Name (or Topic/Theme) of Proposed Round
- DeSci QF Q1 24
- Social Handle of Org on X: @DeSci_Round_Ops
How many times has this round been run during a Gitcoin Grants round?
- This would be the 3rd official DeSci round. Previous rounds were held during GR15 in September 2022 and a community-run Beta Round in May 2023 using Allo Protocol and Grants Stack.
- As a paid contributor in the Gitcoin Public Goods Funding (PGF) workstream, Boris Dyakov took the lead to organize the DeSci community to run a bottom-up grants round during the Gitcoin Beta Rounds.
- An onchain election using the Jokerace platform was established to elect 4 additional round stewards from the DeSci community.
- In addition to $50,000 in funding (from Gnosis Chain) previously obtained by PGF for a future DeSci round, the stewards raised additional $25,000 from MoonDAO and $10,000 from Greenpill China for the last round (all amounts in DAI)
- Similar to CCN as a Gitcoin round, it’s critical to maintain consistency with these community efforts because of the nature of a decentralized organization.
- After this last round in May 2023, Manuel Olariu continued to organize DeSci on Gitcoin while several community leaders stepped up to support this effort for sustainable ecosystem growth in Decentralized Science.
How big is your team that will run this round? Who is your team?
- Our team consists of 5 main round operators, including Tomislav Mamic (Co-founder, Blocksplit), Lana Ugrcic (DeSci Coordinator, Blocksplit), Maria Goreti Freitas (Founder, DeScier), Swift Evo (Founder, DeSci Asia), Manuel Olariu (Founder, Deep Venture DAO), and elected stewards from the community election.
Social Handles on X: @tomislavmamic, @Goreti__Freitas, @swiftevo1, @ManuelOlariu, with additional stewards to be confirmed as stated in the DeSci Playbook.
- We are all very active individuals in our DeSci communities, from different scientific areas (space, public health and crypto) and, from different countries (Germany, Japan, Croatia and Brazil).
How does this round align with Gitcoin’s mission 5 and essential intents 1?
- This round directly supports Gitcoin’s mission to build and fund public goods, emphasizing open, accessible, and inclusive scientific research. It fosters collaboration and innovation in the DeSci space, aligning with Gitcoin’s essential intents for community empowerment to build and fund impactful initiatives and sustainable funding in science with a bottom-up community-driven effort such as DeSci QF on Gitcoin. We’re always looking for sustainable sources of funding to collectively grow the DeSci ecosystem and to ensure that following operators and stewards have the lowest barriers of entry possible for continuing DeSci Grants on Gitcoin.
What do you anticipate the size of the matching pool will be?
- We have secured a matching pool of $25,000, combining funds from previous rounds, community fundraising, and potential new partnerships. Though, raising more than that supports the following DeSci Rounds on Grants Stack. As an official Gitcoin Community Round we hope to double the amount from 25k to 50k.
- Funding Address GG Beta: eth:0x1385754798D1F2C3a5eaa45c32999E57317D6BFD
- Funding Address GG 20: eth:0x66031ec091eb1bF2c29704ceaa21FeBf328d93AD
Who will be advisors for this round, if anyone?
- Advisors include prominent figures from the DeSci community and past successful grantees. We have our Operators, the soon elected stewards, co-marketing partners such as DeSci World, DeepVenture DAO, Lifespan, GreenPill, MesoReefDAO, DeScier, DeSci Asia, LunCo, Atlantis, and many more and potential sponsors from Research Hub, Arbitrum, GreenPill and PNouns.
Please describe the eligibility criteria you envision for this proposed round.
- Projects must advance open, inclusive scientific research using Web3 technologies. Criteria include innovation in data sharing, addressing publishing biases, promoting accessible education and science funding. Compliance with Gitcoin’s core rules is mandatory. More information about our eligibility criteria here.
How large is your community approximately?
- Our community spans across various DeSci Telegram groups and Discord servers. Our DeSci X Gitcoin Community Telegram group has 231 active members, as of today, engaged in discussions, planning, and collaboration. In addition to this, we have our DeSci Co-Marketing Group with 33 members on Telegram.
What type of projects would you like to fund?
- Projects focusing on open-source DeSci platforms, blockchain-based research publishing, collaborative scientific tools, educational and financing initiatives promoting decentralized science principles and any project supporting the growth of the Decentralized Science ecosystem.
Approximately how many grantees do you believe will be eligible to apply to this round?
- Based on past rounds and community growth, we estimate between 60-80 projects could be eligible and benefit from this funding round.
Impact Assessment: If and how do you intend to assess grantee impact over successive rounds?
- We plan to utilize tools like Hypercerts for verifiable impact measurement, alongside community feedback and project progress reports, to assess and improve the efficacy of funded projects over time. More information about our impact reporting here.
- We also plan to use Gitcoin’s Passport. This will increase points for holders and a reason to fund DeSci projects all the while strengthening the Passport initiative while overcoming Sybill attacks.
Is there anything else that community members should consider when voting for which rounds to focus on in the upcoming GG20 grants round?
- The unique potential of DeSci to revolutionize research and science funding, making it more collaborative, transparent, and accessible is a massive opportunity for web3 grants adoption in academia and beyond. Supporting DeSci aligns with the broader goals of fostering open and impactful public goods while overall benefitting the Gitcoin community.