Prof John Domingue

KMi Director

I am a Professor of Computer Science[1], Director of the Knowledge Media Institute [2], the OU's technology research and innovation centre, and the President of STI International [3], a semantics focused networking organisation. I have published over 280 refereed articles (h-index 57) in the areas of semantics, the Web, distributed ledgers and eLearning. My current work focuses on how a combination of blockchain and Linked Data technologies can be used to process personal data in a decentralised trusted manner and how this can be applied in the educational domain [4].

I serve as the leader of the first of five themes, on University Learners, for the 20M funded Institute of Coding [5] which aims to increase the number and diversity of computing graduates in the UK as well as enhancing the connection between university teaching and corporate training.

Since January 2019, I have played a leading role in the EU funded QualiChain project [6] which has the aim of revolutionising public education and its relationship to the labour market and policy making by disrupting the way accredited educational titles and other qualifications are archived, managed, shared and verified, taking advantage of blockchain, semantics, data analytics and gamification technologies.

Until February 2020 I was also a key player in the European Blockchain Observatory [7] supporting the European Commission on road-mapping the future of this technology in a number of key sectors.

February 2020 saw the start of a new EU project, DEL4All [8], where under my leadership the OU will aid in road-mapping how education will be transformed due to the impact of blockchains, AI, data and augmented and virtual reality technologies.

In 2017 my research in blockchains and education was referenced in the Joint Research Centre Policy Report Blockchain in Education for the European Commission [9]. Prof. Domingue has given many talks on his work including at the Royal Institution in 2018 [10] and at TEDx [11].

Very recently my focus has centred on our blockchain based platform could be applied for COVID-19 Anti Body Test and Vaccination certification which has attracted attention from the media [12].

Last year I became a Fellow of the British Blockchain Association [13].

[1] http://people.kmi.open.ac.uk/domingue/
[2] http://kmi.open.ac.uk/
[3] https://www.sti2.org/
[4] http://blockchain.open.ac.uk
[5] https://instituteofcoding.org/
[6] https://qualichain-project.eu/
[7] https://www.eublockchainforum.eu/
[8] https://www.del4all.eu/
[9] https://publications.jrc.ec.europa.eu/repository/bitstream/JRC108255/jrc108255_blockchain_in_education%281%29.pdf#page=66
[10] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5wwYDMdji3k
[11] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cPefcmWFWyM&t=6s
[12] https://blockchain.open.ac.uk/#covid-19
[13] https://www.britishblockchainassociation.org/fellowship

Keywords

KMi Director, Semantic Web, Ontologies, Linked Data, Semantic Web Services, Future Internet, Remote Experimentation, eLearning, eHealth, Data and Education

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Publications