Cross-Disciplinary methodology

Working with Blockchain Technology

A defining feature of DECaDE’s impact is how we conduct research.

The centre has developed and shared methodologies for engaging creatives, industry and policymakers in the design of decentralised systems. These include participatory approaches, design-led methods, Delphi studies, and structured expert engagement across academia and industry.

DECaDE’s playbooks and frameworks translate complex technologies into accessible tools for stakeholders, ensuring that decentralised innovation is grounded in real-world needs, lived experience, and inclusive design practices.

Research Highlights

Designing the Future of Digital Creativity

DECaDE researchers use participatory, design-led approaches to explore how emerging technologies will shape the future of creativity. By working with creative professionals and the public, the research investigates how people understand concepts such as authenticity, provenance, digital ownership and AI-generated content.

Through interactive workshops, exhibitions and creative prototypes, participants are encouraged to explore new technologies while providing valuable insights into how they may be adopted in practice. Projects such as ORAgen Fables enable people to experiment with concepts including digital licensing and attribution through hands-on creative experiences.

By combining research with public participation, DECaDE generates evidence that informs the design of future technologies, supports policymaking and helps ensure digital innovation reflects the needs of creators and society.

Team: Frances Liddell, Evan Morgan, Chris Elsden and collaborators.

The Decentralised Service Design Playbook

DECaDE researchers develop the Decentralised Service Design (DSD) Playbook to help organisations explore how decentralised technologies can shape future digital services. Created in partnership with industry, the playbook provides practical tools and activities that enable practitioners to run their own co-creation workshops and evaluate new service ideas.

The playbook is developed and tested with partners across sectors including manufacturing, finance and supply chains, ensuring it can be applied in a wide range of real-world settings. DECaDE also builds on this approach through a separate AI ethics playbook, developed with AI4People to help organisations translate ethical principles into practical action.

By making design methods accessible beyond academia, the playbooks enable organisations, policymakers and communities to participate in the design, evaluation and governance of emerging digital technologies.

Team: Ella Tallyn, Frances Liddell and Chris Elsden

DLT Field Labs: Delivering Practical Impact

DECaDE’s Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT) Field Labs bring together industry, policymakers, technologists and creatives to test research in real-world settings. Facilitated by Digital Catapult, the labs translate research into practical solutions through collaboration, experimentation and user feedback.

The programme explores three key themes:

• Field Lab 1 – Self-Sovereign Identity (SSI): Developing privacy-preserving approaches to proving identity, ownership and rights.

• Field Lab 2 – Tokenised Media and Creative Rights: Exploring new models for ownership, licensing and attribution of digital content.

• Field Lab 3 – Reputation in Decentralised Supply Chains: Investigating how privacy-enhancing technologies can strengthen trust and reputation across supply chains.

Together, the Field Labs demonstrate how decentralised technologies can address real-world challenges while providing valuable insights that inform DECaDE’s research, industry collaboration and policy engagement.

Bridging Blockchain's Paradox

DECaDE researchers explore the factors that influence the successful adoption of blockchain technologies across organisations and supply chains. This research has led to the development of the BEnA framework, helping organisations assess their readiness for blockchain adoption by identifying key technological, organisational and environmental enablers and barriers.

The research also examines how trust, governance and privacy shape blockchain adoption, showing how organisational culture, leadership and data sharing influence the uptake of decentralised systems. Case studies, including the wind turbine industry, highlight the challenges of balancing transparency with commercial confidentiality in complex, multi-tier supply chains.

Together, these studies provide practical guidance for policymakers, business leaders and supply chain managers, supporting the responsible adoption of blockchain technologies and strengthening trust across digital ecosystems.

Team: Ying Zhang, Xiaotian Xie, Mahdi Tavalaei, Peng Zhou and Glenn Parry

Enabling Trust and Blockchain Adoption