# Week 0 - Notes on initial ideas for the EPF Project: P2P Networking & Protocol Research

## Table of Contents

- **Project Motivation**
- **Week 0: Exploratory & Assessment Phase**
- **Week 1 Goals**

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## Project Motivation

Hi everyone!
My name is Irene, excited to be part of EPF Cohort 6! One of my main area of focus is distributed and decentralized systems, with a particular interest in Graph Theory and p2p connections.
I had previously collaborated with a teammate on a presentation for the first cohort of Women in Ethereum Protocol on Ethereum p2p networking specifications (covering libp2p, devp2p, Kademlia protocol, DHT, and their technicalities like XOR as a distance metric). So my initial intuition was that this would probably be one of the main research areas I would explore during the fellowship.

## Week 0: Exploratory & Assessment Phase
**Goal**: Week 0 has been used as an exploratory and assessment phase to confirm and test my previous intuition about focusing on P2P networking.

### EPF Wiki Review

- Re-listened to sessions/workshops for high-level Ethereum structure overview in [epf.wiki](https://epf.wiki/#/)
- Making myself familiar with the overall architecture and tooling
- Focus on sessions about p2p networking

### Project Ideas Research

**Target**: Potential projects exploration
- Referenced the [project ideas section](https://github.com/eth-protocol-fellows/cohort-six/blob/master/projects/project-ideas.md), with ideas proposed by core developers
- Interesting proposal I found: [PandaOps tooling wishlist](https://github.com/eth-protocol-fellows/cohort-six/blob/master/projects/project-ideas.md#pandaops-tooling-wishlist) - [ P2P consensus layer client metrics](https://github.com/ethpandaops/tooling-wishlist/blob/master/open-ideas/p2p-consensus-layer-client-metrics.md)
- I spent time researching the codebase of various consensus clients to understand the specific metrics mentioned in this proposal.

### Berlin Blockchain Week - Ethereum Forschungsingenieurtagung

During Berlin Blockchain Week, I had the wonderful opportunity to participate in the [Ethereum Forschungsingenieurtagung](https://notes.ethereum.org/@timbeiko/berlin-agenda) - an L1 research and engineering workshop.
- **Key Session**: [P2P networking](https://hackmd.io/@raul/p2p-berlinterop-2025) team presentation
- Learned about weekly team coordination meetings

I had valuable conversations with several core developers on: Current open research points (in the vision of PeerDAS), areas needing improvement, technical bottlenecks

### Project Status Discovery
A fellow from Cohort 5 who has worked in a similar area connected me with the original commit owner of PandaOps wishlist-tooling:

**Update**: Original project idea outdated due to internal restructuring (recent establishment of P2P Networking team at the EF)

**Possible option**: Coordination (and joining forces) with p2p networking team

## Week 1 Goals
### Primary Objectives

- Receive feedback on the proposed direction and coordinate on moving forward in this area
- If **green light**:
- Explore possible collaboration with [p2p networking team](https://hackmd.io/@raul)
- Further protocol exploration and deep dive into p2p protocols (gossipsub, req/resp, yamux, etc.)
- Document insights and structure comprehensive notes from the p2p workshop sessions
- Clearer coordination after official EPF kick-off on Monday, June 16

### Backup Planning

**Alternative exploration**: Exploration of other possible project areas in case the p2p networking direction needs adjustment

## Week 1 TODOs

- [ ] Document comprehensive workshop insights and structure notes
- [ ] Deep dive into gossipsub, req/resp, and yamux protocols
- [ ] Explore different project areas

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*Last updated: June 2025*
*Project: EPF Cohort 6 (Ethereum Protocol Fellowship)*
*Focus: P2P Networking & Protocol Research*