Context and Objectives

Database systems have been one of the most successful applications of logic in computer science and also one of the strongest and most visible practical successes of computer science. The relational database model that forms the basis of products from IBM, Oracle, Microsoft, and many others, is deeply rooted in logic (the core of the standard database language SQL is essentially a programming syntax for first-order predicate calculus). Extensions of the last two decades, primarily XML and graph data models, are deeply rooted in logic too. For instance, the dominant language XPath is based on dynamic and temporal logics, such as PDL and CTL (these logics themselves originated in the field of verification of correctness of software and hardware). The key challenges of big data related to volume, incompleteness of sources, and variety of data models, require a new technical toolkit from logicians: this concerns efficient evaluation of formulae/queries, new modelling techniques for uncertainty, and new logical languages for different data models. UK expertise in logical aspects of computer science is long established and internationally leading, which is also reflected in the UK institutions selected to form the Alan Turing Institute. The aim of the proposed workshop is to scope areas of excellence that relate to logical foundations of data science, and to recommend future research directions and activities to be pursued within the Institute.