Stanford University’s Cyber Initiative has announced a conference on blockchain that focuses on better understanding the security and systematic risk in blockchain protocols.

According to the university website, the conference titled ‘Blockchain Protocol Analysis and Security Engineering 2017’ will be exploring the use of formal methods, empirical analysis, and risk modeling. The conference is calling for paper submissions and aims to nurture multidisciplinary collaboration between researchers and practitioners in the field of blockchain, cryptography and risk management, among others.

The conference’s topics of interest include security engineering and its challenges in cryptosystems, limitations of formal methods in cryptography and distributed systems, effective blockchain protocols testing and implementation, the nature of systemic risk in a blockchain-based world, blockchain education and security in risk implications of interactions with other technologies like IoT, AI, among other pressing topics.

“Submissions can be full papers or presentation slides. Please make sure that the submission provides sufficient detail to explain what the talk will be about. Papers or presentations may be previously presented or published. Submissions should be technical in nature, but including considerations of the legal, policy, and ethical implications of results is appreciated,” the website noted.

The conference will take place at the university premises on January 26-27, 2017. The rolling submission deadline for papers starts from October 31 to November 30, 2016. The program panel will involve senior professors from Stanford including Allison Berke, ‎Executive Director of the Stanford Cyber Initiative; Dan Boneh, researcher in applied cryptography and computer security; and others including Elaine Shi, associate professor at Cornell and co-director of the Initiative for Cryptocurrency and Contracts (IC3); Bitcoin Core developer Peter Todd; among others.