TL; DR: The EPF concluded its third cohort and is preparing for the fourth cohort. Applications will be open soon. Sign up here to be notified when they open.
The Ethereum Protocol Scholarship recently completed its third successful cohort in February 2023. Its completion marked 4 months of immersive learning, research, and contribution to the Ethereum core ecosystem by a group of talented and dedicated fellows. Before we look at the third cohort, let’s recap what Ethereum’s core development is and how EPF fits into its landscape.
protocol development
At the heart of the Ethereum ecosystem is the core development, research work, and code that powers the Ethereum network, including client implementations, specifications, and other fundamentals.
Maintaining a healthy pipeline of core developers is crucial to the continued success of Ethereum. These developers and researchers collaborate to shape the direction of Ethereum’s cutting-edge roadmap, address its various challenges, and implement the solutions. Their efforts ensure that the protocol remains current and can handle the increasing demands placed on it by its growing user base.
However, jumping to core protocol development is not an easy task. There is no official organization that manages the development of the protocol. The rapid progress of Ethereum protocol improvements, coupled with scattered information, can make it difficult for people to keep up. There are many areas and road map targets being worked on, each with their own rabbit holes to plunge into.
The Ethereum Protocol Fellowship was designed as a solution to make the core contribution more accessible with the goal of helping developers join the various teams working on the protocol.
Protocol Scholarship
Ethereum Protocol Fellowship (EPF) is a 4-month permissionless fellowship program that helps expedite the process of becoming a core developer.
The program is structured to give interns the necessary autonomy and independence to work as a core developer. Participants choose their area of interest, propose a project, and work on it for the rest of the program. They receive valuable feedback from current core developers and become part of a community of like-minded people eager to learn by doing.
EPF projects are diverse and contribute to various areas, including research, consensus and execution clients, testing, and protocol security. The EPF is fully open and permissionless, allowing anyone to follow and participate in the program. A portion of the budget is reserved to grant pending contributions from participants without permission. Many EPF Fellows have made valuable contributions to the Ethereum core ecosystem, and some have secured long-term positions on core teams such as Lighthouse, Teku, Prysm, Ethereum Foundation Research, Flashbots, Optimism, and others.
third cohort
Applications for the third cohort it was opened on September 1, 2022. After reviewing more than 600 applications and conducting many interviews, 23 participants were selected to join the official cohort. However, being a permissionless program, the cohort ended up with a total of 36 contributors.
During the 4-month period, the interns had the opportunity to work with 27 core developer mentors from various clients and research teams. His work was regularly reported in more than 300 weekly updates. Fellows also participated in weekly stand-up and office-hour calls to share updates, discuss projects, and participate in AMA interview sessions with mentors and core developers.
In total, the fellows proposed and contributed to 20 Projects, some of which continue to receive contributions. These projects not only represent a valuable learning experience, but also significant contributions to the Ethereum ecosystem.
Projects of the Third EPF Cohort
| Project | Description |
|---|---|
| 4337 Packer in Rust | Deploy the package for EIP-4337 AA as a stand-alone entity that can work alongside any runtime client |
| 4337 Purse | Modular Browser Extension Wallet 4337 |
| 4844 CL Customer | Contribute to the implementation of EIP-4844 in Lighthouse |
| Portal Network ultralight client | Building the Ultralight Client Subprotocols |
| Consensus Customer Rewards API | Collection of RESTful APIs to improve interoperability between beacon node implementations |
| ETH monitoring | Monitoring system to track network data and chain events |
| Helios CL P2P | Point-to-point network service for Helios |
| holon | A cumulative analysis software package |
| CL thin client | Teku Thin Client API |
| MEV in Open Games | MEV mechanisms in the Open Game engine to analyze MEV strategies |
| EL model | Rust implementation of a Secure Kademlia DHT overlay over the discv5 protocol |
| Prysm Beacon API compatible validator | Rewrite the Prysm validator code to be compatible with the standard Beacon API |
| Reduced Relay Confidence | Mechanism to reduce confidence in the relay of PBS |
| Revoking the validator signing key | Revocation mechanism to allow validators to improve their operational security |
| Verkle Trie Migration Scan | R&D for the migration from Merkle Patricia Tries to Verkle Tries |
| Participation Group Attestation Analysis | Conduct attestation analysis of major stakeholder groups |
| Improve resistance to censorship | Dashboard to track network status and block utilization |
| P2P hive tests | Increase the scope of eth, discv4 and discv5 tests and add new tests for Ethereum running clients |
| Geth DoS Attack Mitigation | Implement the DoS defense scheme proposed in the DETER document |
All program resources can be found on your repository. You can follow all cohort activity there, check out project resources, development updates, and intern notes. The projects are not just FOSS contributions, but all work done within the cohort is completely open, being a real part of Ethereum’s open research and resources.
But not everything is work and contributions. One of the crucial aspects of the EPF is the opportunity to meet many of the inspiring people involved in core development. During EthDenver, more than half of the cohort came together to participate in EPF Day, a full day of programming featuring project presentationsround tables and social time.
Next cohort coming soon™️
Following the success of the third cohort, we are excitedly preparing to launch the fourth cohort of the Ethereum Protocol Fellowship. For anyone interested in diving into core Ethereum development, stay tuned for an announcement of the app in the coming weeks. To receive notifications, join the google group EPF.
In the meantime, you can prepare your application by ensuring a basic understanding of the Ethereum protocol, contributing to open source projects through your GitHub account, especially contributions to existing projects in the Ethereum ecosystem, and reflecting on the type of project you might like. . to work on.
Join us in shaping the future of Ethereum. Join the EPF.
