Blockchain and Society Handbook,
Edited by Professor John Flood and Dr Lachlan Robb
Published by De Gruyter, (2025, Forthcoming)
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This volume is designed to be the standard reference work in the field. When scholars, students, and policy makers search for the significant literature, this book should be among the first and most relevant they encounter. The book will contain around 40 chapters covering topics such as the history and philosophy of blockchain; trust and governance; blockchain and validation and proof; art, culture and blockchain; blockchain and welfare; blockchain, order, rules and society; ethics, and blockchain; as well as a series of use cases including health, environment, supply chains, education, and agriculture, among others Timeline:
**We have completed recruitment of contributors and are awaiting the May Workshop and first drafts of papers ** We are still open to new contributions if you are interested and able to work the current timeline. |
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The Workshop
The workshop will be held online only (logistics were too complicated for a hybrid event, sorry) and it will span over 2 days and 5 separate blocks.
Each block will have a few consecutive 60 minute presentation sessions which will have 3-4 presenters.
You will be expected to talk to your chapter for approximately 10 minutes with questions to be held at the end of the 60 minutes session.
This is a workshop format, this is planned so you can all present your ideas to the other contributors, get feedback, and also try to find additional ways to have sections of the book work in unison.
Style
Word length: 4000-6000 words
References: limited. Please reference your work, but we don’t want the references to become the focus of your contribution. There is a strict cap of 100 references per chapter. Footnotes are to be avoided when possible. References are to be listed at the end of each chapter.
Reference style: Harvard
Audience: The level of the writing should be aimed at advanced students (3rd year UK and 3rd/4th year undergraduate US).
Terminology: Please limit jargon. Remember that this is a cross-disciplinary book, if you want to use key terminology or Jargon, you can, however, please try and provide clear context or information in a footnote so that a wider range of readers can follow.
Society Focus: As mentioned, the handbook is about blockchain and society – the ‘society’ component is something that we want all chapters to engage with on some level (either passively or overtly) and we also are encouraging each author to try and take their own approach to what they believe society means in that context. We do not need a heading or whole section of your chapter that actually discusses society, more that we hope that you can reflect briefly on this idea when considering your focus and arguments.
We are still open to new contributions if you are interested and able to work the current timeline.
If you are interested in contributing to the Handbook, please fill out the form below to contact the editors.
About the editors:
John Flood is Professor of Law and Society at Griffith University, Brisbane, Australia. He is also Adjunct Professor of Law at Queensland University of Technology and Research Associate at University College London Centre for Blockchain Technologies. He has previously held chairs at University College Dublin, Ireland, University of Westminster, London, and Bremen University, Germany. He has held visiting professor positions at the University of Miami Law School, University College London Faculty of Laws, and the School of Oriental and African Studies. He has been awarded research fellowships by the Leverhulme Foundation, the European University Institute, the Institute of Advanced Legal Studies, and Indiana University-Bloomington. https://experts.griffith.edu.au/18783-john-flood
Lachlan Robb is a lecturer in the School of Law at Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane, Australia. His research focuses on the socio-legal dimensions to technology, and his PhD was an ethnographic investigation of a Blockchain tech start-up, and how this technology potentially disrupts legal and normative orders. Prior to law he completed a Bachelor of Arts majoring in History and English, which informs his socio-legal research. https://www.qut.edu.au/about/our-people/academic-profiles/l2.robb