Sprecher
Beschreibung
This contribution presents Semantic x-Lab, a joint Helmholtz project that investigates semantic search and knowledge discovery based on ontology-driven descriptions of laboratory workflows, resources, and research data. The work addresses a common challenge across Helmholtz centers and beyond: while substantial metadata is collected in proposal and publication systems as well as in platforms describing experimental processes and workflows, this information is distributed across heterogeneous and often isolated systems. At the same time, metadata standards have emerged to improve provenance information of research outcomes and to describe methods and experimental steps in a structured manner. However, the lack of semantic integration across systems limits cross-domain exploration and reuse. Semantic x-Lab tackles this challenge by interlinking existing metadata sources and enhancing them in a shared semantic context.
The central outcome of the project is a distributed knowledge graph that enables information to be explored across institutional, system, and disciplinary boundaries. By relating workflows, resources, and data semantically, the approach supports the discovery of connections and knowledge that were previously considered unrelated or confined to specific research contexts. The knowledge graph is developed in a user-centered co-design process involving software developers and use-case partners from laboratories, large-scale facilities, and multiple research domains, ensuring both technical soundness and practical relevance.
Semantic x-Lab is a collaboration between the Helmholtz centers HZDR, GFZ, and GSI and is funded within the HMC Project Cohort 2024. The contribution outlines the project’s motivation, conceptual approach, and current status, and illustrates its potential for semantic search and cross-domain knowledge discovery within Helmholtz research.
| Alternative Track | 8. Semantics in Practice: Domain & Application Ontologies |
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