Ten collectives and communities for those looking to build their networks and expand their knowledge in DeSci
The Decentralized Science (DeSci) movement has really taken off lately. Looking back just a year ago, there were only a select few start-ups and DAOs building in the DeSci space. Fast forward to today, even in the midst of a bear market, and the DeSci movement is building and growing at an incredible pace.
There are new DeSci conferences and events being hosted, podcasts and newsletters being launched, DAOs forming every week, and massive funding making its way into DeSci. As an example of this last point, look no further than DeSci startup Molecule, which recently raised $12.7 million in funding.
I’ve highlighted some of the amazing DeSci projects that are leading the way in this exciting new frontier for science in two previous blog posts:
Five DeSci projects disrupting scientific research and development
Ten more DeSci projects disrupting scientific research, development, and knowledge sharing
So, what exactly is DeSci? In short, “the decentralized science (DeSci) movement aims to harness new technologies such as blockchain and ‘Web3’ to address some important research pain points, silos and bottlenecks.” Whereas scientific research has long been viewed as overly bureaucratic and disjointed, the DeSci movement aims to improve this by using blockchain to offer greater transparency and to take on the “profit hungry intermediaries” such as scientific journals, that have dominated the traditional research space. It can be used to help fund new research into cures and medical treatments, crowdsource scientific research, drive investment into promising medical start-ups, and much more.
For those that are excited about the potential of the DeSci movement, and wanted to connect with like minded peers and expand their knowledge in this exciting new space, I wanted to use this blog post to highlight 10 collectives and communities that are worth exploring.
1. Web3 Women in Science – Web3 Women in Science is a community dedicated to “addressing the critical underrepresentation of womxn at the intersection of science and web3.” They aim to onboard women into the world of DeSci, and to act as a sort of labor union by providing support to women working in the space. They host community chats on their discord and are working towards forming a DAO in the future.
2. DeSci Alliance – The DeSci Alliance is a network for advocacy and collaboration in the DeSci space. They offer a DeSci newsletter and operate a Discord for collaboration and knowledge sharing in the DeSci space.
3. The DeSci Podcast – The DeSci podcast is a recently launched podcast brought to you by Molecule, a decentralized biotech start-up that recently raised $12.7M in funding. For the podcast, they welcome leaders from the space for discussions on DeSci and the future of biotech. Links to the various platforms to listen to the podcast can be found HERE.
4. DeSci Collective – The newly launched DeSci Collective is a collective of leaders, investors, researchers, and innovators in the DeSci space. They host twitter spaces with leaders in the DeSci space, operate a community Discord, and are in the process of launching NFT membership passes.
5. The DeSci Academy – The DeSci Academy is a new movement aiming to onboard non-technical users into DeSci. They aim to do this by developing a platform for education, research, and collaboration, with the goal of “creating the next generation of scientific minds and unlocking untapped potential in learners around the world.”
6. DeSciWorld – DeSciWorld aims to be “the global hub of decentralized science” by acting as a “one-stop shop for users to view, engage with, and understand all that is happening in the world of Decentralised Science.” They are partnered with London Metropolitan University and are in the process of launching a DeSci Dashboard that aims to be a free-to-use information aggregator for the DeSci space.
7. DeSci Berlin – DeSci Berlin is an annual DeSci conference that hosted its inaugural event in May 2022. The event featured some amazing speakers from LabDAO, Kernel, Molecule, DeSci Labs, and more. For those who were unable to attend the event, you can watch all the talks on their YouTube channel HERE.
8. ResearchHub – The ResearchHub is focused on accelerating scientific research by rewarding individuals for openly sharing their research and engaging in discussions on academic research. Their website is very much designed like the “Reddit of DeSci” where users can upvote and reward others for their contributions. Although they are not solely focused on DeSci, they have begun engaging more in the space with DeSci having a prominent place in their SciCon 2022 event.
9. DeSci Foundation - DeSci Foundation is “an independent think tank of leading scientists and web3 pioneers, dedicated to exploring the potential of applying web3 technologies to the scientific ecosystem.” They aim to bridge the gap between those in the web3 and scientific research communities, and to improve how scientific research and development takes place, how it is funded, and how it is shared with the public. DeSci Foundation has established partnerships with Center of Open Science and Foresight Institute to help advance this mission.
10. DeSciChatter – Although not technically a community or collective, DeSciChatter is a great resource for those looking to keep up to date on all the happenings in DeSci. It is a Twitter Feed with a simple goal of “amplifying the conversation around Descentralized Science.
Check out our podcast episodes with DeSci guests:
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