Elena Simperl is a Professor of Computer Science and Deputy Head of Department for Enterprise and Engagement in the Department of Informatics at King’s College London. She is also the Director of Research for the Open Data Institute (ODI) and a Fellow of the British Computer Society and the Royal Society of Arts. Elena features in the top 100 most influential scholars in knowledge engineering of the last decade and in the Women in AI 2000 ranking.

She obtained her doctoral degree in Computer Science from the Free University of Berlin, and her diploma in Computer Science from the Technical University of Munich. Prior to joining King’s in 2020, she was a Turing Fellow, and held positions in Germany, Austria and at the University of Southampton.

Her research is at intersection between AI and social computing, helping designers understand how to build smart sociotechnical systems that combine data and algorithms with human and social capabilities. Elena led 14 European and national research projects, including recently QROWD, ODINE, Data Pitch, Data Stories, ACTION, and MediaFutures.

Elena’s interest in leading initiatives within the scientific community has also taken form through chairing several conferences in her field, including the European and International Semantic Web Conference series, the European Data Forum, and the European Semantic Technologies conference. She is the president of the Semantic Web Science Association.