Frank van Harmelen
Frank van Harmelen is professor of Knowledge Representation & Reasoning at the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam. He earned his PhD in AI at the University of Edinburgh, working on meta-level reasoning and proof planning. Back in the Netherlands, he contributed to expert systems and the CommonKADS methodology. Since 2000, he has been a leading figure in the development of the Semantic Web, co-developing OWL and co-authoring The Semantic Web Primer. He also co-designed the Sesame RDF engine, which has seen wide adoption. He leads the Hybrid Intelligence Centre, a €20M, 10-year Dutch initiative focused on AI that collaborates with humans. Frank is a fellow of ECCAI, and a member of the Academia Europaea and the Royal Netherlands Society of Sciences and Humanities. His work bridges rigorous theory and impactful systems that shape the future of human-centric AI.