# Ethereum Protocol Fellowship structure ## Motivation Ethereum Protocol Fellowship is a continuation of previous CDAP cohorts. The main goal of EPF is to assist in introducing fresh researchers and developers to Ethereum's essential technological areas. This cohort directly builds on the work of the CDAP initiative while aiming to enhance the program through more objectivity, closer collaboration with participants, and increased mentoring opportunities. ## Objectives ### High level goals Participants should actively contribute to the Ethereum core infrastructure and, ideally, continue to do so after the program has ended. We can help by fostering a sense of community, mentoring and keeping people engaged throughout the program and after. Participants are required to publish their work and regular updates about their progress. By end of the program, this should result in cohesive report on project/s they worked on. The final report should be presented at a demo day for selected participants, online or physically. ### Technical areas of focus Chosen projects in the cohort should be distributed across various problematics. No matter how significant or popular it may seem right now, the program must avoid bias by concentrating on a single field. People should ideally be working on as many components of the long-term [Ethereum roadmap](https://twitter.com/VitalikButerin/status/1466411377107558402). Ideas for projects and current initiatives are discussed with potential mentors and then listed for the participants. ### KPIs How many participants we want to achieve depends on number of quality applicants and capacity of mentors. Based on previous cohorts, 10-15 people might be optimal. Let's use this example to establish KPIs: * At least 3 participants joining client teams * At least 2 participants continue their work as independent contributors * Output distributed across at least 10 teams and R&D areas of Ethereum ## Program execution ### Mentorship This cohort should give participants additional opportunities to get in touch with experienced contributors and receive their mentoring. Previous cohorts shunned tighter mentoring in favor of emphasizing individual freedom to mimic a core developer's experience. Mentors in this cohort should be accessible to assist the participants when needed rather than providing direct guidance to them. Ensuring there is always someone from the appropriate area who can 'unstuck' participants and unlock doors for them is the main objective. ### Timeline The program will formally run for 4 months. The cohort would start at beginning of October and finish in February. This gives us opportunity to organize also physical meetups at Devcon and EthDenver. Timeline of the 4 month program will follow these stages: * First week * Initial sessions with chosen participants, organizers are meeting them individually, interviewing and providing program orientation. * Group session, presenting the program preamble and areas of focus. * Participants start to learn about chosen problematics, form teams and create a write up of topic they are interested based on input from mentors. * Second, third week * Participants will deep dive into areas they identified. This is time for them to learn and catch up on about previous work and current solutions. * Participants are connected to mentors from chosen areas and work towards defining a deliverable project. * Each participant/team is required to submit a written report on the selected problem(s), along with any suggested solutions and a roadmap for how they intend to work on the issue throughout the program. * These write ups should be presented in front of everybody - other participants and some mentors to gather last feedback. * Rest of the program * Participants and teams are executing their roadmap, working on deliverable projects. * Each participant has to publish weekly update on their progress. * Weekly stand ups, calls with participants and mentors. * We may decide to offer additional funds based on participant contributions during the program. * End of the program * The program's last weeks should be devoted to wrapping up the work and assisting participants in continuing to contribute to the Ethereum ecosystem * Day dedicated for online or in-person event where participants can showcase their projects.