Blockchains, Solid and Privacy Preserving Certification Webinar

The guest expert for the final webinar in our emerging technologies and education series, co-hosted with the Commonwealth of Learning (COL), is Prof John Domingue from the Open University, also a partner in our EU funded Horizon 2020 project DEL4ALL. The session takes place on Thursday, 23rd July at 17:00 CET.

Registration is free and available here.

The Open University (OU) has developed a platform where certification is owned and managed by learners. Within the UK,  the £20 million-funded Institute of Coding initiative – the OU’s ‘self sovereign learning records’ – are being used to support accreditation associated with degrees and with small elements of learning, such as summer schools. Within the European-funded QualiChain project, the platform is used as a basis for enhancing the hiring process within public institutions and to improve employability. Technically, the Open University is using Sir Tim Berners Lee’s Solid as a personal certification and data store and blockchains for verification.

During this webinar, Professor Domingue will discuss the DEL4ALL project, in addition to:

• the basics of the Solid platform;
• how it is being used in the learning context; and
• how it has been adapted to provide privacy preserving certification for COVID 19.

Blockchains Webinar

Join us on Thursday, July 23rd at 17:00 CET for our webinar: Blockchains, Solid and Privacy Preserving Certification. Register here.

Meet the Expert

John Domingue is a Professor of Computer Science at the Open University, Director of the Knowledge Media Institute, the OU’s technology research and innovation centre, and the President of STI International, a semantics-focused networking organisation. He has published over 280 refereed articles (h-index 56) in the areas of semantics, the Web, distributed ledgers and eLearning. His current work focuses on how a combination of blockchain and Linked Data technologies can be used to process personal data in a decentralised, trusted manner and how this can be applied in the educational domain.

Prof. Domingue currently serves as the leader of the first of five themes, on University Learners, for the Institute of Coding which aims to increase the number and diversity of computing graduates in the UK as well as enhancing the connection between university teaching and corporate training.

Since January 2019, he has played a leading role in the EU-funded QualiChain project which has the aim of revolutionising public education and its relationship to the labour market and policy making by disrupting the way accredited educational titles and other qualifications are archived, managed, shared and verified, taking advantage of blockchain, semantics, data analytics and gamification technologies.

Until February 2020 Prof. Domingue was also a key player in the European Blockchain Observatory supporting the European Commission on road-mapping the future of this technology in a number of key sectors.

February 2020 saw the start of a new EU project, DEL4All, where under Prof Domingue’s leadership the OU will aid in road-mapping how education will be transformed due to the impact of blockchains, AI, data and augmented and virtual reality technologies.

In 2017 Prof Domingue’s research in blockchains and education was referenced in the Joint Research Centre Policy Report Blockchain in Education for the European Commission. Prof. Domingue has given many talks on his work including at the Royal Institution in 2018 and at TEDx.

Last year he became a Fellow of the British Blockchain Association.

Very recently, his focus has centred on how the OU’s blockchain-based platform could be applied for COVID-19 Anti Body Test and Vaccination certification which has attracted attention in the media.

For the other webinars in our series on Emerging Technologies and Education, click here.

Join the DEL4ALL expert community

The DEL4ALL project aims to transform current European research and innovation initiatives in the area of digital enhanced learning into an increasingly cohesive, dynamic, participatory and sustainable ecosystem, capable of effectively stimulating collaboration among all key players in an inclusive and impactful way. This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No. 871573. Contact us on info@3cl.org is you’d like to join the DEL4ALL expert community and contribute to research on how emerging technologies may transform the future of education for the public good.