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Local Members ECOR representative: Barry Smith Institute for Formal Ontology and Medical Information Science The Institute for Formal Ontology and Medical Information Science was founded in April 2002 as part of the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Leipzig utilizing a grant of the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation. It comprehends an interdisciplinary research group with members from Philosophy, Computer and Information Science, Logic, Medicine, and Medical Informatics. IFOMIS established itself as a center of theoretically grounded research in both formal and applied ontology. Its goal is to develop a formal ontology that will be applied and tested in the domain of medical and biomedical information science. In August 2004 IFOMIS moved its base of operations from Leipzig to Saarland University in Saarbrücken. IFOMIS Universität des Saarlandes Postfach 151150 D-66041 Saarbrücken Germany Secretariat Tel.: +49 (0)681-302-64770 Fax: +49 (0)681-302-64772   ECOR representative: Ulrich Nortmann Institute of Philosophy Philosophisches Institut Universität des Saarlandes Postfach 151150 D-66041 Saarbrücken Germany Secretariat Tel.: +49 (0)681-302-3324 Fax: +49 (0)681-302-4745   ECOR representative: Paul Buitelaar DFKI Competence Center Semantic Web The Competence Center Semantic Web (CCSW) is a research and development center within DFKI that coordinates cooperation between DFKI projects and departments on the development and use of Semantic Web technologies based on XML, XSLT, RDF Schema, OWL, rule languages and (semantic) web services. The focus is on distributed information management with Web-based standardized object representations, ontologies, and rule systems. CCSW considers the Semantic Web as a higher-level structure that emerges from a multitude of community specific semantic webs. DFKI GmbH Forschungsbereich Sprachtechnologie Stuhlsatzenhausweg 3 Building 43.1 D-66123 Saarbrücken Germany Secretariat Tel.: +49 (0)681-302-5282 Fax: +49 (0)681-302-5338   ECOR representative: Holger Stenzhorn Department of Pediatric Oncology and Hematology - Saarland University Hospital Universitätsklinikum des Saarlandes Klinik für Pädiatrische Onkologie und Hämatologie Kirrberger Straße Gebäude 9 D-66421 Homburg Germany Secretariat Tel.: +49 (0)6841-16-28397 Fax: +49 (0)06841-16-28302   External Members ECOR representative: N.N. Institute of Medical Biometry and Medical Informatics, University Medical Center Freiburg As part of the medical faculty, the Institute of Medical Biometry and Medical Informatics sees itself as being committed to the research of information processing in the health care system. Using formal methods and informatics concepts and adopting current information technologies, it supports the health care services, the patient care as well as the medical research and teaching in terms of evidence-based medicine (EBM). A dedicated group in the department focuses on research in biomolecular and biomedical ontologies on both a foundational and application-oriented level. Institut für Medizinische Biometrie und Medizinische Informatik Abteilung Medizinische Informatik Stefan-Meier-Str. 26 79104 Freiburg - Germany Secretariat Tel.: +49 (0)761 - 203 6702 Fax: +49 (0)761 - 203 6711 ECOR representative: Maurizio Ferraris Laboratory for Ontology, University of Turin The Laboratory of Ontology of the University of Torino (Labont) is a centre of study and research that is part of Center for Theoretical and Applied Ontology (CTAO). The basic aims of the LabOnt are three:   1) To promote studies and researches in ontology and metaphysics, especially those related to problems of theory application.   2) To improve the communication among different fields of research, through the setting of workshops and conferences on interdisciplinary issues.   3) To improve the cooperation between Labont and the industries. All areas of research provide necessary contributions to understand how we use our language and our concepts in relation to the world. In turn, this understanding turns to be fundamental each time we are engaged in finding a way to link concepts of a theory and entities dwelling the world. The outcomes of the LabOnt are spread across several collaborations with accademic and scientific pubblications. Laboratory for Ontology Department of Philosophy University of Turin Via S. Ottavio 20, 10124 Turin - Italy Secretariat Tel.: +39 011.670.3738 Fax: +39 011.812.4543   ECOR representative: John Bateman Bremen Ontology Group, University of Bremen The Bremen Ontology Group is a working group rooted in the Collaborative Research Center for Spatial Cognition (SFB/TR8) of the Universities of Bremen and Freiburg. The group combines contributions from computer science, formal algebraic specification and methods, linguistics, robotics and qualitative spatial reasoning. Ontology design and development is being pursued in three main areas: foundational issues of formalization and computational tools, linguistically motivated ontologies for the support of human language technology, and generic ontology modules for reasoning in spatially-aware agents. John Bateman Faculty of Linguistics and Literary Science (FB10) University of Bremen Bibliothekstr. 1 28334 Bremen - Germany Secretariat Tel: +49/421-218-3126 Fax: +49/421-218-4283   ECOR representative: Brandon Bennett Foundational Ontology Group, University of Leeds Within both the Artificial Intelligence and Geographical Information Systems communities, Leeds is recognised as a major international centre for research on Qualitative Spatial Reasoning. This achievement is built on the fundamental work of Professor Tony Cohn on Region Connection Calculus. The work has wide application. Its use in spatial information systems is being explored with commercial partners. Application to studies of high level vision, such as the automatic, intelligent analysis of video images, is under investigation. Part of the work in the group is devoted to Foundational Ontology. A resource is maintained for dissemination of ontological formalisms to support both foundational research and more practically oriented knowledge engineering developments. In addition, a particular foundational approach to formal ontology construction is promoted. Foundational Ontology Group Brandon Bennett School of Computing University of Leeds Leeds LS2 9JT, ENGLAND. Secretariat Phone: +44 (0)113-343 1070 Fax: +44 (0)113-343 5468   ECOR representative: Kevin Mulligan Centre for Ontology - Geneva The Centre for Ontology of Geneva has been created in 2004 by the concerted actions of persons involved in three different disciplines, but with a common understanding on the need to promote the development of better ontologies on sound formal bases. These disciplines are philosophy, biology and medical linguistics. The Centre for Ontology aims at:favouring the communication between its members, promoting the ontology building tools and techniques, developing an infrastructure for dissemination of information, applying for research funds, teaching ontology and knowledge representation. There are presently three entities represented in the Centre for Ontology: The Department of Philosophy at the Faculty of Letters; The Service d'Informatique Médicale at the Faculty of Medecine; The Swiss Institute for Biology.     ECOR representative: Christian Kanzian Austrian Centre for Ontological Research ACOR is a scientific centre established to improve the communication among philosophers working in ontology in Austria and other countries in Central Europe. The aims of ACOR are: to support young philosophers working in ontology to raise the standing and scientific quality of ontology as a branch of academic philosophy to advance the applications of ontology and to demonstrate its relevance to extra-philosophical disciplines The means to reach the aims include: the organization of high-level conferences and summer schools to bring together young ontologists with leading researchers the support of publications in the field of ontology via book series and other avenues the promotion of interdisciplinary projects, especially in cooperation with research institutes in areas such as biomedicine. ACOR Christian Kanzian University of Innsbruck Karl-Rahner-Platz 1 A-6020 Innsbruck Austria Secretariat Tel: +43/512/507-8527 Fax: +43/512/507-2736   ECOR representative: Ludger Jansen Arbeitsgruppe Ontologie (AgO) The "Arbeitsgruppe Ontologie" (AgO) at the University of Rostock connects the University's researchers in philosophy and information sciences with domain experts (e.g., from the life sciences) who want to use or develop ontologies. Members of the group work, among other topics, on biomedical ontology in general (both for clinical and for research applications) and on neuro-ontology in particular, on social ontology, on the modelling of temporal and modal concepts, and on the ontology of dispositions and events. AgO Rostock Ludger Jansen Institut für Philosophie Universität Rostock 18051 Rostock Germany