Important Dates

• Deadline for Posters & Lightning Talks: August 25th, 2025 September 15th, 2025
• Deadline for Session proposals: August 25th, 2025 September 15th, 2025
• Notifications: September 12th, 2025 October 3rd, 2025
• Confirmed outline of the sessions: October 10th, 2025
• Final program for the sessions: November 7th, 2025
• Symposium dates: December 08 - 10, 2025

The US2TS Symposium series is an emerging premier forum for fostering community between academic, industry and government researchers and practitioners in the US that develop or apply semantic technologies. The interest in semantics has been strengthened by the growing dependence on the Web and the continuously increasing importance of large-scale data sharing, integration, and reuse.

Semantics is an inherently multidisciplinary field that attracts engagement from a broad range of researchers and practitioners. Participants at the US2TS come from disciplines in computer science and engineering, natural sciences, geoscience, biology, library science, food science, biomedical and health care sciences, social sciences and the humanities, and many others. Discussions at the symposium cover core topics such as the Semantic Web, Ontologies, Knowledge Graphs, Linked Data and AI on the Web, Privacy and Trust, etc., as well as the intersection of such topics with areas such as the Internet of Things (IoT), Artificial Intelligence, and Blockchains.

This year, we welcome all kinds of topics related to semantic technologies, especially focusing on explainable AI, openness and reusability of semantic technologies.

Semantic technologies are at the forefront of developing explainable AI tools for domains such as law and science, delivering high-quality, trustworthy information to support AI decision-making. As large language models become increasingly widespread across fields, the need for explainable AI has become even more critical, particularly for users who may be unaware of the limitations of current AI systems (e.g., hallucinations and inaccuracies). It is timely and important to explore how the strengths of neural networks can be effectively combined with semantic technologies such as knowledge representation and symbolic logic.

One of the central themes for this year’s U.S. Semantic Technologies Symposium is openness and reusability of semantic technologies. As Semantic Web technologies continue to grow in importance across diverse domains—from biomedicine to environmental sciences to industry—the need for open, interoperable, and reusable tools has become increasingly important. Proprietary solutions and siloed development efforts limit the ability of researchers, developers, and practitioners to build upon each other’s work, slowing innovation and fragmenting the community. Emphasizing openness ensures that semantic technologies are accessible, extensible, and sustainable, while reusability promotes cross-domain applicability and long-term impact. By fostering a culture of open standards, open-source software, shared vocabularies, and best practices for interoperability, we aim to support the development of Semantic Web applications that are robust, transparent, and collaboratively built.

Call for Sessions

A session is any relevant activity that can fit into a 90-minute slot (you can also propose a session that takes more than one slot). Examples of sessions are:

• A panel discussion
• A series of presentations on a topic
• Breakout-style discussions on a proposed topic
• A tutorial, etc.

As the main goal of the Symposium is to foster synergies and collaborations from different fields, we recommend that:

1. At least 2-3 people, preferably from different institutions, propose the session. This is not a strict requirement, mostly a recommendation (if you have a good case for a different setting we will definitely take your proposal into account).
2. All session leaders are asked to confirm and commit to participate at the time of submission.
3. If your proposal already names speakers or panelists, you must state whether their participation is already confirmed.

We encourage session proposals about cross-discipline topics which are of concern for participants from existing sub-communities

Submission Guidelines

Please prepare a (max) 2-page submission indicating:

• Name of the session
• Topic: please indicate which cross-discipline topics the session will tackle. Here you can also specify if there is any particular vertical of interest (e.g. legal, life science, medical, publisher/scholarly data, cultural heritage, library, museum, oil/gas, engineering, airplane, e-commerce, etc)
• Type of session: Panel / Presentations / Break-out discussion / Tutorial / Other (please specify)
• Short description of the session
• The 2 or 3-person team (names & affiliations) that will lead the session
• Speakers(when applicable). It is strictly required to specify the speakers if you are proposing a panel, in which case they must be already confirmed.
• Expected participation (give a prediction of who would be interested in attending your session)
• Submit your proposal on EasyChair
• Symposium outcome
• After the Symposium we will invite all session chairs to co-edit a summary of the event, which will be formally published.

Call for Lightning Talks & Posters

Please submit an abstract (200–250 words) and keywords, indicating whether you are applying for a Lightning Talk or a Poster presentation.

Lightning Talks

We will have two Lightning Talks sessions. These will be an open forum where any of the participants can present on a chosen topic. Examples include:

• Late breaking research
• A position statement
• Blue sky ideas
• New datasets announcements
• Poster summaries

Submission Guidelines:

• Each presenter will have exactly one slide (PDF, landscape, 3:4)
• Each presenter will have 2 minutes (we might adjust the time slightly, according to participation, but at least 2 minutes)
• Presentation slots will be awarded on a first-come-first-served basis (submit early to avoid disappointment)
• Submit your talk using EasyChair.

Posters

Posters will be displayed throughout the conference. These will be an open forum where any of the participants can present on a chosen topic. Examples include:

• Late-breaking research
• A position statement
• Blue sky ideas
• New datasets announcements
• Paper summaries

Submission Guidelines:

• Poster maximum size - Coming Soon
• E-poster slots will be awarded on a first-come-first-served basis (submit early to avoid disappointment)
• Submit your poster abstract using EasyChair.

We look forward to your great contributions and participation. See you all on Dec. 08 - 10, 2025, Wright State University, Dayton, OH, USA.

Contact

All questions about submissions should be emailed to: us2ts-2025@wright.edu.