Devcon 8 · Mumbai · November 3–6, 2026
// research call for participation
Mumbai · October 31 – November 8, 2026
Resilient Networks
Performance, Interoperability & Science
Measure. Test. Compare. Make resilient networking research reproducible.
The Resilient Networks Performance, Interoperability & Science Research Track invites researchers, networking engineers, open-source maintainers, and independent builders to advance the performance, interoperability, and scientific understanding of decentralized networks using libp2p and related technologies.
Submission deadline
October 30, 2026 · 11:59 PM PST
Research paper + PoC · Pacific Standard Time (PST)
// evidence-driven networking
Performance at scale. Compatibility across implementations. Reproducible evidence.
We invite original research grounded in rigorous experiments, measurements, benchmarks, and reproducible test frameworks. Explore how decentralized networks perform at scale, how independent implementations remain compatible, and how open network science can guide protocol evolution.
// research board
Eight tracks. Open questions. Original research.
8 of 8 tracks
TRACK 01
Large-Scale Network Performance
How can we demonstrate that peer-to-peer networks scale reliably?
Research direction
- Network performance at increasing scales, from thousands to millions of peers.
- DHT lookup latency, discovery success, and routing efficiency.
- GossipSub propagation delay, message delivery, and bandwidth consumption.
- Performance under high peer churn, resource constraints, and heterogeneous connectivity.
TRACK 02
Cross-Implementation Interoperability
How can independent libp2p implementations remain compatible as protocols evolve?
Research direction
- Automated interoperability testing across resilient network implementations.
- Compatibility testing across protocol versions and configuration combinations.
- Reproducible test plans for transports, security, stream multiplexing, discovery, and pub/sub.
- Differential testing, conformance suites, and automated regression detection.
TRACK 03
Observability and Network Science
How can researchers measure and understand the behavior of decentralized networks?
Research direction
- Metrics across transports, connections, discovery, relays, and pub/sub.
- Privacy-preserving telemetry and network-level measurement.
- Network topology analysis, peer behavior, and propagation dynamics.
- Experimental methods for collecting, validating, and interpreting measurements.
TRACK 04
Security Testing and Adversarial Resilience
How can we systematically evaluate libp2p's resistance to attacks and failures?
Research direction
- Sybil, eclipse, flooding, DHT poisoning, and routing attacks.
- Byzantine peer behavior and adversarial network simulations.
- Chaos engineering, fault injection, and automated negative testing.
- Security evaluation frameworks, threat models, and reproducible attack scenarios.
TRACK 05
Connection Efficiency and Transport Performance
How can libp2p establish and maintain connections more efficiently?
Research direction
- Connection establishment latency and handshake optimization.
- Dial failure analysis and context-aware connection strategies.
- NAT traversal, hole punching, relay upgrades, and connection migration.
- Transport comparisons under different latency, bandwidth, and packet-loss conditions.
TRACK 06
Reproducible Networking Experiments
How can libp2p become a dependable platform for academic and independent research?
Research direction
- Reusable experimental infrastructure and network testbeds.
- Distributed simulations and repeatable multi-node experiments.
- Benchmark design, statistical validity, and measurement methodology.
- Public datasets, reproducible test plans, and open research tooling.
TRACK 07
Protocol Evolution and Performance Engineering
How can protocol improvements be evaluated without compromising stability or interoperability?
Research direction
- Performance regression detection across implementations.
- Protocol upgrade strategies and compatibility guarantees.
- Trade-offs between security, latency, throughput, resource consumption, and reliability.
- Evidence-driven protocol design and upstream optimization proposals.
TRACK 08
Open Research: Submit a PoC + Long Paper
Have a research idea outside these areas?
Research direction
- We welcome original work advancing libp2p, peer-to-peer networking, distributed-systems measurement, and the science of decentralized networks.
- Proposals may introduce new benchmarks, test frameworks, network models, protocol improvements, experimental tools, or methods for evaluating real-world deployments.
// interoperability resource
Build on libp2p unified testing
Explore the shared testing tools for cross-implementation interoperability and reproducible protocol testing.
libp2p unified-testing// submit your research
Turn your question into a paper and PoC.
We invite individuals and collaborative teams to submit:
Research proposal
The problem, research question, motivation, and expected contribution.
Proof of concept (PoC)
A working prototype, benchmark, simulation, test framework, or reproducible experimental setup.
Long-form technical paper
Covering background, related work, methodology, system design, experiments, results, limitations, and future directions.
Supporting materials
Source code, test plans, datasets, benchmark results, and setup instructions, as applicable.
We encourage work that can be reproduced, independently evaluated, and developed further with the libp2p and wider decentralized networking communities.
Deadline: October 30, 2026 · 11:59 PM PST
Research submission link to be announced.
// evaluation milestones
From submission to research exchange
October 31 – November 1
Eligibility and completeness review
Submissions will be checked for completeness, research relevance, a clearly stated question, and a credible experimental or implementation approach.
November 1 – 3
Technical and research evaluation
Submissions will be evaluated on originality, research depth, technical feasibility, PoC quality, reproducibility, practical impact, and potential for open-source contribution.
November 3 – 4
Selection and notifications
Selected participants will be notified following the evaluation process, with further participation details shared directly.
November 4 – 6
Research exchange at Devcon 8
Researchers and builders can connect with the Resilient Networking Hub community to share findings, compare approaches, and identify opportunities for collaboration.
Following Devcon
Virtual engagement at IETF 127
Continue engaging with the wider networking and standards community through virtual participation, subject to confirmed arrangements.
// participation fee waiver
Submit your research paper and PoC to qualify for a full fee waiver for Devcon 8 and virtual participation at IETF 127.
We want to make it easier for researchers and builders to contribute meaningful work to the networking ecosystem. Fee-waiver arrangements and participation details will be shared soon.
// who should participate?
Researchers, maintainers and curious builders
We welcome academic researchers, PhD students, independent investigators, protocol engineers, open-source maintainers, and teams working on distributed systems, performance engineering, network measurement, protocol testing, and decentralized infrastructure.
Individual and collaborative submissions are welcome. Cross-disciplinary research combining networking, security, systems engineering, and applied research is particularly encouraged.
// expected outcomes
Evidence, implementations and lasting contributions
- Reproducible research papers, experiments, and benchmarks.
- Cross-implementation interoperability test suites.
- Performance and scalability measurements.
- Security test frameworks and adversarial simulations.
- Improvements to observability and network research tooling.
- Actionable findings, specifications, and upstream contributions to libp2p.
// our goal
Build. Measure. Test. Research. Publish. Contribute.
This is more than a research submission program. It is an opportunity to turn open questions into prototypes, technical papers, reproducible experiments, and collaborative work that advances resilient networking.
Join the Resilient Networks Performance, Interoperability & Science Research Track at Devcon 8 Mumbai and help make decentralized networking measurable, interoperable, and scientifically grounded.