Free ontology support helps researchers reuse and connect data

Researchers at the University of Groningen increasingly work with complex and diverse datasets across disciplines and systems. Making this data findable, understandable, and reusable requires more than good documentation. Researchers can now benefit from a national support service offered by the Thematic Digital Competence Centre for the Natural & Engineering Sciences (TDCC-NES), which provides hands-on expertise in ontology engineering to support projects across the Netherlands.

Making research data more meaningful and interoperable

As research becomes more data-intensive and interdisciplinary, ensuring that datasets can be shared, interpreted, and reused across domains is a growing challenge. Ontology engineering addresses this by creating structured, machine-readable descriptions of concepts and relationships within a research domain. These shared vocabularies allow both humans and machines to interpret data consistently.

By adopting ontologies, researchers can improve the interoperability of their data, one of the core principles of FAIR (Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, Reusable) research. This makes research data easier to understand, connect with other datasets, and reuse in future studies. Ontologies provide the foundation for building knowledge graphs, which allow data to be linked together and searched using clear, structured queries across different systems. Integrating knowledge graphs into AI applications leads to more accurate and grounded outputs.

From consultation to long-term impact

Two dedicated ontology engineers at the TDCC-NES provide tailored and practical support to research projects. Their services include:

• Selecting and reusing existing ontologies to align with established standards
• Developing new ontologies in collaboration with domain experts
• Implementing ontologies within research workflows and datasets
• Designing knowledge graphs and semantic architectures
• Providing training and workshops to build long-term expertise within research teams

Support is delivered through consultations, workshops, and follow-up recommendations, with a focus on practical outcomes. The aim is not only to solve immediate challenges, but also to equip research teams with the knowledge needed to continue independently.

How to use the service

Book a free meeting

Researchers can book a meeting with the TDCC-NES ontology engineers, either online or in person. No prior experience with ontologies is required. While the service is primarily aimed at the NES domain, researchers across all disciplines can engage with the service at any stage of their project.

Become part of the support programme

Are you working on a project with a clear ontology-related challenge? Apply to the TDCC-NES Ontology Support Programme by 10 July 2026.

The programme is aimed at projects that:

• Have a clear ontology-related challenge.
• Involve an engaged research team.
• Can be carried out within the 2026-2027 academic year.

• Produce outputs, preferably shared openly, that can be reused by others, including data, software, methods, ontologies, workflows, or lessons learned.

Selected applicants will be informed by 7 August 2026, with collaborations starting from September 2026, depending on the project’s scope, timeline and available capacity. 

_{The TDCC-NES ontology engineering service is available free of charge to researchers across the Netherlands, including those at the University of Groningen. The initiative is supported by Open Science NL as part of a national effort to strengthen research data infrastructure and interoperability.}