Oxford student hub

Start a student hub based at the University of Oxford to attract young programmers to choose to learn Haskell and Plutus.

Undergraduate and postgrad students at Oxford. Prior experience in running student organisations.

What we want to do

Apart from holding presentations and introductions about Cardano, the student hub would do the following:

1. Create a selective program wherein selected computer science students or other students with some prior exposure to Haskell (or functional programming) receive a scholarship to learn Plutus or Prism between terms or over the summer. 

2. Introduce students to decentralised governance and help them participate in Project Catalyst as Community Advisors. 

3. Help interested students apply for Project Catalyst funding

 Why fund this project?

The University of Oxford hosts some of the world's brightest students. In order for Cardano to truly get a competitive edge over other blockchains is to have competent developers. That is why focusing on providing scholarships to students at top institutions such as Oxford is important. These are students who have not yet developed a niche and have no particular preference over a particular ecosystem. A scholarship could therefore be the nudge that makes the choice easy for them. 

All other things equal (one might argue that Cardano is less accessible), a scholarship stipend providing a substantial economic incentive would surely tip over the critical group of computer science students thinking about becoming a blockchain developer to the Cardano ecosystem. 

These scholarships should be regarded as investments into the long-term growth of Cardano. In order for Cardano to truly succeed, all that is needed is 100 superb solutions developed on Cardano. For this to happen, we need the best minds and these are students with that potential. This is a very small investment relative to the cost it would take to sway the very same students once they have entered the job market. At that stage, they would be earning six-figure salaries, and incentivising them to go for one company over another would require remuneration of a magnitude far exceeding the few hundred dollars of these stipends. 

Why we will succeed

Students are very busy and it is important to gain their attention. This is why we've allocated so much money to both food and drinks. The second key to success is to partner up with existing student societies in Oxford will help us get a foot in the door. For example, the Blockchain Society, Mathematics Society, Economics Society or Computer Society. We then hope that the value proposition of blockchain on Cardano will be enough to make them want to learn more. We may also possibly reach out to relevant Societies at Imperial College and at Cambridge for this scholarship opportunity.

When we then launch a competitive scholarship, people will want to prove their interest and invest some time into researching Cardano. This means that even if only 5 students will receive the scholarship, all of the students who applied will inevitably have invested a lot of time and effort into learning more about the ecosystem in order to make their application stronger (as we select on the basis of interest and competence). 

Assuming each community event gets 30 attendees and we manage to get 1/3 of attendees to apply, we would get 30 people who now have a Cardano wallet (as we will ask for a public address) and be more invested in the ecosystem. 

Team

Simon Sällström
- MPhil in Economics candidate, University of Oxford
- fund6 winner on three proposals and community advisor
- Leadership experience from various student organisations, including presidency of Lund Debate Society
- https://www.linkedin.com/in/simon-s%C3%A4llstr%C3%B6m-3659b616b/

Sisi Peng
- Master of Public Policy candidate at the Blavatnik School of Government, University of Oxford
- Extensive experience in cross-border investment, development consulting, digital strategy, business development, journalism and marketing
- https://www.linkedin.com/in/sisi-peng/

Leyi Jiang
- BSc Mathematics candidate, University of Oxford
- Deep understanding of the blockchain space acquired through independent fundamental analysis

Huanxing Chen
- BSc Human sciences candidate, University of Oxford
- An avid learner who's interested in exploring the intersections between different fields of knowledge. Excited by the potential of emerging technologies in meeting social needs.
- https://www.linkedin.com/in/huanxing-chen-b353221a0/

Timeline
3 months:
- Social media page(s) launched
- The first community event was held
- The recruitment process of Cardano Plutus stipend recipients has begun
- 50 likes/following/members on social media channels or discord channel
- 10 wallets registered

6 months: 
- 10 community advisors (students) participated in a Project Catalyst assessment 
- First cohort of Plutus/Prism pioneers completed the programme 
- Second and third community events held  
- 50 wallets registered

12 months: 
- Fourth community event held
- 200 likes/followers/members on social media or discord channel
- 5 proposals originating in the student hub were submitted to Project Catalyst
- 3 proposals originating in the student hub were successfully funded through Project Catalyst
- 100 wallets registered 

Budgeting

$1970. Costs for presentations and recruitment events
- Venue rentals, $50 per event * 4 = $200
- Food and drinks per event, $80 * 4 = $320
- Organising and planning, $23/hour*40 hours= $1150
- Marketing, $300 

$5620. Haskell/Plutus/Prism stipend
- Stipend for selected top students to learn Haskell/Plutus/Prism. Three alternative models which we will research further: (a) 5 student pioneers ($15/hour*60 hours*5 pioneers = $4500) each receiving a $900 stipend, (b) a cohort of 10 students, with a stipend of $450 per student, (c) cohort of 20 students with a stipend of $225 per student.
- Software licence costs, $200
- Organisation and selection, $23/hour*30 hours = $920