We are delighted to welcome outstanding keynote speakers to the HMC Conference 2026. Their perspectives will highlight how metadata moves from concept to impact, addressing key challenges and opportunities across research, infrastructures, and scientific communities. On this page, you will find more information about our confirmed keynote speakers and the ideas they will bring to the conference.
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Dr. Marta Teparek |
With a background in molecular biology (UCambridge) and extensive experience establishing data stewardship programmes and open research strategies, Marta is widely recognised for her leadership in transforming FAIR and open science principles into sustainable practice across research institutions.
In her keynote, Marta will address how research cultures, infrastructures, and policy frameworks can evolve to strengthen metadata quality and enable FAIR data. Drawing on her international work in professionalising data stewardship and coordinating community-driven initiatives, she will discuss how funders, research organisations, and multidisciplinary teams can collaborate to embed FAIR workflows, improve interoperability, and foster more transparent and trustworthy research. Her talk will offer a forward-looking perspective on how the research ecosystem can harness metadata as a driver for both scientific excellence and cultural change.
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Dr. Jan Portisch |
With a background in data science and over a decade of experience at SAP, Jan Portisch is widely recognised for his work on knowledge graphs, data integration, and AI-driven enterprise solutions. As Head of Content Infrastructure in SAP SE’s Global Content Group, he leads teams developing large-scale knowledge infrastructures that translate advanced research into practical impact.
In his keynote, Jan Portisch will explore the construction and operationalisation of RDF knowledge graphs in complex corporate environments. Drawing on extensive experience in integrating heterogeneous and evolving data sources, he will discuss architectural choices, practical strategies, and common challenges in building enterprise-scale knowledge graphs. The talk will also highlight how such knowledge graphs can support AI applications by improving semantic grounding, robustness, and explainability, and will provide an outlook on neuro-symbolic AI as a bridge between statistical learning and symbolic reasoning.
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Prof. Dr. Oliver Stegle |
Oliver Stegle is Director and Co-Spokesperson of the German Human Genome-Phenome Archive (GHGA), a national omics data infrastructure initiative within the German National Research Data Infrastructure (NFDI) that enables secure, FAIR-aligned use of human genomic and phenomic data for research. He also leads the Computational Genomics and Systems Genetics Division at the German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ) and holds a research leadership role at the European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL) in Heidelberg.
In his keynote, Prof. Stegle will bring the perspective of scientific infrastructure to the theme of “Metadata in Action,” reflecting on how robust infrastructure — from secure data archives to scalable computational ecosystems — underpins effective metadata practices and enables cutting-edge science. Drawing on his experience building and coordinating GHGA and related initiatives that integrate data workflows, governance, and interoperability across institutions, he will discuss how infrastructures can make metadata more actionable, drive reproducible research, and support interdisciplinary collaboration in the era of large-scale genomics and biomedicine
