Prof. Dr. Meersman, Robert

  Ph.D in Mathematics at the Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB) in 1976.
  Appointed as Full Professor at VUB in 1995. Earlier positions include the
  University of Antwerp (UIA, 1975-78), Control Data Corp. (Data
  Management Research Lab, Brussels, Belgium, 1978-83). Worked there
  on the definition of the NIAM (now ORM) method as well as on its query
  and constraint languages (RIDL) and on the first tools for this
  methodology. Founded the first InfoLab at University of Hasselt (Belgium, 1983-86) and its second incarnation at University of Tilburg (The Netherlands, 1986-95). Current research is called DOGMA and focused on ontologies and their relationship with and use in databases, semantic web and social process-driven semantic design methodologies and tools.

Member and Past Chairperson (1983-92) of the IFIP WG2.6 on Database, and of WG12.7 on Social Semantics and Collective Intelligence (2010-12). Past Chairperson of IFIP TC 12 (Artificial Intelligence, 1987-92), and of TC 2 (Software Theory and Practice, 2003-08). Co-Founder of the International Foundation for Cooperative Information Systems (IFCIS, now CoopIS, since 1994) and current president of the Distributed Objects Applications Institute (DOAI, since 2001). General co-Chair of the annual OnTheMove federated conferences and workshops covering many aspects of distributed and ubiquitous computing.

Founded the Semantics Technology and Applications Research Laboratory (STARLab) at VUB in 1995. Director of STARLab since. Current scientific interests include ontologies, database semantics, domain and database modeling, interoperability and meaningful use of databases in applications such as enterprise knowledge management, the Semantic Web, and community-driven computing in general.

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