Challenging Linked Data Practices for FAIR Research Objects and Computational Workflows by Dr. Stian Soiland-Reyes
Dates: | 19 February 2025 |
Times: | 13:00 - 14:00 |
What is it: | Seminar |
Organiser: | Department of Computer Science |
How much: | Free |
Who is it for: | University staff, Current University students |
Speaker: | Dr. Stian Soiland-Reyes |
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Scientists are encouraged by funders and open research practices to publish data and accompanying metadata following the FAIR principles (Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, Reusable). However, achieving FAIR with Linked Data technologies can come with a steep learning curve for researchers not fluent in knowledge representation concepts, as well as facing technical intricacies in deployment on the Web.
Scientific Workflow Management systems have evolved as powerful tools for accelerating computational analysis in life sciences and many other domains and can capture valuable provenance to support FAIR practices and sharing of computational methods. However, the diversity of available workflow systems and hardware sub-architectures (e.g. GPUs for machine learning) adds a challenge for the aims of Interoperability and Reproducibility.
In this talk I will bring you along for a time travel journey, reflecting on my two decades of venturing into the emerging FAIR data landscape. I will show how we have built pragmatic approaches, Research Object Crate and Signposting, that utilise Web technologies for a "just enough" Linked Data implementation. Finally, I will reflect on "lessons learnt" and the future role of open research practices, such as for federated learning on sensitive health data.
Speaker
Dr. Stian Soiland-Reyes
Role: Senior Lecturer at the Department of Computer Science
Organisation: University of Manchester
Biography: Dr Stian Soiland-Reyes is a Senior Lecturer at the Department of Computer Science. He is co-leader of the eScience Lab together with Professor Carole Goble; their research group is currently funded by over 15 research projects, in collaboration with partners across EU and the European Life Science network ELIXIR. Stian joined the department in 2006 as a Research Associate and worked as a software engineer developing computational workflow systems and reproducibility methods, contributing to standard development (W3C PROV, OAI-ORE, IEEE 2791) and building open community specifications (Common Workflow Language, RO-Crate, FAIR Digital Object). He is a strong advocate of open source and open research. In November 2023 he became a Senior Lecturer in FAIR, Open and Reproducible Digital Research. He has a BSc & MSc in Computer Science from NTNU in Norway, and a PhD from University of Amsterdam for his thesis "FAIR Research Objects and Computational Workflows – A Linked Data Approach
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