[Clinical-Track] First Governance Node — University or Research Institution Wanted

[Cortex-psylead]

Labels: Clinical-Track · Governance-Node-Application · Milestone-1 · high-priority
Priority: High — Blocking for Milestone 1 and production readiness
Who this is for: University faculty, clinical researchers, professional associations, neuroscience labs

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What is a Governance Node?

A Governance Node is an independent institutional entity — a university faculty, professional association, or research center — that holds clinical authority within the Cortex Protocol. Governance Nodes are the enforcement mechanism that makes the White Branch's clinical mandates technically real.

In v0.5.1, clinical thresholds (BRIDGE_STD_LIMIT, CDI_HARD_BLOCK_VIOLATIONS, etc.) are defined in code. In production, they must be cryptographically signed by an authorized Governance Node before the SAL accepts them. No signature — no capability module activation.

The first Governance Node will:

1. Issue the first real signed Clinical Capability Module (CCM)
2. Validate the CDI thresholds against real EEG/HRV data from a clinical population
3. Co-author the first peer-reviewed publication on the CDI
4. Participate in the 5-of-9 threshold governance quorum (white_branch_threshold.py)

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What we need from you

Minimum requirements (from GOVERNANCE-NODES.md)

• IRB approval or equivalent ethics board clearance for biometric research at your institution
• At least one licensed clinical professional (psychologist, psychiatrist, or neurologist) as the Node's clinical lead
• Willingness to register a GPG key in the public Governance Node registry
• Institutional affiliation (university, hospital, professional association, or accredited research center)

What the protocol provides to you

• Co-authorship on the CDI validation publication (the first peer-reviewed study of the Coherency Index against real HRV data)
• Technical infrastructure — the full Python SAL runs today, produces real CDI readings from simulated signals, and needs only a BrainFlow adapter to accept data from OpenBCI/Muse 2
• Governance participation — your institution's signature is required for any future modification to clinical safety thresholds
• Open standard credit — your node is permanently recorded in the protocol's cryptographic audit trail

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The clinical research question you would be answering

From docs/clinical/ROADMAP-CLINICAL.md:

"Is it possible to measure, in real time, using consumer-grade hardware, whether a person has the physiological capacity for informed consent?"

The CDI is the operationalized hypothesis. No peer-reviewed study has validated or refuted it with real data. Your institution would be the first to do so.

Proposed study design:

• Participants: ≥20 adults, controlled lab setting
• Hardware: OpenBCI Cyton (8-ch EEG, 250Hz) + chest-strap PPG for RMSSD ground truth
• Protocol: Cortex CDI running in parallel with established HRV metrics (RMSSD, LF/HF ratio via Kubios or equivalent)
• Output: Correlation coefficient between CDI Coherency Index and RMSSD across participants and cognitive load conditions
• Duration: Estimated 6–8 months from IRB approval to submission

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Technical integration (what your team needs to run)

git clone https://github.com/Cortex-psylead/Cortex-Protocol
cd Cortex-Protocol
pip install -r requirements.txt

# Full demo with simulated signals — runs in 60 seconds, no hardware needed
python src/sal/cognitive_shield_v2.py

# Full test suite — 162 vectors, 0 failures
python src/sal/cognitive_shield_v2.py --test
python tests/test_cognitive_neutrality.py

With a BrainFlow adapter (Issue #1 in this repository), the same pipeline accepts real OpenBCI data. The CDI, Clinical Bridge, and ETHOS consent engine run identically on real data.

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Governance Node onboarding process

1. Open a comment on this Issue with:

   • Institution name and country
   • Clinical lead's name and license type
   • Confirmation of IRB or ethics board status
   • Your GPG public key fingerprint (or willingness to generate one)

2. Protocol Stewards will respond within 36 hours (per GOVERNANCE-NODES.md SLA)

3. Your Node is provisionally registered — you can begin running the protocol with your institution's credentials

4. Full registration is confirmed upon first signed CCM issuance

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Student researchers

From GOVERNANCE-NODES.md, student parity provisions apply:

• Graduate students (PhD or equivalent) may serve as technical leads under a faculty co-PI
• Master's students may contribute to the validation dataset under a licensed clinical supervisor
• Student contributions receive full co-authorship credit on any resulting publication

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Resources

• docs/governance/GOVERNANCE-NODES.md — Full admission specification, 36-hour SLA, incident response protocol
• docs/clinical/CLINICAL-BRIDGE.md — Clinical thresholds and their bibliographic basis (Polyvagal Theory, HRV literature)
• docs/clinical/WHITE_PAPER.md — Full technical and clinical specification
• src/governance/white_branch_threshold.py — The threshold governance engine your Node will participate in
• MANIFESTO.md §3 — The primacy of the White Branch and its accountability requirements

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Contact

Open a comment on this Issue or contact the Protocol Steward directly.
Tag your comment [Governance-Node-Application].

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"The CDI is an operationalized hypothesis. No peer-reviewed study has validated or refuted it with real data. A university partner would be the first to do so — and that publication would be the foundation on which every future clinical threshold in this protocol is built."