, Prague. Dr. Kera is a philosopher and designer and experiments with various creative strategies for public participation in emerging issues of science and technology. She uses design, ethnography and prototyping methods to investigate issues of Science, Technology and Society.

She has been Assistant Professor at the National University of Singapore, Full Professor of Future Design at Prague College, and most recently Visiting Assistant Professor at Arizona State University, where she continues to cooperate. She joins our group as Senior Fellow Marie Curie to research Distributed Ledger Technologies (blockchain) and applications (Smart contracts).

The research she is going to conduct during her time in Salamanca is entitled “Anticipatory Ledgers: design and ethical framework for Distributed Ledger Technologies (blockchain or DAG) and applications (smart contracts)” and aims to create, test and evaluate an experimental framework described as “anticipatory design” of Distributed Ledger Technologies (DLT) applications. Which involves the public, as well as several stakeholders in the design process and not just in the adoption and implementation of Smart contracts.  Anticipatory design works with various governance issues (accountability, shared responsibility, division of powers, or solidarity) that precede discussions of consensus mechanisms. It includes ethical deliberation in proven scenarios and use cases. This research will use data from IoT sensors, but also from satellites on Hyperledger Fabric and Ethereum platforms. The research will contribute to the fields of design methods and to the development of DLTs, by offering a method for involving stakeholders in the design of the DLT.

It is a real pleasure to have someone with so much experience work with us. We hope that this collaboration will be the first step towards many successful projects.

Welcome Denisa!