SWAT4HCLS 2023 in Basel, in Person

Breaking news!

SWAT4(HC)LS will be next year in Basel, Feb 13-16 2023.

More to come!

Announcing... SWAT4(HC)LS 202...1

This may not come as a surprise, as there has been no communication from SWAT during the past year. 

As a matter of fact we had already planned the logistic for the SWAT4HCLS 2020, when the pandemic imposed the first lockdown across the globe. We have been thinking a bit on whether to host a physical event or not and later, as the second wave hit,  whether to host an online event.

At the end uncertainty didn't play well for us, and we have decided that is best to skip one year... and announce directly the 2021 event, that will be hosted on Leiden (NL) in December.

If you miss some SWAT community, we may still hold a 1 day virtual hackathon. If you are interested, please register your availability and ideas here: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1jckv9Ot5MwRdG9o4pKeHho3L4T77wVijwS-rpX9_pp8/edit?usp=sharing

SWAT4HCLS 2019 CfP is out

CfP: SWAT4LS 2019

12th International Conference on Semantic Web Applications and Tools for Health Care and Life Sciences, 9-12th December 2019, Edinburgh, UK

http://www.swat4hcls.org/

For over a decade SWAT4HCLS has provided a venue where a vibrant and open community of researchers, developers, users and professionals from varied backgrounds have come together to discuss future targets, current limitations and real experiences in the use of semantic and web technologies in healthcare and life sciences.  

We invite submissions for the 2019 editions in all our topics of interest.

Dates

Full paper submission: September 9th

Posters and demo submissions: October 7th

Notification of acceptance: October 21st

Conference:

Monday, December 9th: Tutorials

Tuesday, December 10th: Main Conference, Evening: Conference dinner

Wednesday, December 11th: Main Conference

Thursday, December 12th: Hackathon

Confirmed Keynotes

Venue

Tutorials and conference will take place at Heriott-Watt University, Edinburgh

Organization

Jonas Almedia, General Scientific chair

Chris Baker, Agrisemantics track chair

Andra Waagmaseter, Open Data chair

Albert Burger, local chair, 

Andrea Splandiani, M.Scott Marshall: general chair

Andrea Splendiani, Adrian Paschke, M.Scott Marshall, Paolo Romano: SWAT4HCLS committee.

Topics

Topics of interest include, but are not limited to Semantic and Web technologies designed for, and applied, in Healthcare and the Life Sciences.

Semantic technologies and their application in healthcare and life sciences

• Knowledge representation systems in life sciences, medicine, healthcare and agriculture.
• NLP and text mining using semantic technologies.
• Methods and standards to improve discoverability and reusability of data repositories
• Semantic Querying, Data validation languages, Knowledge Graphs, Rule-based systems.
• Semantic workflow technologies and semantic web services applied in life sciences.
• Infrastructures supporting provenance, traceability, trust and reproducibility.
• Bridging semantics and analytics in the context of healthcare and life sciences
• Novel approaches to utilizing existing biomedical data without sharing it, e.g. bring the analysis to the data
• Deep learning and semantic technologies.
• Computing on knowledge graphs
• Data curation and cleansing pipelines and approaches

Resources

• New biomedical ontologies
• Open Data Integration and Interoperability
• Data repositories, integrated knowledge bases and data catalogues
• Gold data sets
• Biomedical ontologies, rules and medical standards for information exchange and interoperability.

Current challenges and experiences

• Application and impact of data standards applied in clinical practice, public health and agribusiness
• Empirical studies and evaluation of Semantic Web tools and applications in the life science domains
• Ethical issues, privacy and data governance in healthcare, agri, and medical data in Semantic Web
• Studies focussing on the adoption of Semantic Technologies by knowledge workers in life sciences
• Business models for as (semantic) data economy

New applications of semantic technologies

• Semantic infrastructures for person-centric healthcare data ecosystems
• Semantic approaches to data repurposing in healthcare and patient generated data
• Use of semantics to enable translational medicine, personalized medicine and precision agriculture
• Semantic scientific publishing in the life sciences, medicine and healthcare, public health
• Clinical Intelligence from Electronic Health Records (EHRs), patient data and clinical trial data
• Future directions for Semantic Web technologies in the life sciences and interdisciplinary fields. including water science, agro science, and veterinary science, biodivesrity, drug repositioning
• Harnessing linked data for Research Assessment/Monitoring and Evaluation

Types of submission

The following types of submissions for SWAT4HCLS 2019 are invited:

Long papers: 

• Research papers – Original research on a topic of interest to the SWAT4HCLS audience.
• In-use papers – New applications and tool descriptions addressing a topic of interest to the SWAT4HCLS audience.

Short papers:

• Position papers, application notes, discovery notes,. using Semantic Web applications and tools.
• Software demos – Present software and tools in action.

Industry talks (abstract only required):

• Industry Application: report on industrial applications or research. (Semantic Publishers, Pharma, Healthcare, Agribusiness)
• Data Challenge Showcase: Are you planning a Data Challenge and want to reach out to expert participants. Submit an abstract with details of your target goals, timeline and prizes.
• Open Innovation: Are you an life science company that with more data than you can analyse and want experts to help find new insights. Submit an abstract with details of your target goals, license agreements, timeline, publication policy
• Business Models: Business models that leverage semantically rich data (e.g. publishing companies, for-profit data providers)

Posters and Demos

Accepted workshop papers will be published in CEUR proceedings. We are working on a special issue covering selected SWAT4HCLS works from 2018 and 2019.

Instructions for authors

All submissions will be handled via the EasyChair submission system at https://easychair.org/conferences/?conf=swat4hcls2019 .

All papers and posters must be in English and submitted in pdf using the LNCS format http://www.springer.de/comp/lncs/authors.html .

Submissions for long papers must be a maximum of ten pages.

Submissions for short papers must be a maximum of five pages.

Submissions for posters abstract must be a maximum of two pages.

Submissions of industry abstracts must be a maximum of two pages.

Papers will be peer-reviewed by at least three members of the Scientific Program Committee.

Kickstarting SWAT4(HC)LS 2019 !

Is that time of the year...
Preparations for SWAT4(HC)LS 2019 are well underway.
We have finalised a venue, that will be in Edinburgh, Dec. 9-12 and we have defined the following timeline:

• Tutorial submissions deadline: June 15th*
• Paper submissions: September 9th 
• Poster submission deadline: October 7th
• Notification of acceptance: October 21st

From now one, expect a steady flow of news as the program develops!

*write at at info  @ swat4hls.org if interested

Updates from the SWAT4(HC)LS program: third keynotes confirmed and our Programme Committee.

We are happy to announce that we have confirmed our third keynote for this edition of SWAT4LS. Medha Devare will provide a keynote on "Spinning a Semantic Web for Agriculture". You can read more on her background on the SWAT4(HC)LS site.

We are also happy to announce the Programme Committee for 2018:

Andra Waagmeester Micelio, Belgium
M.Scott Marshall Netherlands Cancer Institute, Netherlands
Andrea Splendiani Novartis, Switzerland    
Naouel Karam Fraunhofer Institute, Germany    
Maxat Kulmanov KAUST, Saudi Arabia
Alejandra Gonzalez-Beltran University of Oxford, UK  
Arash Shaban-Nejad University of California, Berkeley  
Luca Toldo SAP, SE    
Hilmar Lapp NESCent, USA    
Adrian Paschke Freie Universität Berlin, Germany  
Clement Jonquet University of Montpellier, France
Holger Stenzhorn University of Tubingen, Germany  
N˙ria Queralt GRIB/IMIM/UPF, Spain
Olivier Dameron Université de Rennes, France  
Peter Robinson The Jackson Laboratory for Genomic Medicine, USA
Erick Antezana Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Norway
Jesualdo Tom·s Departamento de Informatica y Sistemas Universidad de Murcia, Spain
Albert Burger MRC Human Genetics Unit, UK  
Yasunori Yamamoto Database Center for Life Science, Japan
Atsuko Yamaguchi Database Center for Life Science, Japan
Robert Hoehndorf KAUST, Saudi Arabia
Matthias Samwald Medical University of Vienna, Austria
Katy Wolstencroft LeidenUniversity, Netherlands
Phillip Lord Newcastle University, UK
Melanie Courtot European Bioinformatics Institute, UK
Paolo Romano Ospedale Policlinico San Martino, Italy  
Adrien Coulet INRIA, France
Ernesto Jimenez-Ruiz The Alan Turing Institute, UK  
Jon Hael Brenas University of Tennessee Health Science, USA
Crawford Revie University of Prince Edward Island, Canada
Satya Sahoo Case Western Reserve University, USA  
Jin-Dong Kim Database Center for Life Science, Japan
Olivier Bodenreider US National Library of Medicine
Alasdair Gray Heriot-Watt University, UK    
Paul Groth Elsevier Labs    
Toralf Kirsten Interdisciplinary Center for Bioinformatics Leipzig, Germany
Michel Dumontier Maastricht University, Belgium
Toshiaki Katayama Database Center for Life Science, Japan
Jerven Bolleman Swiss Institute of Bioinformatics, Switzerland  
Matthew Lange University of California, Davis, USA
Pierre Larmande INRIA, France

SWAT4LS 2017 CfP is out

Call for Papers for SWAT4HCLS 2017

International Conference on Semantic Web Applications and Tools for Health Care and Life

Sciences (SWAT4HCLS) 2017,

Rome, IT,  4-7th December 2017

http://www.swat4ls.org/conference/rome2017/

Key dates extended:

Abstract and paper submission opens: July 28

EOI for tutorials:                                    Sept. 8

Paper abstract:                                      Sept. 22

Poster abstract and paper submission: Oct. 6

Notification of acceptance:                     Nov. 3

Conference:

Monday, Dec. 4:       Tutorials

Tuesday, Dec. 5:      Main Conference, Evening: Conference dinner

Wednesday, Dec. 6: Main Conference

Thursday, Dec. 7:     Hackathon

Confirmed Keynotes:

Carole Goble

(more to be confirmed)

The 2017 SWAT4LS international conference will provide the same open and vibrant environment that has previously brought together researchers, developers, and users, from many fields to discuss goals, current limits and real experiences in the use of Semantic Web technologies in health care and the life sciences. The next SWAT4LS will be held in Rome, IT, 4-7th December 2016.

SWAT4LS 2016 will be a tutorials day (4th), main conference (5th and 6th), and a Hackathon day (7th). Tutorials, conference and hackathon will be held at the CNR headquarters and other nearby venues.  

Topics of interest include, but are not limited to Semantic Web technologies in the following areas:

- Tools for the management and analysis of semantic data in the life sciences, medicine and health care

- The description, integration,  analysis and use of data in pursuit of challenges in the life sciences, medicine and health

- Semantically enabled tools for the life sciences, medicine and health

- Knowledge representation for biomedical knowledge bases

- Harnessing biomedical ontologies and terminologies with medical standards for information exchange

- Electronic Health Records (EHRs), patient data  and clinical trial data

- Enabling translational medicine and personalized medicine

- Semantic scientific publishing in the life sciences, medicine and health

- Rule based systems exploiting semantics

- NLP and text mining using semantic technologies

- Emerging technologies in Semantic Web, e.g. JSON-LD, graph databases

- Machine learning based solutions leveraging ontologies and semantic technologies

- Empirical studies and evaluation of Semantic Web tools and applications in the life sciences

- Related standards such as CDISC, HL7 and LOINC used with semantic technology

- Ethical issues and data governance in healthcare and medical data on Semantic Web

- Future directions for Semantic Web technologies in the life sciences

Types of submission

The following types of submissions for SWAT4LS 2016 are sought:

Long papers:

Research papers – Original research on a topic of interest to the SWAT4LS audience.

Software papers – New applications and tool descriptions addressing a topic of interest to the SWAT4LS audience.

Short papers:

Position papers, application notes, discovery notes or a short version of a long paper topic. using Semantic Web applications and tools.

Tutorials – Presenting teaching and learning material on a topic of interest for the SWAT4LS audience.

Software demos – Present software and tools in action.

Posters - An opportunity to present work in the area informally centred on a poster.

Industry – Abstract only required, describing industrial applications or research

Authors of accepted paper contributions to SWAT4LS 2017 will be invited to submit to a journal special issue.

All submissions will be handled via the EasyChair submission system

(https://easychair.org/conferences/?conf=swat4ls2017)

Instructions

All papers and posters must be in English and submitted in pdf using the LNCS format http://www.springer.de/comp/lncs/authors.html.

Submissions for long papers must be a maximum of ten pages.

Submissions for short papers must be a maximum of five pages.

Submissions for posters abstract only required up to a maximum of two pages.

Submissions for software demo proposals must be a maximum of two pages.

Submission

All submissions will be handled via the EasyChair submission system at the following link:

(https://easychair.org/conferences/?conf=swat4ls2017)

Papers will be peer-reviewed by at least three members of the Scientific Program Committee.

Organization Committee

Andrea Splendiani (Novartis NIBR, CH)

M Scott Marshall (Netherlands Cancer Institute, The Netherlands)

Adrian Paschke (Freie Universität Berlin and Fraunhofer FOKUS, Germany)

Albert Burger (Heriot-Watt University, UK)

Paolo Romano (IST National Cancer Research Institute, Italy)

Valentina Presutti (ISTC CNR, Italy)

Registrations to SWAT4LS 2016 are open!

Registrations to SWAT4LS registrations are open.
A full description of registration options is available at http://www.swat4ls.org/workshops/amsterdam2016/registration/


(direct link to the eventbrite registration form)

SWAT4LS and CIViC Variationa Curation Jamboree and Hackathon: synergies in Amsterdam!

This year SWAT4LS (http://www.swat4ls.org) and CIViC Variant Curation Jamboree and Hackathon (https://github.com/genome/civic-meeting) are both at the NKI in Amsterdam, only separated by the weekend.  This brings the opportunity for potential synergy, where content from CIViC  is curated and presented in a Semantic Web-ready format, which is then integrated with other resources on the Semantic Web at SWAT4LS.
Attendance at both events would certainly benefit from such a cross-pollination. To enable this, we cordially invite attendees of SWAT4LS to join the CIViC Jamboree and Hackaton and vice versa. Joining the CIViC Jamboree/Hackaton is free of charge. Attendees for the CIViC Jamboree get a 20% discount when registering for SWAT4LS events (discount codes will be distributed at the CIViC Jamboree and Hackathon).

SWAT4LS 2016: dates and location

The 2016 edition of SWT4LS will be held in Amsterdam.

The conference will take place on the 6th and 7th od December, while the 5th and 8th of December will be reserved for tutorials and hackathon.

We will soon communicate submission deadlines and the program.

Submissions are open, registration are open, updates on the program!

Submissions to SWAT4LS 2014 are now open, and registrations will open in the morning of September 1st.
Stefan Decker, director at the Insight Centre for Data Analytics, will join the current lineup of keynotes.
The preliminary list of tutorials now covers ontologies for HL7, natural language interfaces for the Linked-Data, rule systems, EMBL-EBI RDF resources and relational/rdf integration via ontop.

The Scientific Program for SWAT4LS 2013 is finally out!

The Scientific Program for SWAT4LS 2013 is now out and available here.
It is still provisional, and some minor variations are possible in the list of presentations.
Anybody interested in attending, please register asap! We may need to close registration ahead of time (or introduce a last minute price) to cope with logistics issues!

SWAT4LS Aftermath

Thanks to everybody attending SWAT4LS this year.

We had about 100 participants over three days of hackathon, tutorials and workshop, where we had four keynotes 10 papers, 9 position papers and about 14 between posters and demos (unfortunately problems with wifi created problems for the poster session).

The prize for the best paper, courtesy of BMC, went to Despoina Magka (Ontology-Based Classification of Molecules: a Logic Programming Approach). The Nanopublication prize (best idea) went to Tomasz Adamusiak.

We will post on our website the presentations for talks and tutorials. We will also prepare proceedings in CEUR and open a call for a BMC JBMS thematic series.

In addition, we welcome feedback on SWAT4LS, as well as ideas for its evolution.

SWAT4LS 2012 Special issue and new approach to peer review

Papers accepted for this year's SWAT4LS will be invited to submit revised and extended versions of their work to the BMC Journal of Biomedical Semantics (it will appear as a regular paper in the SWAT4LS/CSHALS thematic series, to be launched soon).

To foster the role of the workshop as a key venue for discussions and for improving the research quality, we are going to pilot a new review process by which participants' feedback on the workshop presentations will be considered as part of the formal review of an eventual journal publication. All participants will be invited to provide feedback using a review form after the presentations: this will be aken into consideration during the review process to improve the manuscript's quality.