The JUST Grant

Built on the principles of transparency, education, and collaboration, JUST Open Source Stiftung drives the Web3 conversation on the operational ramifications of cutting-edge technology. We believe the key to realizing Web3's promises of self-sovereignty and data custody is educating the general population about decentralized tech and supporting research that drives adoption.

Since 2015, our team has witnessed the trajectory of blockchain development. We were in the room when major players made core decisions. We had a hand in formulating on-chain governance mechanisms as part of diverse collectives. We analyzed technical decisions as members of organizations like Web3 Foundation, Ethereum, and Parity Technologies, among others. We were there. This is why we've built the JUST Grant.

Apply Now

Grant Overview

Overview

We've seen funding pour into building the Web3 technical foundations. While we understand that the tech is essential to building a peer-to-peer future, we also recognize that accelerating adoption requires us to create viable businesses robust enough to operate in the real world. In our first grant cohort, we are giving three independent research projects up to €20,000 to supplement their investigative efforts. We fund the thinkers, the visionaries, and the dreamers looking to push the boundaries of the decentralized web. More than ideas, we want people who know how to get stuff done, folks who aren't afraid to experiment and evolve. We want results. The second cohort of our grants program starts October 2025 and lasts 12 months.

Requirements

• Applicants must be
based in Europe
• Applicants must be EITHER currently enrolled in a masters or doctoral program or affiliated with an academic institution or research entity
• Proposals must be submitted in PDF format in English
• Must include detailed description, budget, timeline, 400-word personal statement, resume, link to public repository or published work
• Must submit names and email addresses for two academic recommenders
• All phases of research welcome

Requirements

Requirements Eligibility:
• Applicant must be European-based (through nationality or residency)
• Limited to one application per candidate

Project Requirements:
• Thematic relevance to one of four established themes
• Blockchain as a medium (smart contract implementation or clear justification)
• All project components must be open source with standard OSS license
• Projects need not be conceptually novel but must not yet be implemented

Process

We believe in transparency. While you may hear back sooner, the process will take roughly 6-8 weeks. Here's what you can expect:

Step 1: You submit the application.
Step 2: Our evaluation committee will select the shortlist. We'll let you know if you're on that list. Shortlisted applicants will undergo rigorous due-diligence, including verification of institution affiliation.
Step 3: Our evaluation committee will select finalists to be interviewed and send them to our board for final approval.
Step 4: We'll contact successful applicants.
Step 5: We'll release the first installment and work with the grantees on a schedule for regular reporting and discussion.

Important Dates

1. Application Deadline: July 14, 2025
2. Decisions Emailed: Sept 30, 2025 (Latest)
3. Grant Installment 1: October 2025
4. Grant Installment 2: January 2026
5. Grant Installment 3: May 2026 6. Grant Installment 4: September 2026

Expectations

Grantees are expected to produce at least one paper under peer-review in a major publication by the end of the program. Additionally, grantees should be available for case study interviews and allow publication of work snippets on JUST Open Source Stiftung channels.

Other acceptable accomplishments include publications in major web magazines, invitations to major conferences in your field, and further grant procurement.

What (And Who) We
Fund

European-based Researchers,
Master's or above

Projects that will drive greater
Web3 adoption

Academic research

Researchers with track record of
success (even if not directly
Web3/blockchain related)

Individual researchers and
research teams

What We Do Not Fund

Anything illegal in the EU

Financial products and services (trading platforms, investment products, stablecoins, lending or betting platforms)

Art projects or social impact projects outside this round's scope

Projects requesting retroactive funding

Projects with planned token launch or public funding round

Focus Topics

Economic Theory

The current economic landscape skews DeFi, but with distributed ledger technologies there are applications that require different incentives and financial structures. Understanding the myriad economic landscapes is important for Web3 adoption.
• Open source economy
• Creator economy
• Tokenomics
• Game theory

Legal Landscape and Regulations

For Web3 organizations to exist on a larger scale, businesses must navigate evolving legal regulations around blockchain and P2P technologies • Non-US Market Regulatory Landscape • Token systems and community ownership from legal perspective • Impact of open source licensing research with particular interest on GPL v.3/OSS

Governance

In our decentralized future, how do we govern and build fair ecosystems?
• Consensus models and mechanisms
• Governance mechanisms (on-chain and off-chain)
• Governance formalization processes
• Power distribution
• Comparative analysis on governance models
• Potential threats to governance models

Market Forces, Drivers and Trends

Analytical market research examining markets and trends from an academic lens
• Cross-chain analysis of asset and information flow
• User behavior research and identification of adoption drivers and barriers

Open Source Communities

Decentralized communities and open source building come with unique challenges
• Successful community ownership
• Systems for shared ownership
• Data ownership
• Collaborative creation in open source environments

Identity

Onchain/digital identity and anonymity, exploring ways to manage identities securely and privately on the blockchain, enabling users to control their own data

Apply Now

Our Evaluaters

Protocol-Support Engineer

Afri Schoedon

Afri is a protocol-support engineer on a sabbatical. He's worked on Parity Ethereum, Goerli Testnet, Ethereum Classic, and ChainSafe. In his free time, he runs the Department of Decentralization in Berlin organizing free, non-profit events like ETHBerlin, GoerliCon, and Protocol Berg.

Head of Legal, Trilitech

Joana Rindell

Joanna is the Head of Legal at Trilitech, a blockchain research and development hub focused on the open-source Tezos blockchain. Holds a Master Degree in Law from the University of Turku and a Master Degree in Blockchain and Digital Currency from the University of Nicosia.

COO, Layer Labs

Sarah Baxendell

Sarah is a regenerative designer and web3 product architect. She is COO of Layer Labs, co-founded Regen Network and designed the Regen Marketplace platform, co-founded BICOWG, and contributes to Network Nations. She teaches at Edge City and Funding the Commons.

Ex-CISO

Kiril Pimenov

Ex-CISO at Parity Technologies, Kirill currently runs, consults and advises a number of blockchain-related projects, ranging from fundamental R&D and crypto hardware design to end-user, "meatspace"-focused consumer applications.

Cohort 1 Winners

Multi-org Founder and Doctoral candidate

Charlie Fisher

Charlie is Doctoral Researcher at Oxford Brookes University and a Strategic Designer at Dark Matter Labs.

M.A. Political Science | Web3
‍The University of Bonn

Elena Grozdanovska

A Master’s student of Political Science at the University of Bonn, Germany, Elena is a research assistant at the Centre for Advanced Security, Strategic and Integrations Studies (CASSIS), working for the project “Infrastructures of China’s Modernity.”

Harvard MPA Candidate

Felix Beer

Felix is a researcher and advisor at BlockchainGov and ecosystem manager at TUM Think Tank in Munich.

Scientific Researcher

Benjamin Heurich

Benjamin is a Scientific Researcher at the Institute for Applied Blockchain at the Digital Business University in Berlin.

Evaluation Process

From the close of our final application deadline, we spent three months taking applicants through a five-step evaluation process:

Applications were first judged on completeness. Incomplete applications were rejected automatically.

Anonymized applications were sent to our Evaluator Panel. Evaluators considered overall impact and feasibility, scoring on a 30-point rubric.

The top 5 proposals were de-anonymized and sent to the board for final selection.

While the board evaluated proposals, we conducted reference checks on all shortlisted applications.

Finally, we selected our grantees.

In Collaboration With

FAQs

Can the publications I submit be in German?

Yes, but please submit a detailed abstract in English.

Do I need to be affiliated with a German institution?

The only requirement is that at least one main researcher in the project be based in the European Union.

Do I need to be based in Berlin to apply?

No, but you do need to be based in the European Union. Eventually, we’ll branch out to other locations.

What if I miss the deadline?

You’ll have to wait until the next cohort. BUT! In the short term, you can join our Matrix community to continue the discussion with other like minded researchers.

Got more questions?

Get in touch at grants[at]justopensource.io