FAIR enough: Semantic Web 101
HMC FAIR Friday
Speaker: Robert Ulrich, Karlsruher Institute for Technology (KIT)
Title: FAIR enough: Semantic Web 101
Date: Friday, 14 November 2025, 10 am
The Semantic Web provides a foundation for transforming the web from a collection of documents into a web of linked data, enabling machines to understand, integrate, and reason over information. This talk briefly introduces the core concepts of the Semantic Web, including RDF, RDFS, OWL, and SPARQL, and illustrates how these standards constitute a complete stack.
Building on these fundamentals, we explore how Semantic Web technologies support the FAIR Data Principles, making data Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, and Reusable. Practical examples such as linked open data, vocabularies, and metadata standards (e.g. DCAT) demonstrate how semantic technologies enhance data quality, integration, and discoverability across platforms.
The first part of the talk will give a basic overview about how those technologies allow knowledge to be modeled as interoperable, machine-readable graphs, breaking up information silos and constituting a web of data. The second part will showcase the practical application of the Semantic Web in creating a FAIR research data ecosystem. It will give insights into the pilot built and tested with the community within the EOSC FAIR-IMPACT project
Participants new to semantic technologies will gain an initial understanding of both the conceptual design and technical implementation of a web of data.
About the speaker: Robert Ulrich works at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) for the KIT Library. As a member of RDM@KIT he helps to structure and coordinate activities concerning the research data management (RDM). With a small team and international support, he leads the international service re3data in his role as Co-Chair and IT specialist. He also contributes to shaping the service landscape and processes for RDM and supports scientists in all stages of the research data lifecycle. Before he joined the KIT, he worked more than 5 years with semantic technologies like Semantic Media Wiki and cooperated with the Institute of Applied Informatics and Formal Description Methods (AIFB) at the KIT. He is a member of the RDA, RDA-DE, AK-FDM-BW, DataHub Earth and Environmental Sciences, nestor drafting group 'Processes and Criteria for the Evaluation of Research Data' and other research data related networks
Registration open until 14. November 2025, 09:45 am: https://events.hifis.net/event/2862
(For organizational reasons, we cannot guarantee participation for registrations after 09:45 am)
The Helmholtz Metadata Collaboration (HMC) invites you to engage in an exciting series of talks on FAIR Data through the HMC FAIR Friday lecture series. Renowned experts from around the world will present key aspects of FAIR data, offering deep dives into the topic and sparking discussions on best practices and new perspectives. HMC FAIR Friday is aimed at professionals in research data management as well as researchers from all disciplines of the Helmholtz Association and beyond, who want to learn more about the importance and implementation of FAIR principles.
