In line with the increasing adoption of semantic technologies for integrating agricultural data, GODAN sponsored the 12th International Conference on Semantic Web Applications and Tools for Health Care and Life Sciences, held from the 9-12 December 2019, in Edinburgh, Scotland.

Semantic Web Applications and Tools for Healthcare and Life Sciences is a platform for presenting and discussing novel ideas, experiences and issues in the application of semantic and Web-based technologies in the biomedical domain at large. For over a decade, these researchers have met annually to discuss and showcase the challenges that can be overcome by using semantic metadata, including agriculture. Using precise descriptions of data, known as semantic metadata, it is possible to build smarter applications for querying and visualization of open data.

For the second year in a row, GODAN hosted a panel discussion where Agri-semantics experts discussed the challenges of re-using Agri Open Data as well as where and how does semantics benefit end users of Open Data.

The panel of invited experts consisted of of Marie Angelique Laporte (Bioversity), Monika Solanki (Agrimetrics), Fernanda Dorea (National Veterinary Institute, Sweden), and Jens Hollunder (Bayer Crop Science) and was welcomed and introduced by GODAN's Chief Scientist Suchith Anand. It was moderated by Brett Drury who also ran a tutorial on The Agricultural Semantic Web and its role in Digital Agriculture.  

Full event details can be found here: 

http://www.swat4ls.org/ and http://www.swat4ls.org/workshops/edinburgh2019/agrisemantics/