Knowledge graphs, FAIR principles and generative AI for interdisciplinary research
By Anna Fensel
Anna Fensel is Full Professor of Artificial Intelligence and Data Science at Wageningen University & Research (Netherlands). Previously, she held positions at the University of Innsbruck (Austria), FTW – Telecommunications Research Center Vienna (Austria), and the University of Surrey (UK). She earned her habilitation and PhD in Computer Science from the University of Innsbruck and her Specialist Diploma (MSc-equivalent) in Mathematics and Computer Science from Novosibirsk State University (Russia). Her research focuses on semantic technologies, linked data, and knowledge graphs, and their adoption across domains including sustainability, energy efficiency, production, food and health, and social sciences. She has coordinated EU and national projects and served as principal investigator in 20+ projects. She has contributed to 100+ scientific events, chaired major conferences, serves as journal editor and reviewer, and evaluates research proposals. She has co-authored ~170 refereed publications and received several best paper awards.
The integration of knowledge graphs and semantic web technologies in interdisciplinary research presents a transformative opportunity for its progress, particularly when leveraging on FAIR (Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, Reusable) principles and generative AI (Artificial Intelligence). While symbolic AI and semantic web methods offer robust solutions for data integration and interoperability, a persistent challenge often remains: the lack of high-quality, semantically rich data. Current FAIR data implementations often still fall short, limiting their usability in machine and deep learning analysis and applications. This issue is especially critical in complex, interdisciplinary fields such as agriculture, health, food and social sciences, where heterogeneous data must be efficiently linked to address multi-faceted challenges such as sustainability or climate adaptation. Additionally, data ownership concerns, legal compliance (e.g., GDPR, AI Act), and fragmented governance frameworks further hinder collaboration and innovation. To overcome these barriers, we need specialized research infrastructural solutions that enable responsible data sharing and reuse, while ensuring legal and ethical compliance. In this talk, I will present knowledge graphs -enabled strategies and solutions to enhance FAIR and CARE data practices and explore their role in generative AI applications for advancing agri-food -related research and sustainable and healthy development.
Advanced Research Methods and Analytics in “Science for Policy” Research
By Néstor Duch-Brown
Joint Research Centre of the European Commission
Nestor Duch-Brown is a scientific officer and team leader at the Digital Economy Unit of the Joint Research Centre (European Commission). Before joining the JRC in 2012, he was an associate professor at the University of Barcelona and researcher at the Barcelona Institute of Economics.
His current research focuses on digital economics, with a particular emphasis on online platforms, the economics of digital data and the economic implications of artificial intelligence. More broadly, his research interests are oriented towards the quantification of the economic impact of digital and ICT technologies on markets, firms’ strategies, and consumer behaviour. As a public policy economist in an EU policy research institute like the JRC, his main goal is to contribute economic insights for policy design and evaluation. He holds a PhD in Economics from the University of Barcelona.
AI hires humans and humans ask AI: Challenges in methods of online data collection
By Ulf-Dietrich Reips
Ulf-Dietrich Reips is a Full Professor in the Faculty of Sciences at the University of Konstanz, where he holds the Chair for Psychological Methods, Assessment, and iScience (https://iscience.uni-konstanz.de). For three decades he has been working on Internet-based research methodologies (or Internet science), the psychology of the Internet, measurement, assessment, privacy, social media, big data, topics in cognition and digital science. During his PhD student years at the University of Tübingen in 1994, he founded the Web Experimental Psychology Lab, the first laboratory for conducting real experiments on the World Wide Web. His 2002 article “Standards for Internet-based experimenting” in the journal Experimental Psychology defined the field. Ulf was elected the first non-North American president of the Society for Computers in Psychology (SCiP) and recently the first non-North American Editor-in-Chief for Psychological Science in the Public Interest (PSPI, https://www.psychologicalscience.org/publications/observer/ulf-dietrich-reips-pspi.html). He was the founding editor of the International Journal of Internet Science (https://ijis.net). Many of his over 200 scientific publications are among the most highly cited in their journals, see http://www.uni-konstanz.de/iscience/reips/pubs/publications.html. The Stanford study (https://elsevier.digitalcommonsdata.com/datasets/btchxktzyw/8) thus lists Ulf as one of the top 2% cited researchers worldwide with career-long impact and a below-average self-citation rate.
Ulf has worked, lived, and studied in California, Colorado, Israel, Germany, New Zealand, Spain (as an Ikerbasque Research Professor in Bilbao), Switzerland (12 years in Zurich), and the UK.In 2014, he was ranked 7th of “Top Scientists working at Spanish Private Universities” by the Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Cientificas, Spain. In 2015 he was asked to direct the Leibniz institute for Psychology information in Germany, but remained at University of Konstanz. In 2025 he received the ‘Catalyst Leaders’ Fellowship award by the Royal Society of New Zealand and will be hosted each year 2026-2028 at the University of Auckland, he will be co-receiving the Quality of Life prize by the Lilly Foundation in May 2026 to Gensichen et al. for the PICTURE project study on PTSD treatment after intensive care (The bmj, 2025, https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj-2024-082092). Ulf and his team develop and provide free Web tools for researchers, teachers, students, and the public. They received numerous awards for their Web applications (available from the iScience Server at https://iscience.eu/) and methodological work serving the research community. In 1996 Ulf won in the first Internet Literature competition in Germany, co-organized by the German weekly Die Zeit and IBM with his digital poem “Das Websonett”, a digital media variation and sonetto di risposta on A.W. Schlegel’s “Das Sonett”. In his spare time, Ulf enjoys family life with wife, daughter, and their two cats in Kreuzlingen, Switzerland, swimming, Katamaran sailing, soccer, chess, dancing, and playing the French game of Boules.