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Biography

Dr. René Witte is currently an assistant professor within the Department of Computer Science and Software Engineering at Concordia University in Montréal, Canada, where he is heading the Semantic Software Lab. Previously, he worked at Universität Karlsruhe (TH) in Germany within Prof. Dr. Peter C. Lockemann's research group at the Institute for Program Structures and Data Organization (IPD). He also has more than five years of professional work experience in the IT and software industry. Dr. Witte received his Diploma (the German equivalent of a M.Sc.) in Informatics (Computer Science) in 1996 and his "Dr.-Ing." (Doctor of Engineering) in 2002, both from the Faculty of Informatics at Universität Karlsruhe.

Uni Karlsruhe

Current Research Interests

My current research focuses on the development of productive semantic systems and the applications of semantic technologies in software engineering. In particular, I work on topics intersecting the areas of software engineering, natural language processing (NLP) and text mining, semantic desktops, knowledge management, databases and information systems, and fuzzy systems. A particular emphasis is placed on research and development in close collaboration with domain experts, including diverse application areas such as building engineering, language engineering, biomedical research, information system engineering, and social science. Please see the Web page of my Semantic Software Lab for more information.

Related research interests include:

  • Ontologies and the Semantic Web, as well as related research in collaborative information systems, "Web 2.0/3.0", personalization, information retrieval, and online communities and networks;
  • Knowledge Representation, particularly the management of uncertain and imprecise information, the topic of my dissertation;
  • Free Software/Open Source related research: their licenses and development models;
  • "Techno-Political" issues, as well as their influences on research, development and deployment of IT systems, including: patents, copyright, DRM (digital rights/restrictions management), privacy, security, surveillance, biometrics, cryptography, and related topics.

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