12th Linked Pasts Symposium

The annual Linked Pasts Symposium brings together scholars, heritage professionals and other practitioners with an interest in Linked Open Data (LOD) as applied to the study of the ancient and historical world. All the activities taking place in the Linked Pasts are goal-oriented discussions and collaborations, instead of research presentations as is usual in a conventional academic conference. Activities and agendas are often proposed, developed and revised by all participants at the event itself. The Linked Pasts Symposium is a formal partner of the Pelagios Network.

The 12th Linked Pasts annual symposium (LP12) will be hosted in-person from 23–25 November 2026 by the CODA — Centre for Digital Culture and Innovation, at the University of Porto, and the COST Action Managing Artificial Intelligence in Archaeology (MAIA).

Contributions can relate to any application of Linked Open Data towards history, archaeology, culture and heritage, but this year we particularly welcome proposals for activities in the areas of:

• Semantic annotation

• Gazetteer and ontology development/alignment

• Data enrichment and reconciliation

• Knowledge Graphs

• Digital mapping and visualisation

• Working with uncertain or incomplete data

• Linked Open Data and AI
  – KG, Semantics and their combination with other relevant AI technologies
  – Transformer-based language models and their implications for LOD

• Discoverability and usability

• Sustainability, preservation and reuse

• FAIR and CARE principles

• Ethical and environmental impact

• Community building and collaboration

Important dates

Call for Sessions, Mini Demos & Posters: 1 July – 30 September 2026 (closed).
Notification of acceptance: 12-14 October 2026.
Registration: 19 October – 12 November 2026. Participation in the conference is free, but advance registration is required – Register Here.

Venue

Day-1 (23 November): Faculty of Arts and Humanities of the University of Porto – Via Panorâmica s/n, 4150-564 Porto [Map]
Day-2 & Day-3 (24-25 November): UPDIGITAL Building – Praça do Coronel Pacheco 15, 4050-453 Porto [Map]