Research Groups
The IFK focuses on seven themes, each championed by a research group: Blockchain and the Cryptoverse (BC), Data Science across Disciplines (DSAD), Decentralised Artificial Intelligence and Control Systems (DAICS), the Future of Diplomacy (FoD), the Future of Health (FoH), Green Futures (GF) and Work of the Future (WoF).
Blockchain and the Cryptoverse
Professor Steven Sidley
The Blockchain and the Cryptoverse Research Group is dedicated to researching the disparate strands of blockchain-driven technologies, their applications, economic models, ecosystems and consequently, new governance structures that have arisen since the first blockchain, Bitcoin, was built in 2009. The Group also researches cryptocurrencies, Decentralised Finance (DeFi), Decentralised Autonomous Organisations (DAOs), Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs), the metaverse, Web3, regulation as well as new models of trust and ownership. The Blockchain and the Cryptoverse Research Group aims to develop skills and knowledge at a postgraduate level and an executive level in the private sector.
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Our People
Steven Sidley
Head of Blockchain and the Cryptoverse
Steven Sidley is Professor of Practice at the Johannesburg Business School and is Head of the Blockchain and the Cryptoverse Research Group at the Institute for Future Knowledge, both based at the University of Johannesburg. He is an award-winning and multi-shortlisted author of six books, published globally. His latest book, co-authored with Simon Dingle, is Beyond Bitcoin: Decentralised Finance and the End of Banks, published 2022. Professor Sidley was educated at the University of the Witwatersrand and the University of California, Los Angeles. He is co-founder of several technology companies, including Prism Payment Technologies which is publicly listed on the JSE, and Agilitude, which was sold to PwC. He has held worldwide Group Chief Technology Officer positions at Anglo American and Altech/Altron and was CTO on one of South Africa’s first blockchain projects, Project UBU. Sidley also currently holds the position of partner at Bridge Capital.
Steven Sidley
Head of Blockchain and the Cryptoverse
Steven Sidley
Head of Blockchain and the Cryptoverse
Steven Sidley is Professor of Practice at the Johannesburg Business School and is Head of the Blockchain and the Cryptoverse Research Group at the Institute for Future Knowledge, both based at the University of Johannesburg. He is an award-winning and multi-shortlisted author of six books, published globally. His latest book, co-authored with Simon Dingle, is Beyond Bitcoin: Decentralised Finance and the End of Banks, published 2022. Professor Sidley was educated at the University of the Witwatersrand and the University of California, Los Angeles. He is co-founder of several technology companies, including Prism Payment Technologies which is publicly listed on the JSE, and Agilitude, which was sold to PwC. He has held worldwide Group Chief Technology Officer positions at Anglo American and Altech/Altron and was CTO on one of South Africa’s first blockchain projects, Project UBU. Sidley also currently holds the position of partner at Bridge Capital.
Steven Sidley
Head of Blockchain and the Cryptoverse