Background information of the applicant
My name is Stephen Lawrence, a software engineer with years of experience building and operating complex software systems. I’m deeply passionate about open source, and much of my work involves contributing to both Web2 and Web3 projects. My journey into the Polkadot ecosystem started with the SDK, an interest that was sparked during a workshop previously organized by Polkadot Africa. That experience really opened my eyes to the possibilities within the ecosystem, and I’ve been excited to contribute ever since.
Motivation(s) for applying to the Polkadot Technical Fellowship
As I've contributed more deeply to the SDK, I've developed a strong sense of ownership over the quality and reliability of the codebase. Joining the Fellowship feels like the right way to formalize that commitment, taking on greater responsibility, upholding high technical standards, and contributing to the long-term sustainability of the infrastructure we all depend on.
Area(s) of interest in relation to the Polkadot ecosystem
Contribution(s) to Polkadot SDK
I worked on deprecating the para_id field from chain specifications in favor of a more flexible runtime-based approach. While my initial PR (https://github.com/paritytech/polkadot-sdk/pull/7546) was closed, it helped lay the groundwork by introducing the idea of retrieving the parachain ID via a runtime API. That direction was later expanded upon and fully realized in https://github.com/paritytech/polkadot-sdk/pull/8651, which completed the transition to a dynamic, runtime-driven approach.
I also added a new add_potential_renewal() extrinsic to the Coretime Broker pallet (https://github.com/paritytech/polkadot-sdk/pull/10824). This gives network administrators, especially in testnet and governance contexts, more direct control over coretime renewals, making it easier to manage allocations and schedule renewals with precision.
Currently, I’m working on a larger refactor to introduce VersionedCall across pallets that store calls (such as Scheduler, Multisig, Lottery, Collective, and Democracy). The goal is to make stored calls version-aware so they can’t be executed in ways that become invalid after runtime upgrades. This improves safety, prevents unintended behavior, and strengthens the reliability of governance and scheduled execution. You can follow along here: https://github.com/paritytech/polkadot-sdk/pull/10931.
You can also check out my other ongoing contributions here: https://github.com/paritytech/polkadot-sdk/issues?q=is%3Apr+is%3Aopen+author%3AStephenlawrence00
Link to the GitHub profile of the applicant
https://github.com/Stephenlawrence00
Polkadot address with a verified on-chain identity
16Xj1rSgNBtzHch3Jb9SfW7dK749s9WbCqKcwmZCFkR2pnai