How to Get Your Research Funded by A DeSci DAO: A Step-by-Step Guide.
Decentralized Science (DeSci) is revolutionizing research funding by diversifying funding sources and eliminating barriers to entry. How can you benefit from this?
As a researcher, you may have some questions on how to get funding from a DeSci DAO (decentralized autonomous organization). Which DAOs are open to funding your research? How do you know if you are eligible to receive funding? What exact steps should you take to get research funding from a DeSci DAO? This guide will answer these questions and more, and serve as a practical guide for how to start funding your research through DeSci, in 4 steps.
Why turn to DeSci for research funding?
Securing research funding can be difficult for most scientists and academics. This is especially true within the traditional grant system, where it is common to wait very long, after a review with opaque criteria, even for a short-term grant (assuming that the grant eventually gets approved).
Recent figures have shown that many top researchers spend up to 50%of their time writing and applying for research grants. Much of this time would likely be better spent conducting actual science.
DeSci has introduced new and innovative funding models to solve the funding challenge by simplifying and speeding up this process. These new models mean that more funding options are now at your disposal.
A wide range of non-conventional science such as psychedelics, hair loss, longevity, and cryopreservation, which normally struggle to get funded by conventional funding agencies, now have dedicated DeSci DAOs that exist solely to fund and incubate them.
Most DAOs issue tokens that represent voting rights or partial ownership of the underlying organization and governance rights. This means that DeSci DAOs’ token holders typically decide who and what to fund. These token holders can range from venture capitalists and big pharmaceuticals, to ordinary citizens and patients interested in your research’s outcome. So, getting funded by a DeSci DAO means that there are more stakeholders with a vested interest in funding and supporting your research.
By choosing to get funded by a DeSci DAO, you get to save time, access more funding opportunities, and worry less about opaque decision-making and bias in the funding process. And above all, you get access to a global community of stakeholders willing to support your scientific research.
How to get funding from a DeSci DAO?
The steps described below provide an overview of the typical steps involved in getting funding from a typical DeSci DAO. We have mapped out the journey from identifying the right DeSci DAO to receiving money from the DAO.
Step 1: Join an applicable DeSci community
The first step involves finding and joining a DeSci community aligned with your research interest. To help you with this, we listed out some of the top DeSci DAOs you can get funding from below. This table provides an overview of how much funding you can get and what type of research each DAO funds. However, note that the DeSci landscape is constantly changing as new DAOs spring into existence, so keep an eye out for your area of expertise if you do not see a suitable DAO in the table below.
Step 2: Submit your funding application
In the funding table above, each DeSci DAO has a dedicated page that provides the relevant information regarding their funding process. Click on the link in the table and submit your funding proposal.
Step 3: Wait for the review, vote, and results
Once your proposal has been submitted, it will be subject to the DAO’s review. This process typically entails a comprehensive evaluation process involving expert reviews, constructive feedback, commercial assessment, and community involvement:
1. Due Diligence by the Deal Flow Team: A DAO’s deal flow team is usually responsible for the initial assessment of proposals. Their due diligence involves thoroughly investigating your submitted research project to ensure its validity, feasibility, and potential impact.
2. Expert Reviews: From there, specialists or experts in the relevant research domain review your proposal. Their insights and evaluations help determine your project's scientific merit and feasibility.
3. Feedback and Recommendations: If necessary, DAO representatives may provide feedback and recommendations on your proposal. This step can help you refine your proposal, address potential concerns, and improve the chances of your proposal getting approved for funding.
4. Evaluation of Commercialization and IP Potential: Some DeSci DAOs also assess the potential for commercialization and IP (intellectual property) development. This involves examining how your project might be brought to market and protected legally, which is crucial for projects aimed at generating economic returns or societal impact.
5. Community Approval: Finally, the proposal is presented to the DAO’s community for approval. The DeSci DAO’s community is usually made up of holders of the DAO’s governance tokens. These holders simply cast their votes on the final proposal to decide whether the project should be funded or not.
Step 4: Receive your funding
If your application is successful, you will receive support from the DAO in funding.
Usually, the funds will be provided in cryptocurrency instead of fiat currency. To access these funds, you will need to create and set up a Web3 wallet – a digital tool used for managing cryptocurrencies and interacting with decentralized applications.
We recommend using the Coinbase Wallet because it is the simplest to set up and use. Here is a guide to help you activate and use a Coinbase Web3 wallet.
There is No Downside to Applying for DAO Funding
We encourage all researchers to apply for every available funding source to advance their scientific pursuits, within and beyond the DeSci scene. While new opportunities are constantly popping up within the fast-paced world of DeSci, this doesn’t mean you should be neglecting traditional sources of funding and research support.
The bottom line is, DeSci DAOs make research funding more accessible, transparent, and efficient for researchers. The ability to attract funding from a diverse range of stakeholders, coupled with the reduced bureaucracy and bias, means that researchers can focus more on their work and less on the administrative burdens that often accompany traditional grant applications.
Navigating the research funding process can initially seem daunting, especially for scientists new to DeSci. The right approach, however, opens up a myriad of opportunities that are not available through traditional funding routes. By following this guide, scientists can streamline the process of securing funding from DeSci DAOs, from identifying suitable DAOs and submitting applications, to successfully receiving funds.
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