Scotland’s University of Edinburgh is partnering with blockchain startup IOHK on a new research lab dedicated to the technology.

Announced today, the research initiative will become part of the university’s School of Informatics, its chief educational hub for computer science and software engineering.

Aggelos Kiayias, a cryptography professor at the University of Edinburgh who joined IOHK as its chief scientist last October, will spearhead the research center, working with undergraduate and PhD students, as well as academics, on a range of blockchain-related research projects.

Kiayias said in a statement:

“Distributed ledgers is an upcoming disruptive technology that can scale information services to a global level. The academic and industry connection forged by this collaboration puts the Blockchain Technology Lab at Edinburgh at the forefront of innovation in blockchain systems.”

The goal is to have the Edinburgh outfit fully staffed by this summer, according to the startup, which was co-founded by Charles Hoskinson, one of the co-founders and the first CEO of the ethereum project.

The Scottish facility is the second blockchain lab set up by IOHK, which launched its first in partnership with the Tokyo Institute of Technology earlier this month. IOHK and Tokyo Tech have been working collaboratively on blockchain since mid-2016, according to press materials.

Additional research hubs are planned for launch over the comings months, according to the firm.

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