KMi, The Open University

John Domingue [1] is a Professor of Computer Science at the Open University, Director of the Knowledge Media Institute [2], the OU’s technology research and innovation centre, and the President of STI International [3], a semantics focused networking organization. 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 [4].

Prof. Domingue currently serves as the leader of the first of five themes, on University Learners, for the £20M funded Institute of Coding [5] 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 [6] 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 [7] 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 [8], 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 [9]. Prof. Domingue has given many talks on his work including at the Royal Institution in 2018 [10] and at TEDx [11].

Very recently his focused has centred on our blockchain based platform could be be applied for COVID-19 Anti Body Test and Vaccination certification which has attracted attention from the media [12].

Last year he became a Fellow of the British Blockchain Association [13].

1. http://people.kmi.open.ac.uk/domingue/
2. http://kmi.open.ac.uk/
3. https://www.sti2.org/
4. http://blockchain.open.ac.uk
5. https://instituteofcoding.org/
6. https://qualichain-project.eu/
7. https://www.eublockchainforum.eu/
8. https://www.del4all.eu/
9. https://publications.jrc.ec.europa.eu/repository/bitstream/JRC108255/jrc108255_blockchain_in_education%281%29.pdf#page=66
10. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5wwYDMdji3k
11. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cPefcmWFWyM&t=6s
12. https://blockchain.open.ac.uk/#covid-19
13. https://www.britishblockchainassociation.org/fellowship