This repository accompanies the 4th PMD Hackathon on Semantic Interoperability, taking place from 18 to 20 November 2026 ("from Lunch to Lunch") at the Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM) in Berlin-Steglitz.
The hackathon is organised within the context of the Platform MaterialDigital (PMD) and hosted by BAM. Its main focus is the collaborative further development, extension, and improvement of the PMD Core Ontology (PMDco), together with related topics and challenges concerning semantic interoperability in materials science and engineering.
The event provides an open platform for:
- collaborative ontology engineering and modelling;
- discussing and improving concepts and structures of PMDco;
- coordinating contributions from application and domain ontologies;
- developing semantic patterns and reusable modelling approaches;
- exchanging experience between ontology developers, domain experts, and interested newcomers;
- addressing concrete questions, use cases, and challenges contributed by participants;
- documenting decisions, results, deliverables, issues, and pull requests produced during the hackathon.
Participants are explicitly encouraged to bring their own topics, questions, and modelling challenges. These can be discussed and worked on together, drawing on the combined ontology and domain expertise of the group.
- Date: 18–20 November 2026
- Format: On site, from Lunch to Lunch
- Venue: Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin-Steglitz
- Address: Unter den Eichen 87, 12205 Berlin, Germany
- Host: Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM)
- Organisational context: Platform MaterialDigital (PMD)
The agenda is intended as a living document and may be adjusted during the event according to the topics and priorities identified by the participants.
The proposed working topics include:
- (Re-)organisation of processes and process classes in PMDco
- Modularisation of PMDco
- Development of a microstructure module
- Documentation and application of semantic patterns
- Resolving the SDC-bearer issue
- Coordination of concepts that may be uplifted from application or domain ontologies to PMDco
Additional topics and working groups may be introduced by the participants.
A dedicated Beginner's Workshop is offered especially for doctoral researchers at BAM and other participants who are new to ontologies and semantic technologies. The workshop provides an introduction to ontology fundamentals and practical work with Protege.
Registration for the Beginner's Workshop is handled separately by email: stefanie.blankenburg@bam.de
Registration for the main hackathon is available through the MaterialDigital event page:
Register for the 4th PMD Hackathon
The agenda and collaborative workshop protocol are maintained as a live HackMD document. Participants can use it to follow the current agenda and jointly document working groups, discussions, decisions, results, deliverables, and follow-up activities:
Open the live agenda and protocol on HackMD
A periodically updated snapshot of the protocol and further public resources are also collected in this repository.
Further information, downloads, and links are available on the bilingual event website:
- Platform MaterialDigital
- MaterialDigital on GitHub
- PMD Core Ontology repository
- BAM website
- Hackathon registration
- Live HackMD agenda and protocol
This repository is intended to collect public information and outputs associated with the hackathon. Participants may contribute documentation, presentations, diagrams, ontology-related results, links to issues and pull requests, and other materials created during or following the event.
For questions, suggestions, or corrections concerning this repository, please use the repository's issue tracker.