Nigel Shadbolt

{{Infobox scientist

| honorific_prefix = Professor

| name = Sir Nigel Shadbolt

| image = Professor Nigel Shadbolt.jpg

| honorific_suffix = {{post-nominals|country=GBR|size=100%|FRS|FREng|FBCS}}

| image_size =

| alt =

| caption = Shadbolt in June 2013

| birth_name = Nigel Richard Shadbolt

| birth_date = {{Birth date and age|df=yes|1956|4|9}}{{Who's Who | title=Shadbolt, Prof. Nigel Richard | id = U245873 | year = 2014 | edition = online edition via Oxford University Press|doi=10.1093/ww/9780199540884.013.U245873}}

| birth_place = London, England

| death_date =

| death_place =

| residence =

| citizenship =

| nationality =

| fields = {{Plainlist|

Artificial Intelligence
Web science
Semantic Web{{Cite journal | last1 = Shadbolt | first1 = Nigel| author-link1 = Nigel Shadbolt| last2 = Berners-Lee | first2 = Tim| author-link2 = Tim Berners-Lee | last3 = Hall | first3 = Wendy| author-link3 = Wendy Hall| doi = 10.1109/MIS.2006.62 | title = The Semantic Web Revisited | journal = IEEE Intelligent Systems | url = http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/262614/1/Semantic_Web_Revisted.pdf| volume = 21 | issue = 3 | pages = 96–101 | year = 2006 | s2cid = 7719423}}
Linked data
Open data}}

| workplaces = {{Plainlist|

University of Oxford
Open Data Institute
University of Southampton
University of Nottingham{{Cite journal | last1 = Shadbolt | first1 = N. | author-link1 = Nigel Shadbolt| last2 = Burton | first2 = A. M. | doi = 10.1145/63266.63268 | title = The empirical study of knowledge elicitation techniques | journal = ACM SIGART Bulletin | issue = 108 | pages = 15–18 | year = 1989 | s2cid = 16676321 }}}}

| education = Lady Manners School

| alma_mater = {{Plainlist|

}}

| thesis_title = Constituting Reference in Natural Language: The Problem of Referential Opacity

| thesis_url = https://hdl.handle.net/1842/8127

| thesis_year = 1986

| doctoral_advisor = {{Plainlist|

Barry Richards
Henry S. Thompson}}

| academic_advisors =

| doctoral_students = {{Plainlist|

Jeni Tennison{{cite thesis |degree=PhD |first=Jenifer|last=Tennison |title=Living Ontologies: Collaborative Knowledge Structuring on the Internet|publisher=University of Nottingham |year=1999|url=http://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/13382/

|id={{EThOS|uk.bl.ethos.285681}}|author-link=Jeni Tennison}} {{free access}}{{Cite journal | last1 = Tennison | first1 = J.| author-link1 = Jeni Tennison| last2 = O'Hara | first2 = K.| author-link2 = Kieron O'Hara| last3 = Shadbolt | first3 = N.| author-link3 = Nigel Shadbolt| title = APECKS: Using and evaluating a tool for ontology construction with internal and external KA support | doi = 10.1006/ijhc.2002.1000 | journal = International Journal of Human-Computer Studies | volume = 56 | issue = 4 | pages = 375–422 | year = 2002 }}

}}

| known_for = {{Plainlist|

Artificial Intelligence
Semantic Web
Open Data Institute{{Cite journal | last1 = Middleton | first1 = S. E. | last2 = Shadbolt | first2 = N. R. | author-link2 = Nigel Shadbolt| last3 = De Roure | first3 = D. C. | author-link3 = David De Roure| title = Ontological user profiling in recommender systems | doi = 10.1145/963770.963773 | journal = ACM Transactions on Information Systems | volume = 22 | pages = 54–88 | year = 2004 | s2cid = 9881462 | url = https://eprints.soton.ac.uk/258926/1/tois2004.pdf }}}}

| influences =

| influenced =

| awards = Knight Bachelor (2013)

| signature =

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| website = {{Official URL}}

| footnotes =

| spouse = {{marriage|Beverly Saunders|1992}}

}}

Sir Nigel Richard Shadbolt (born 9 April 1956) is Principal of Jesus College, Oxford,[http://www.jesus.ox.ac.uk/news/2014/july/election-of-next-principal Jesus College, Oxford. Election of Next Principal. 15 July 2014] and Professorial Research Fellow in the Department of Computer Science, University of Oxford. He is chairman of the Open Data Institute which he co-founded with Tim Berners-Lee. He is also a visiting professor in the School of Electronics and Computer Science at the University of Southampton. Shadbolt is an interdisciplinary researcher, policy expert and commentator. His research focuses on understanding how intelligent behaviour is embodied and emerges in humans, machines and, most recently, on the Web, and has made contributions to the fields of psychology, cognitive science, computational neuroscience, artificial intelligence, computer science and the emerging field of web science.{{Cite journal | doi = 10.1145/1364782.1364798| last1 = Hendler | first1 = Jim| author-link1 = Jim Hendler| last2 = Shadbolt | first2 = Nigel| author-link2 = Nigel Shadbolt| title = Web science: an interdisciplinary approach to understanding the web| last3 = Hall | first3 = Wendy| author-link3 = Wendy Hall| last4 = Berners-Lee | first4 = Tim| author-link4 = Tim Berners-Lee | last5 = Weitzner | first5 = Daniel| journal = Communications of the ACM| volume = 51| issue = 7| pages = 60 | year = 2008| s2cid = 17732407 | url = http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/266555/1/CACM.pdf| doi-access = free}}{{cite web|url=http://users.ecs.soton.ac.uk/nrs/publications |title=Publications | Nigel Shadbolt |publisher=University of Southampton |date=12 March 2014 |access-date=19 March 2014}}Shadbolt, Nigel and Hampson, Roger (2018), The Digital Ape, Scribe Publications, London, UK {{ISBN|978-1911344629}}

Education

Shadbolt was born in London but adopted and raised in the Derbyshire village of Ashford-in-the-Water, living a "bucolic existence" until he went to university.[https://www.ft.com/content/0d190350-5b46-11e3-a2ba-00144feabdc0 Data guardian Sir Nigel Shadbolt on privacy versus freedom], Financial Times, 6 December 2013, John Sunyer. He went to Lady Manners School, then a state-funded grammar school. He obtained an undergraduate degree in philosophy and psychology from Newcastle University, then received his Ph.D. from the Department of Artificial Intelligence at the University of Edinburgh.{{cite thesis|degree=PhD|publisher=University of Edinburgh|title=Constituting reference in natural language : the problem of referential opacity|first= Nigel Richard|last=Shadbolt|year=1984|id={{EThOS|uk.bl.ethos.370212}}|oclc=640172642|hdl=1842/8127}} {{open access}} His thesis resulted in a framework for understanding how human dialogue is organised and was supervised by Barry Richards and Henry S. Thompson.

Research and career

Shadbolt's research has been in Artificial Intelligence since the late 1970s{{Google scholar id}}{{DBLP|name=Nigel Shadbolt}}{{Scopus id}}{{Cite journal | title = An integrated trust and reputation model for open multi-agent systems | journal = Autonomous Agents and Multi-Agent Systems | volume = 13 | issue = 2 | pages = 119–154 | year = 2006 | doi = 10.1007/s10458-005-6825-4| last1 = Huynh | first1 = Trung Dong | last2 = Jennings | first2 = Nicholas R. | last3 = Shadbolt | first3 = Nigel R. | s2cid = 13150320 | url = http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/262593/ }}{{Cite journal | journal = IEEE Intelligent Systems | volume = 18 | pages = 14–21 | doi = 10.1109/MIS.2003.1179189 | title = Automatic ontology-based knowledge extraction from Web documents | year = 2005| last1 = Alani | first1 = H. | last2 = Sanghee Kim | last3 = Millard | first3 = D.E. | last4 = Weal | first4 = M.J. | last5 = Hall | first5 = W. | last6 = Lewis | first6 = P.H. | last7 = Shadbolt | first7 = N.R. | citeseerx = 10.1.1.201.1047 }}{{Cite journal | title = Eliciting Knowledge from Experts: A Methodological Analysis | journal = Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes | volume = 62 | issue = 2 | pages = 129–158 | year = 1995 | doi = 10.1006/obhd.1995.1039| last1 = Hoffman | first1 = Robert R. | last2 = Shadbolt | first2 = Nigel R. | last3 = Burton | first3 = A.Mike | last4 = Klein | first4 = Gary | url = https://eprints.soton.ac.uk/252301/1/El%2520Know%2520from%2520Exp%2520OBHD.pdf }} working on a broad range of topics; from natural language understanding and robotics{{Cite journal

| last1 = Elliott | first1 = T.

| last2 = Shadbolt | first2 = N. R.

| author-link2 = Nigel Shadbolt

| doi = 10.1098/rsta.2003.1250

| title = Developmental robotics: Manifesto and application

| journal = Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society A: Mathematical, Physical and Engineering Sciences

| volume = 361

| issue = 1811

| pages = 2187–2206

| year = 2003

| pmid = 14599315

|bibcode = 2003RSPTA.361.2187E | s2cid = 22396580

| url = https://eprints.soton.ac.uk/258899/1/transactions.pdf

}} through to expert systems, computational neuroscience, memory{{Cite journal

| last1 = Beagrie | first1 = N.

| last2 = Hall | first2 = W.

| author-link2 = Wendy Hall

| last3 = Hitch | first3 = G. J.

| last4 = Shadbolt | first4 = N.

| author-link4 = Nigel Shadbolt

| last5 = Morris | first5 = R.

| last6 = O'Hara | first6 = K.

| author-link6= Kieron O'Hara

| doi = 10.1098/rsif.2006.0125

| title = Memories for life: A review of the science and technology

| journal = Journal of the Royal Society Interface

| volume = 3

| issue = 8

| pages = 351–365

| year = 2006

| pmid = 16849265

| pmc =1578756

}} through to the semantic web and linked data.{{Cite journal

| last1 = Hall | first1 = W.

| author-link1 = Wendy Hall

| last2 = De Roure | first2 = D.

| author-link2 = David De Roure

| last3 = Shadbolt | first3 = N.

| author-link3 = Nigel Shadbolt

| doi = 10.1098/rsta.2008.0252

| title = The evolution of the Web and implications for eResearch

| journal = Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society A: Mathematical, Physical and Engineering Sciences

| volume = 367

| issue = 1890

| pages = 991–1001

| year = 2009

| pmid = 19087929

|bibcode = 2009RSPTA.367..991H | doi-access = free

}} He also writes on the wider implications of his research. One example is the book he co-authored with Kieron O'Hara that examines privacy and trust in the Digital Age – The Spy in the Coffee Machine.{{cite book |author=Kieron O'Hara |title=The Spy in the Coffee Machine |publisher=Oneworld Publications |location=Oxford, England |year=2008 |isbn=978-1-85168-554-7 |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/spyincoffeemachi00kier }} His most recent research is on the topic of social machines – understanding the emergent problem solving that arises from a combination of humans, computers and data at web scale. The SOCIAM{{cite web|url=http://www.sociam.org |title=sociam.org |publisher=sociam.org |access-date=19 March 2014}} project on social machines is funded by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC).[http://gtr.rcuk.ac.uk/person/DD984418-4B95-4136-9B9C-7BC27A968522 UK Government grants awarded to Nigel Shadbolt], via Research Councils UK

File:Wikimania 2014 - 19 Nigel Shadbolt.JPG]]

In 1983, Shadbolt moved to the University of Nottingham and joined the Department of Psychology. From 2000 to 2015 he was professor of artificial intelligence in the School of Electronics and Computer Science at the University of Southampton.

From 2000 to 2007, he led and directed the Advanced Knowledge Technologies (AKT) Interdisciplinary Research Collaboration (IRC).{{cite web |url=http://www.aktors.org/akt/ |title=AKT |publisher=Aktors.org |access-date=19 March 2014 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140220092329/http://www.aktors.org/akt/ |archive-date=20 February 2014 |df=dmy-all }} It produced a broad range of Semantic Web research, including how diverse information could be harvested and integrated{{cite web|url=http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/259084/ |title=CS AKTive Space: Representing Computer Science in the Semantic Web |publisher=ePrints Soton |access-date=19 March 2014}} and how semantics could help computers systems recommend content.

In 2006 Shadbolt was elected a Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering (FREng). He is a Fellow of the British Computer Society (FBCS) and was its President in its 50th jubilee year. That same year, Nigel Shadbolt, Tim Berners-Lee,{{Cite journal

| doi = 10.1038/scientificamerican1008-76

| last1 = Shadbolt | first1 = N.

| author-link1 = Nigel Shadbolt

| last2 = Berners-Lee | first2 = T.

| author-link2 = Tim Berners-Lee

| title = Web science emerges

| journal = Scientific American

| volume = 299

| issue = 4

| pages = 76–81

| year = 2008

| pmid = 18847088

| bibcode = 2008SciAm.299d..76S}} Wendy Hall and Daniel Weitzner, founded the Web Science Research Initiative, to promote the discipline of Web Science{{Cite journal

| last1 = Berners-Lee | first1 = T.

| author-link1 = Tim Berners-Lee

| last2 = Hall | first2 = W.

|author-link2 = Wendy Hall

| last3 = Hendler | first3 = J.

| author-link3 = James Hendler

| last4 = Shadbolt | first4 = N.

|author-link4 = Nigel Shadbolt

| last5 = Weitzner | first5 = D.

| title = Computer Science: Enhanced: Creating a Science of the Web

| url = http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/262615/

| doi = 10.1126/science.1126902

| journal = Science

| volume = 313

| issue = 5788

| pages = 769–771

| year = 2006

| pmid = 16902115

| s2cid = 5104030

| url-access = subscription}} and foster research collaboration between the University of Southampton and Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

From 2007 to 2011 Shadbolt was deputy head of the School of Electronics and Computer Science (ECS) at the University of Southampton, from 2011 to 2014 he was head of the Web and Internet Science Group, the first research group dedicated to the study of Web science and Internet science, within ECS, comprising 140 staff, researchers and PhD students.

His Semantic Web research led to the formation of Garlik,{{cite web |url=http://www.garlik.com/ |title=Garlik: A part of Experian |publisher=garlik.com |access-date=19 March 2014 |archive-date=14 April 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140414114015/http://www.garlik.com/ |url-status=dead }} offering identity protection services. In 2008, Garlik was awarded Technology Pioneer status by the Davos World Economic Forum and won the UK BT Flagship IT Award. Experian acquired Garlik in November 2011.{{Cite web|url=https://www.experianplc.com/media/news/2011/23-12-2011/|title=23-12-2011|website=Experian plc|access-date=27 April 2017}}

In June 2009 he was appointed together with Tim Berners-Lee as Information Advisor to the UK Government. The two led a team to develop data.gov.uk, a single point of access for UK non-personal Governmental public data.{{cite news|title=The Guardian 21stJan 2010|url=https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2010/jan/21/how-official-data-freed | location=London | first=Charles | last=Arthur | date=21 January 2010 | access-date=20 May 2010}}{{cite news|title=Guardian Data Blog 21st Jan 2010|url=https://www.theguardian.com/news/datablog/2010/jan/21/timbernerslee-government-data | work=The Guardian | location=London | date=21 January 2010 | access-date=20 May 2010 | first1=Tim | last1=Berners-Lee | first2=Nigel | last2=Shadbolt}} In May 2010 he was appointed by the UK Coalition Government to the Public Sector Transparency Board responsible for setting open data standards across the public sector and developing the legal Right to Data.

In December 2012, Shadbolt and Tim Berners-Lee formally launched the Open Data Institute. The ODI focuses on incubating and nurturing new businesses wanting to harness open data, training and promoting standards. In 2013, Shadbolt and Tim Berners-Lee joined the board of advisors of tech startup State.com, creating a network of structured opinions on the semantic web.{{cite web

|title = State.com/about

|url = https://state.com/about/people

|access-date = 9 September 2013

|url-status = dead

|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20160303192300/https://state.com/about/people

|archive-date = 3 March 2016

|df = dmy-all

}}

On 1 August 2015 he was appointed principal of Jesus College, Oxford and a professorial research fellow in the Department of Computer Science, University of Oxford. He is also a Pro-vice-chancellor without portfolio at the University of Oxford.{{cite web |title=University Officers |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20241208033158/https://www.ox.ac.uk/about/organisation/university-officers |website=University of Oxford |access-date=13 December 2024}} He will step down from his role at Jesus College in July 2026 upon reaching the age of 70.{{cite web |title=Principal, Jesus College |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20241213144246/https://www.minervasearch.com/current-opportunities/jesusox/ |website=Minerva |access-date=13 December 2024}}

= Appointments =

File:Nigel Shadbolt Royal Society.jpg admissions day in London, July 2017]]

2008–present: Director, Web Science Trust{{Cite web|url=http://www.webscience.org|title=Welcome to the Web Science Trust – The Web Science Trust|website=The Web Science Trust|access-date=27 April 2017}}
2010–2015: Chair of Local Public Data Panel, Department of Communities and Local Government.
2011–2014: Chair of UK Midata programme,{{Cite web|url=https://www.gov.uk/government/news/the-midata-vision-of-consumer-empowerment|title=The midata vision of consumer empowerment – GOV.UK|website=gov.uk|language=en|access-date=27 April 2017}} BIS,{{Cite web|url=https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/department-for-business-innovation-skills|title=Department for Business, Innovation & Skills – GOV.UK|website=gov.uk|date=12 September 2012 |language=en|access-date=27 April 2017}} appointed by the Minister of State. The Midata programme was an element of the consumer empowerment strategy put in place by the 2010-2015 coalition government.{{Cite web|url=https://www.gov.uk/government/news/next-steps-making-midata-a-reality--2|title=Next steps making midata a reality – GOV.UK|website=gov.uk|language=en|access-date=27 April 2017}}
2012–2016: UK Health Sector Transparency Board, DHS.{{Cite web|url=https://www.gov.uk/government/groups/health-and-social-care-transparency-panel|title=Health And Social Care Transparency Panel - GOV.UK}}
2013–2015: UK Research Sector Transparency Board,{{Cite web|url=https://www.gov.uk/government/groups/research-sector-transparency-board|title=Research Sector Transparency Board – GOV.UK|website=gov.uk|language=en|access-date=27 April 2017}} appointed by Minister of State
2013–2015: UK Information Economy Council, BIS, appointed by Minister of State{{Cite web|url=http://www.techuk.org/component/techuksecurity/security/download/1303?file=Note_of_the_1st_Information_Economy_Council_meeting_27_March_2013.pdf|title=Note of 1st meeting of the Information Economy Council|date=27 March 2013|access-date=17 January 2018}}
2015–2016: Chair, Shadbolt Review of Computer Science Employability{{Cite web|url=https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/518575/ind-16-5-shadbolt-review-computer-science-graduate-employability.pdf|title=Shadbolt Review of Computer Sciences Degree Accreditation and Graduate Employability}}
2015–2016: UK French Data Task Force, appointed by Chancellor of Exchequer{{Cite web|url=http://www.modernisation.gouv.fr/node/114334|title=Data driven growth: report of the UK-France Data Taskforce {{!}} Modernisation|website=www.modernisation.gouv.fr|language=fr|access-date=27 April 2017}}
2015–present: Member, HMG Digital Advisory Board. Appointed by Minister of State{{Cite web|url=https://www.gov.uk/government/news/digital-heavyweights-to-advise-government|title=Digital heavyweights to advise government – GOV.UK|website=gov.uk|language=en|access-date=27 April 2017}}

= Awards and honours =

{{Timeline-event|date={{Start date|2003}}|event= Won the 2003 International Semantic Web Challenge}}{{Cite journal|title=Web Semantics: Science, Services and Agents on the World Wide Web|volume=1|issue=4|pages=323–324|doi=10.1016/s1570-8268(04)00020-4|year=2004|last1=Sycara|first1=Katia|last2=Mylopoulis|first2=John|journal=Web Semantics: Science, Services and Agents on the World Wide Web}}
{{Timeline-event|date={{Start date|2004}}|event= IEEE Computer Society Meritorious Service Award}}{{Cite web|url=https://www.computer.org/web/awards/meritorious-service|title=IEEE Computer Society Meritorious Service Certificate|access-date=17 January 2018}}
{{Timeline-event|date={{Start date|2004}}|event= IEEE Computer Society Golden Core Award}}{{Cite web|url=https://www.computer.org/web/awards/golden-core|title=Golden Core • IEEE Computer Society|publisher=computer.org|access-date=27 April 2017}}
{{Timeline-event|date={{Start date|2009}}|event= Robert Fulton SEIKM Best Paper Award}}{{Cite web|url=https://www.ecs.soton.ac.uk/news/2711|title=New approach to industrial web applications wins award|access-date=11 January 2018|date=11 September 2009}}
{{Timeline-event|date={{Start date|2010}}|event= Demographics User Group Award with Tim Berners-Lee}}{{Cite web|url=http://www.d-u-g.co.uk/awards.html|title=DUG Awards|access-date=17 January 2018}}
{{Timeline-event|date={{Start date|2011}}|event= Oxford Internet Institute OII Internet and Society Award}}
{{Timeline-event|date={{Start date|2011}}|event= DSc Honoris Causi, University of Nottingham}}{{Cite web|url=https://www.nottingham.ac.uk/news/pressreleases/2011/july/summergraduation2011.aspx|title=Summer Graduation 2011 at The University of Nottingham|date=1 July 2011|access-date=17 January 2018}}
{{Timeline-event|date={{Start date|2013}}|event= Knighted in the 2013 Birthday Honours for services to science and engineering}}{{London Gazette|issue=60534 |supp=y|page=2|date=15 June 2013}}{{cite web | url = https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/206698/Birthday_Honours_List_2013.pdf | title = Birthday Honours List 2013 | access-date = 14 June 2013 | date = 14 June 2013 | publisher = HM Government}}
2014: Appointed EPSRC RISE (Recognising Inspirational Scientists and Engineers) Fellow{{Cite web|url=https://www.epsrc.ac.uk/newsevents/news/riseawards/|title=RISE Awards Announced – EPSRC website|website=epsrc.ac.uk|language=en|access-date=27 April 2017}}
2016: Elected first Jisc Fellow{{citation needed|date=May 2017}}
2017: Elected Fellow of the Royal Society (FRS)

Shadbolt was interviewed by Jim Al-Khalili on The Life Scientific on BBC Radio 4 in April 2015.{{Cite web|url=http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b05qgcgj|title=Nigel Shadbolt on the worldwide web, The Life Scientific – BBC Radio 4|publisher=BBC|access-date=28 April 2017}} In 2016, he delivered the Hinton Lecture of the Royal Academy of Engineering, entitled "Engineering the Future of Data".{{Cite web|url=http://www.raeng.org.uk/events/list-of-events/2016/november/hinton-lecture-2016|title=Engineering the Future of Data|date=24 November 2016|website=Royal Academy of Engineering|access-date=28 April 2017}}