Burkhard Schafer to lead research strand within £10 million AI and Blockchain Centre

Burkhard Schafer to lead research strand within £10 million AI and Blockchain Centre

Professor Burkhard Schafer

Professor Burkhard Schafer is to lead a research strand on governance and regulation in the decentralised digital economy.

His work will be undertaken within a new £10 million research centre that aims to reshape the future of the digital economy with the help of artificial intelligence and blockchain technology, has been launched.

The University of Surrey, together with the University of Edinburgh and Digital Catapult, is establishing the Centre for the Decentralised Digital Economy (DECaDE), thanks to a £4 million award from the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) and £6 million investment from industrial partners.

Professor Schafer’s research aims to model what good governance looks like in this new economy, drawing upon computational legal theory to develop patterns for how the actions of individuals and organisations should be regulated to ensure safety and stability.

“Law has always favoured hierarchical structures with clear choke points to get regulatory traction,” said Professor Schafer.

“Decentralised systems pose a number of unique challenges for the law, but also allow us to think about regulation in new ways. How can we involve users more meaningfully in the governance of these systems? How can we protect worker’s rights in the decentralised economy, how does collective action look like in this world? What role does the law play to facilitate new forms of artistic co-creation in these networks? The next years will see crucial design decisions being made in buildings these infrastructures, and we must ensure that they are fit for our aspirations of a more just, sustainable and fair economy.”

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