Name: OSSYM 2025 - 7th International Open Search Symposium
Start: 2025-10-08T08:30:00+03:00
End: 2025-10-10T17:20:00+03:00
Location: IT Centre for Science - CSC, Helsinki, Finland

OSSYM 2025 - 7th International Open Search Symposium

from Wednesday, 8 October 2025 (08:30) to Friday, 10 October 2025 (17:20)

Monday, 6 October 2025
Tuesday, 7 October 2025
Wednesday, 8 October 2025

08:30 Opening of Registration
Opening of Registration
08:30 - 09:00
09:00 Conference Opening: Opening Keynote
Opening Keynote
09:00 - 10:30
Contributions

09:00 Conference Opening & Opening Keynote

09:01 Welcome - Kimmo Koski (Managing Director, CSC IT Center for Science)

09:15 Welcome Address (pre-recorded) - Henna Virkkunen (Executive Vice-President Tech Sovereignty, Security and Democracy of the European Commission)

09:30 Keynote „Opening Keynote“ - Aura Salla (MEP)
10:30 Coffee Break
Coffee Break
10:30 - 11:00
11:00 Science Track: Architecture and Infrastructure I
Architecture and Infrastructure I
11:00 - 12:00
Contributions

11:00 Science Track "Architecture and Infrastructure I" - Session Chair: Jason Theodoropoulos (CSC – IT Center for Science)

11:01 Architecting the Data Storage for the URL Frontier for OpenWebSearch.EU - Noor Afshan Fathima; Andreas Wagner (CERN)

11:20 Extracting and Utilizing Structured Data from the Open Web Index - Laura Caspari; Michael Dinzinger; Michael Granitzer; Jelena Mitrovic (University of Passau)

11:40 Towards the Extraction of Location References and Topics from Semi-Structured Textual Data from the Open Web Index using Open-Source Large Language Models - Patryk Gadziomski; Magnus Pfeffer (HdM Stuttgart); Vanessa Rittlinger; Stefan Voigt (DLR)
12:00 Lunch Break
Lunch Break
12:00 - 13:30
13:30 Applications Track: "Retrieval Augmented Generation & Large Language Models"
"Retrieval Augmented Generation & Large Language Models"
13:30 - 14:30
Contributions

13:30 Applications Track "Retrieval Augmented Generation & Large Language Models" - Session Chair: Noor Afshan Fathima (CERN)

13:31 LLM-Assisted Expansion of Patent and Scholarly Literature Knowledge Graphs - Andre Rattinger; Christian Gütl (Graz University of Technology)

13:50 In-Browser Agentic Web: a Decentralized Approach to Information Access - Saber Zerhoudi; Michael Granitzer (University of Passau)

14:10 Assessing the Reliability of Human and LLM-Based Screening in Systematic Reviews: A Study on First-Time Reviewers - Elias Sandner, Igor Jakovljevic, Daniel Scharf, Andre Henriques, Andreas Wagner (CERN), Christian Gütl, Thomas Wautischar, (Graz University of Technology, Graz, Austria), Alice Simniceanu, Luca Fontana (WHO)
14:30 Coffee Break
Coffee Break
14:30 - 15:00

Guided tour at IQM Quantum Computers (optional / parallel to Coffee Break & start of next session)
Guided tour at IQM Quantum Computers (optional / parallel to Coffee Break & start of next session)
14:30 - 15:30
15:00 Science Track: "Search Applications and Technologies II": "AI Tools in Science"
"AI Tools in Science"
15:00 - 16:00
Contributions

15:00 Applications Track "AI Tools in Science" - Session Chair: Saber Zerhoudi (University of Passau)

15:01 Automating Systematic Reviews: API-Powered Bibliographic Data Retrieval Module for NeutrinoReview - Elias Sandner; Ivan Iličić (Graz University of Technology); Alice Simniceanu (WHO); Luca Fontana; Andre Henriques; Andreas Wagner (CERN); Christian Gütl (Graz University of Technology)

15:20 Using the Open Web Index to create new search applications for Research.fi - Jason Theodoropoulos; Joonas Kesäniemi (CSC – IT Center for Science)

15:40 Automating License-Aware Full-Text Retrieval for Systematic Reviews: An End-To-End Scalable System to Reduce Reviewer Workload - Dmytro Zhuk (University of Vienna); Elias Sandner; Igor Jakovljevic; Andre Henriques; Andreas Wagner (CERN); Christian Gütl (Graz University of Technology), Alice Simniceanu, Luca Fontana (WHO)
16:00 Workshop on Information Literacy: Workshop on Information Literacy
Workshop on Information Literacy
16:00 - 17:00
Contributions

16:00 Workshop on Information Literacy - Melanie Platz (University of Saarland); Carolin Bauer (Open Search Foundation)
17:00 Closing of Day 1: Closing of Day 1
Closing of Day 1
17:00 - 17:15
Contributions

17:00 Closing of Day 1
17:15 Evening reception at CSC: Evening reception at CSC
Evening reception at CSC
17:15 - 19:00

20:00 Optional afterwork meet-up (self-hosted)
Optional afterwork meet-up (self-hosted)
20:00 - 22:00
Thursday, 9 October 2025
09:00 Science Track: "Architecture & Infrastructure II"
"Architecture & Infrastructure II"
09:00 - 10:20
Contributions

09:00 Science Track Architecture & Infrastructure II - Session chair: Sebastian Heineking (University of Leipzig & WEBIS Group)

09:01 Large-Scale Graph Visualisation of Open Web Index and its Evolution in Time - Kateřina Slaninová; Pavlína Smolková (VSB – Technical University of Ostrava)

09:20 Expanding the Language and Cultural Coverage of Common Crawl - Pedro Ortiz Suarez; Greg Lindahl; Thom Vaughan; Sebastian Nagel (Common Crawl Foundation)

09:40 Efficient Session Search using Topical Index Shards - Gijs Hendriksen; Djoerd Hiemstra; Arjen P. de Vries (Radboud University, Nijmegen, The Netherlands)

10:00 Practical Guide to LLM Finetuning on LUMI Using Data From The Open Web Index - Emma Hintsala (CSC – IT Center for Science)
10:20 Coffee Break | Exhibition
Coffee Break | Exhibition
10:20 - 11:00
11:00 Keynote “The openness of knowledge data and its role in Future Search Solutions”: Keynote “The openness of knowledge data and its role in Future Search Solutions”
Keynote “The openness of knowledge data and its role in Future Search Solutions”
11:00 - 12:00
Contributions

11:00 Keynote: “The openness of knowledge data and its role in Future Search Solutions” - Harri Ketamo Founder & Chairman Headai
12:00 Introducing LUMI AI Factory (optional / parallel to lunch break)
Introducing LUMI AI Factory (optional / parallel to lunch break)
12:00 - 13:00

Lunch Break
Lunch Break
12:00 - 14:00
14:00 Applications Track Retrieval Augmented Generation & Large Language Models: Applications Track "Retrieval Augmented Generation & Large Language Models"
Applications Track "Retrieval Augmented Generation & Large Language Models"
14:00 - 15:30
Contributions

14:00 Applications Track: "Retrieval Augmented Generation & Large Language Models" - Session chair: Gijs Hendriksen (Radboud University)

14:01 Scientific Question Answering using Hybrid Retrieval Augmented Generation - Tobias Hecking; Roxanne el Baff (German Aerospace Center – DLR)

14:20 Adding Retrieval Augmented Generation to the MOSAIC Framework - Alexander Nussbaumer (Graz University of Technology)

14:40 Fusion of retrieval, grammar rules and decision trees for text generation - Engelbert Niehaus Walter Kühn; Svenja Müller; Engelbert Niehaus (RPTU)

15:00 Large models for small languages - Sampo Pyysalo (OpenEuroLLM)

15:15 Curation and preprocessing of training data for open European language models - Markus Koskela; Maciej Janicki (OpenEuroLLM)
15:30 Coffee Break
Coffee Break
15:30 - 16:00
16:00 Legal Session: Addressing legal challenges in Open Web Search
Addressing legal challenges in Open Web Search
16:00 - 16:40
Contributions

16:00 Addressing legal challenges in Open Web Search - Session chair: Kai Erenli (University of Applied Sciences BFI Vienna)

16:01 Legal challenges for the Open Web Index and Search Engine Use - Paul Christopher Johannes; Huda Koulani (University of Kassel)

16:20 Legal Aspects of AI training and Retrieval Augmented Generation - Charlotte Werther (Open Search Foundation); Paul Christopher Johannes (University of Kassel)
16:40 Social Science Track "Ethics & Society I": Social Science Track "Ethics & Society I"
Social Science Track "Ethics & Society I"
16:40 - 17:20
Contributions

16:40 Social Science: "Track Ethics & Society I" - Session chair: Roxanne El Baff (Bauhaus University Weimar, German Aerospace Center – DLR)

16:41 Knowledge Sovereignty in Disability Information Retrieval: Architecting Privacy-Preserving and Sustainable Infrastructure - Noor Afshan Fathima; Andreas Wagner (CERN)

17:00 Building the Open Web Search Community (And Keeping It Growing) - Ursula Gmelch (Open Search Foundation)
17:20 Closing of Day 2: Closing of Day 2
Closing of Day 2
17:20 - 17:35

18:30 Socialising Event – Allas Restaurants, Helsinki Sauna and swimming available at Allas Sea Pool
Socialising Event – Allas Restaurants, Helsinki Sauna and swimming available at Allas Sea Pool
18:30 - 21:00
Friday, 10 October 2025
09:00 Keynote: "Searching for Trust: Reflections on Epistemic Virtue Online"
"Searching for Trust: Reflections on Epistemic Virtue Online"
09:00 - 10:00
Contributions

09:00 Keynote: "Searching for Trust: Reflections on Epistemic Virtue Online" - Viivi Lähteenoja (Chief Executive Officer, The MyData Company & Doctoral Researcher at the University of Helsinki)
10:00 Coffee Break
Coffee Break
10:00 - 10:30
10:30 Industry Track: "Alternative Search Engines"
"Alternative Search Engines"
10:30 - 11:10
Contributions

10:30 Industry Track - Alternative Search Engines - Session Chair: Elias Sandner (CERN)

10:31 The children’s search engine fragFINN – best practice for a safe start online - Tanja Gottsmann; Maria Wiesner; Nadine Berneis; FragFINN.de

10:50 The economics of running an independent search engine - Michael I Lewis, Owner & Operator searchmysite.net
11:10 Science Track: "Ethics & Society II”
"Ethics & Society II”
11:10 - 12:10
Contributions

11:10 Science Track "Ethics & Society II" - Session Chair: Ines Zelch (University of Leipzig)

11:11 “Exploring Technoscience in the Public Sphere: Opportunities through Open Web Search “ - Emanuele Di Buccio (University of Padova)

11:30 "The Project KIsu: AI-based searching and finding – easy, inclusive, and self-determined" - Melanie Platz; Kristin Altmeyer; Mirella Hladky; Kerstin Reese; Lisa Schick; Verena Wolf (University of Saarland); Christine Plote (Open Search Foundation); Tanja Gottsmann; Maria Wiesner (FragFINN)

11:50 A Charter for Public Interest Internet Search - Alexander Nussbaumer (Graz University of Technology); Christine Plote (Open Search Foundation)
12:10 Closing of #ossym25 & Wrap-Up: Closing of #ossym25 & Wrap-Up
Closing of #ossym25 & Wrap-Up
12:10 - 12:30
Contributions

12:10 Closing of #ossym25 & Wrap-Up

12:29 End of Symposium
12:30 Lunch
Lunch
12:30 - 13:30