zk-DeSci

Problem: The current science funding model suffers from bottlenecks, biases, and inconsistent outcomes. Long waiting times, susceptibility to biases, and poor consistency in selecting high-quality proposals hinder the efficiency and fairness of the process.

Solution: Increased Transparency and Participation: By implementing zk proofs, the process becomes more transparent and inclusive. Researchers can participate in scientific research organizations without revealing sensitive information.

Privacy-Preserving Verification: Zk proofs provide a secure way to verify membership in research groups without exposing confidential details. Researchers can generate a proof of their acceptance email without revealing the actual content of the email.

Involvement through Zk: Researchers can engage in privacy-preserving voting using zk proofs. This allows them to vote for impactful research projects while maintaining their privacy. Even without an acceptance email, researchers can demonstrate their membership using a method called semaphore.

All in all, zk proofs enable researchers to participate in scientific endeavors while protecting their privacy and ensuring the integrity of the process.

Use of ZK-email: ZK email allows you to prove through zk that you a paritcular email. Firstly, the DKIM signature is verified and then it is passed through zk regex circuits for verification. We have used zk email to verify acceptance email received from research organizations like IEEE. By proving membership, the researcher becomes a part of it and can propose their own researches and vote on other researches.

Use of Semaphore: Semaphore is used to prove that you are part of some research organizations through ZK. This is very useful when you do not have an acceptance email. Also, semaphore allows to send votes to a group anonymously, so you do not have to compromise on privacy and you can also vote on researches you find impactful.