Tara Merk

Tara is a political science PhD candidate at CNRS/University of Paris II, working in the ERC BlockchainGov. At the Weizenbaum Institute she is conducting research on the Exit to Community of Open Collective, an organisation, platform and ecosystem which enables collectives to raise and manage funds transparently. For this project she is collaborating with Caroline Woolard from Open Collective and the 'Digitalization, Sustainability and Participation' working group at WI. The project is embedded in Tara’s wider PhD research which investigates the process of transitioning founder and investor led technology start-ups towards community owned and governed organisations.

Tara previously held various roles in the blockchain industry after studying in Maastricht, Hong Kong, and Dublin where she completed her MSc in the field of information systems management. Currently, she is a research fellow at the Metagovernance Project, contributor to the Exit to Community Collective and member of trust Berlin.