Organiser
Bio: Dr. Ajay Shrestha is a
Professor in the Department of
Computer Science at Vancouver Island
University (VIU), Canada and an
Adjunct Professor at the University
of Saskatchewan (USask), Canada. His
research focuses on trustworthy and
responsible artificial intelligence,
decentralized AI, blockchain
technologies, privacy, security, and
the governance of emerging digital
systems. His work examines how
decentralized and privacy-preserving
technologies can support more
transparent, accountable, and
user-centred digital ecosystems. He
has conducted research on privacy
and responsible technology use,
including issues affecting young
people in AI-enabled and
smart-device environments, and is
currently leading research on
youth-centred governance of
decentralized AI, with particular
attention to privacy, agency, and
accountability. His broader research
interests include blockchain-enabled
systems, decentralized computing,
data governance, digital trust, and
the societal implications of
emerging technologies. Dr. Shrestha
has contributed to international
research collaborations,
conferences, scholarly publications,
and knowledge-mobilization
activities related to artificial
intelligence, blockchain,
cybersecurity, privacy, and
responsible technology design. He is
particularly interested in
interdisciplinary approaches that
connect technological innovation
with ethical, regulatory, and
human-centred considerations to
support the development of secure,
trustworthy, and socially
responsible digital systems.
Introduction
The convergence of blockchain and artificial intelligence is enabling new forms of decentralized intelligent systems in which data, computation, decision-making, and governance can be distributed across multiple participants rather than controlled by a single centralized entity. While these developments create opportunities for greater transparency, resilience, privacy, and user control, they also introduce significant challenges involving trust, security, accountability, data governance, and responsible deployment. This special session focuses on blockchain-enabled trustworthy decentralized AI, bringing together research at the intersection of blockchain technologies, decentralized artificial intelligence, privacy, security, and governance. It welcomes novel architectures, methods, frameworks, empirical studies, and applications addressing how blockchain and related decentralized technologies can contribute to trustworthy AI ecosystems. Topics of particular interest include privacy-preserving decentralized AI, blockchain-supported AI accountability and provenance, decentralized data and model governance, identity and access management, trustworthy data sharing, smart-contract-enabled AI coordination, security of decentralized intelligent systems, and mechanisms supporting transparency and auditability. The session also welcomes interdisciplinary work examining ethical, regulatory, human-centred, and societal dimensions of decentralized technologies.
Related topics for this special session (but not limited to) :
Blockchain-enabled decentralized
artificial intelligence
Trustworthy decentralized AI
systems
Blockchain and AI integration
Privacy-preserving decentralized
AI
Security of decentralized
intelligent systems
Blockchain-supported AI
accountability and auditability
AI data and model provenance
using blockchain
Decentralized data governance
Blockchain-enabled AI governance
Decentralized identity for
intelligent systems
Privacy and anonymity in
blockchain-enabled AI
Data sovereignty and
user-controlled data
Secure and trustworthy data
sharing
Smart contracts for
decentralized AI coordination
Blockchain-enabled access
control for AI systems
Transparency and explainability
in decentralized AI
Edge AI and blockchain
Distributed and decentralized
machine learning
Trust management in
decentralized AI ecosystems
Ethical and responsible
decentralized AI
Regulatory and governance
frameworks for blockchain and AI
Human-centred decentralized
technologies
Decentralized autonomous systems
and AI
Emerging blockchain applications
for trustworthy AI