Dame Wendy Hall

Web Science Trust

Dame Wendy Hall, DBE, FRS, FREng is a Professor of Computer Science at the University of Southampton, and is the Executive Director of the Web Science Institute.  She was Dean of the Faculty of Physical Sciences and Engineering from 2010-2014.   One of the first computer scientists to undertake serious research in multimedia and hypermedia, she has been at its forefront ever since. The influence of her work has been significant in many areas including digital libraries, the development of the Semantic Web, and the emerging research discipline of Web Science.  Her current research includes applications of the Semantic Web and exploring the interface between the life sciences and the physical sciences.

About the Web Science Trust

The Web Science Trust (WST) (http://www.webscience.org/) is a charitable body with the aim of supporting the global development of Web Science through a network of world class laboratories known as WSTNet. It is currently hosted by the University of Southampton.  The origins of the Web Science Trust can be found in the Web Science Research Initiative (WSRI) which was established in 2006.   The Trust works to support academia, business and government with informed views on the risks and potential gains of the Web through a clear agenda for Web Science research.   It provides advice/support for teaching Web Science curricula, evidence/support on government programs and initiatives relating to the Web and targeted projects on privacy, digital literacy and the curation and provision of Web data to support decisions via the Web Observatory initiative.

WST & RDA

WST is dedicated to supporting the vision of a data-centric platform for Web research and evidence-based decision-making  through the creation of a world-wide Web Observatory W3O which is open to all holders and users of research data. Working with the RDA we hope to make this interoperation between individual Web Observatories (WOs) holding globally distributed, diverse datasets simpler and more achievable. Both RDA and WST are passionate about the effective marshalling and re-use of data in a way which derives maximum impact and value from the underlying research.