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Prof Peter Wood

Positions held:
  • Professor of Computer Science, School of Computing and Mathematical Sciences
Email
  • Overview

    Overview

    Biography

    I obtained my BSc and MSc in Computer Science from the University of Cape Town (UCT). I then worked for the Institute for Applied Computer Science at the University of Stellenbosch for 18 months, before leaving for the University of Toronto where I obtained a PhD in Computer Science in 1989. I subsequently spent 9 years as a member of the Department of Computer Science at UCT, before joining the Department of Computer Science at King's College London in 1998. I moved to 糖心logo入口 in 2001.

    Highlights

    • The work arising from my PhD has been recognised as providing the foundation for one of聽the major components used in current, recently standardised query languages for graph databases.

    Administrative responsibilities

    • Postgraduate Education Lead for Computing and Mathematical Sciences

    Professional memberships

    • Member of the Association for Computing Machinery since 1981

    ORCID

  • Research

    Research

    Research interests

    • Data management
    • Data querying
    • Query optimisation
    • Graph databases

    Research overview

    My main interest has always been in languages for querying data: their design, computational complexity and optimisation. The topic of my PhD was , an area which has seen renewed interest over the past couple of decades with the advent of the semantic web and social networks. Other areas I have worked on in the past include XML querying, active rule languages (similar to database triggers), deductive rule languages (e.g. Datalog), and compression techniques for XML.

    More recently, I have worked on relational query optimisation when selectivity information is uncertain, flexible querying for SPARQL (the semantic web query language) and Cypher (the Neo4j graph query language), query rewriting in description logic, and similarity measures for relational queries.

    Research Centres and Institutes

    • ,
    • ,

    Research clusters and groups

    Research projects

    Museum closure in the UK 2000-2025.

    Post doctoral staff

    • Val Katerinchuk
    • George Wright
  • Supervision and teaching

    Supervision and teaching

    Teaching

    Teaching modules

    • Advances in Data Management
    • Internet and Web Technologies
  • Publications

    Publications

    Article

    • Liebenrood, Mark and Wright, George and Candlin, Fiona and Poulovassilis, Alex and Ballatore, Andrea and Wood, Peter (2026) . Journal of Open Humanities Data 12, ISSN 2059-481X.
    • Wright, George and Ballatore, Andrea and Poulovassilis, Alex and Wood, Peter (2026) . ACM Journal on Computing and Cultural Heritage ISSN 1556-4673.
    • Liebenrood, Mark and Ballatore, Andrea and Candlin, Fiona and Larkin, Jamie and Poulovassilis, Alex and Wood, Peter (2026) . Curator: The Museum Journal ISSN 2151-6952.
    • Dimartino, Mirko Michele and Wood, Peter and Cali, Andrea and Poulovassilis, Alex (2025) . Journal of Artificial Intelligence Research 82, pp. 851-899. ISSN 1076-9757.
    • Helmer, S. and Wood, Peter and Stuefer, M. (2025) . International Journal of Semantic Computing ISSN 1793-351X.
    • Conway-Moore, K. and Testa Tata, D. and Wood, Peter and Katerinchuk, Val and Yadav, D. and Augustine, L.F. and Munikumar, M. and Diop, A. and Tairou, F. and Jobarteh, M.L. and Kulkarni, B. and Faye, B. and Haggarty, P. and Heffernan, C. (2024) . BMJ Paediatrics Open 8 (S1), ISSN 2399-9772.
    • Ballatore, Andrea and Katerinchuk, Val and Poulovassilis, Alex and Wood, Peter (2023) . ACM Journal on Computing and Cultural Heritage ISSN 1556-4673.
    • Frosini, Riccardo and Poulovassilis, Alex and Wood, Peter and Cal矛, Andrea (2022) . ACM Transactions on the Web 16 (4), pp. 1-44. ISSN 1559-1131.
    • Poulovassilis, Alexandra and Selmer, Petra and Wood, Peter T. (2016) . Web Semantics: Science, Services and Agents on the World Wide Web 40, pp. 1-21. ISSN 1570-8268.
    • Papamarkos, G. and Poulovassilis, Alex and Wood, Peter (2006) . Computer Networks 50 (10), pp. 1513-1532. ISSN 1389-1286.
    • Bailey, J. and Poulovassilis, Alex and Wood, Peter (2002) . Computer Networks 39 (3), pp. 239-259. ISSN 1389-1286.
    • Nedev, Z.P. and Wood, Peter (2000) . Journal of Algorithms 35 (2), pp. 235-259. ISSN 0196-6774.
    • Mendelzon, A.O. and Wood, Peter (1995) . SIAM Journal on Computing 24 (6), pp. 1235-1258. ISSN 0097-5397.
    • Mendelzon, A.O. and Wood, Peter (1991) . ACM Transactions on Database Systems 16 (1), pp. 33-51. ISSN 0362-5915.
    • Schach, S.R. and Wood, Peter (1986) . Journal of Software: Practice and Experience 16 (3), pp. 243-268. ISSN 1097-024X.
    • Dunman, B.R. and Schach, S.R. and Wood, Peter (1982) . Journal of Software: Practice and Experience 12 (1), pp. 85-89. ISSN 1097-024X.

    Book

    • Cal矛, Andrea and Wood, Peter T. and Martin, Nigel and Poulovassilis, Alexandra, eds. (2017) . Lecture Notes in Computer Science. 10365, Springer. ISSN 0302-9743. ISBN 9783319607948.

    Book section

    • Frosini, Riccardo (2017) . In: Cal矛, Andrea and Wood, Peter T. and Martin, Nigel and Poulovassilis, Alexandra (eds.) Data Analytics. Lecture Notes in Computer Science. Springer. pp. 106-110. ISSN 0302-9743. ISBN 9783319607948.
    • Dimartino, Mirko and Cal矛, Andrea and Poulovassilis, Alexandra and Wood, Peter T. (2016) . In: Ortiz, M. and Schlobach, S. (eds.) Web Reasoning and Rule Systems: 10th International Conference, RR 2016, Aberdeen, UK, September 9-11, 2016, Proceedings. Lecture Notes in Computer Science. New York, U.S.: Springer. pp. 61-76. ISBN 9783319452753.
    • Jaber, M. and Wood, Peter T. and Papapetrou, Panagiotis and Gonzalez-Marcos, A. (2016) . In: Data Science and Advanced Analytics (DSAA), 2016 IEEE International Conference on. New York, U.S.: IEEE Computer Society. pp. 370-378. ISBN 9781509052066.
    • Dimartino, Mirko and Cal矛, Andrea and Poulovassilis, Alexandra and Wood, Peter T. (2015) . In: Maneth, S. (ed.) Data Science. Lecture Notes in Computer Science. New York, U.S.: Springer. pp. 41-45. ISSN 0302-9743. ISBN 9783319204239.
    • Montazerian, M. and Wood, Peter and Mousavi, S.R. (2007) . In: Barbosa, D. and Bonifati, A. and Bellahsene, Z. and Hunt, E. and Unland, R. (eds.) XSym 2007: Database and XMLTechnologies, 5th International XML Database Symposium. Lecture Notes in Computer Science. Springer. pp. 17-30. ISBN 9783540752875.
    • Poulovassilis, Alex and Papamarkos, G. and Wood, Peter (2006) . In: Grust, T. and Hopfner, H. and Illarramendi, A. and Jablonski, S. and Mesiti, M. and Muller, S. and Patranjan, P.-L. and Sattler, K.-U. and Spiliopoulou, M. and Wijsen, J. (eds.) EDBT 2006: current trends in database technology. Lecture Notes in Computer Science. Springer. pp. 855-864. ISBN 9783540467908.
    • Hurtado, C.A. and Poulovassilis, Alex and Wood, Peter (2006) . In: Cruz, I.F. and Decker, S. and Allemang, D. and Preist, C. and Schwabe, D. and Mika, P. and Uschold, M. and Aroyo, L. (eds.) ISWC 2006: The Semantic Web. Lecture Notes in Computer Science. Springer. pp. 314-328. ISBN 9783540490296.
    • Keenoy, K. and Poulovassilis, Alex and Christophides, V. and Rigaux, P. and Papamarkos, G. and Magkanaraki, A. and Stratakis, M. and Spyratos, N. and Wood, Peter (2004) . In: Koch, N. and Fraternali, P. and Wirsing, M. (eds.) ICWE 2004: Web Engineering. Lecture Notes in Computer Science. Springer. pp. 215-219. ISBN 9783540225119.
    • Papamarkos, G. and Poulovassilis, Alex and Wood, Peter (2004) . In: Levene, Mark and Poulovassilis, Alex (eds.) Proceedings of the Third International Workshop on Web Dynamics. CEUR Workshop Proceedings. CEUR-WS.org. pp. 62-75.
    • Bailey, J. and Papamarkos, G. and Poulovassilis, Alex and Wood, Peter (2004) . In: Levene, Mark and Poulovassilis, Alex (eds.) Web Dynamics: Adapting to Change in Content, Size, Topology and Use. Springer. pp. 223-248. ISBN 9783642073779.
    • Wood, Peter (2003) . In: Calvanese, D. and Lenzerini, M. and Motwani, R. (eds.) ICDT 2003: Database Theory. Lecture Notes in Computer Science. Springer. pp. 297-311. ISBN 9783540003236.
    • Papamarkos, G. and Poulovassilis, Alex and Wood, Peter (2003) . In: Cruz, I.F. and Kashyap, V. and Decker, S. and Eckstein, R. (eds.) SWDB 03: The first International Workshop on Semantic Web and Databases. SWDB. pp. 309-327.
    • Bailey, J. and Poulovassilis, Alex and Wood, Peter (2002) . In: Lassner, D. and De Roure, D. and Iyengar, A. (eds.) WWW 2002: Proceedings of the Eleventh International World Wide Web Conference. Association for Computing Machinery. pp. 486-495. ISBN 9781581134490.
    • Wood, Peter (2001) . In: Mecca, G. and Simeon, J. (eds.) WebDB 2001: Proceedings of the Fourth International Workshop on the Web and Databases. WebDB. pp. 13-18.
    • Wood, Peter (2000) . In: Lings, B. and Jeffery, K.G. (eds.) BNCOD 17: Advances in Databases. Lecture Notes in Computer Science. Springer. pp. 209-226. ISBN 9783540677437.
    • Wood, Peter (2000) . In: Lloyd, J.W. and Dahl, V. and Furbach, U. and Kerber, M. and Lau, K.-K. and Palamidessi, C. and Pereira, L.M. and Sagiv, Y. and Stuckey, P.J. (eds.) CL 2000: Computational Logic. Lecture Notes in Computer Science. Springer. pp. 1152-1166. ISBN 9783540449577.
    • Wood, Peter (1999) . In: Shahabi, C. (ed.) CIKM 99: 2nd Workshop on Web Information and Data Management. Association for Computing Machinery. pp. 28-32. ISBN 9781581132212.
    • Welz, M.G. and Wood, Peter (1998) . In: Embury, S.M. and Fiddian, N.J. and Gray, W.A. and Jones, A.C. (eds.) BNCOD 16: Advances in Databases. Lecture Notes in Computer Science. Springer. pp. 169-170. ISBN 9783540646594.
    • Welz, M.G. and Wood, Peter (1998) . In: Quirchmayr, G. and Schweighofer, E. and Bench-Capon, T.J.M. (eds.) DEXA 98: Database and Expert Systems Applications. Lecture Notes in Computer Science. Springer. pp. 658-667. ISBN 9783540649502.
    • Chavda, M. and Wood, Peter (1997) . In: Proceedings of the 1997 IEEE Symposium on Visual Languages. IEEE Computer Society. pp. 125-126. ISBN 9780818681446.
    • Chavda, M. and Wood, Peter (1997) . In: Jarke, M. and Carey, M.J. and Dittrich, K.R. and Lochovsky, F.H. and Loucopoulos, P. and Jeusfeld, M.A. (eds.) VLDB 97: Proceedings of 23rd International Conference on Very Large Data Bases. Morgan Kaufmann. pp. 456-465. ISBN 9781558604707.
    • Wood, Peter (1995) . In: Yannakakis, M. and Abiteboul, S. (eds.) Proceedings of the Fourteenth ACM SIGACT-SIGMOD-SIGART Symposium on Principles of Database Systems. Association for Computing Machinery. pp. 174-183. ISBN 9780897917308.
    • Consens, M.P. and Mendelzon, A.O. and Vista, D. and Wood, Peter (1995) . In: Sellis, T. (ed.) RIDS 95: Rules in Database Systems. Lecture Notes in Computer Science. Springer. pp. 245-259. ISBN 9783540603658.
    • Vista, D. and Wood, Peter (1993) . In: Ramakrishnan, R. (ed.) Proceedings of the Workshop on Programming with Logic Databases, in Conjunction with ILPS. University of Wisconsin. pp. 44-59.
    • Vista, D. and Wood, Peter (1993) . In: Ramakrishnan, R. (ed.) Applications of Logic Databases. The Kluwer International Series in Engineering and Computer Science. Kluwer. pp. 143-161. ISBN 9781461522072.
    • Wood, Peter (1993) . In: Paton, N.W, and Howard Williams, M. (eds.) Proceedings of the 1st International Workshop on Rules in Database Systems. Workshops in Computing. Springer. pp. 401-415. ISBN 9783540198468.
    • Paterson-Jones, R. and Wood, Peter (1993) . In: Miller, D. (ed.) Logic Programming: Proceedings of the 1993 International Symposium. MIT Press. ISBN 9780262631525.
    • Wood, Peter (1991) . In: Delobel, C. and Kifer, M. and Masunaga, Y. (eds.) DOOD 91: Deductive and Object-Oriented Databases. Lecture Notes in Computer Science. Springer. pp. 208-225. ISBN 9783540550150.
    • Wood, Peter (1990) . In: Brown, A.W. and Hitchcock, P. (eds.) BNCOD 8: Proceedings of the 8th British National Conference on Databases. Pitman Publishing. pp. 124-141. ISBN 9780273088370.
    • Wood, Peter (1990) . In: McLeod, D. and Sacks-Davis, R. and Schek, H.-O. (eds.) 16th International Conference on Very Large Data Bases. Morgan Kaufmann. pp. 255-263. ISBN 9781558601499.
    • Mendelzon, A.O. and Wood, Peter (1989) . In: Apers, P.M.G. and Wiederhold, G. (eds.) Proceedings of the Fifteenth International Conference on Very Large Data Bases. Morgan Kaufmann. pp. 185-193. ISBN 9781558601017.
    • Cruz, I.F. and Mendelzon, A.O. and Wood, Peter (1988) . In: Kerschberg, L. (ed.) Expert Database Systems: Proceedings from the Second International Conference. Benjamin Cummings series in database systems and applications. Benjamin-Cummings Publishing Company. pp. 645-666. ISBN 9780805303111.
    • Wood, Peter and Mendelzon, A.O. and Atzeni, P. (1988) . In: Gyssens, M. and Paredaens, J. and Van Gucht, D. (eds.) ICDT 88: 2nd International Conference on Database Theory. Lecture Notes in Computer Science. Springer. pp. 129-143. ISBN 9783540501718.
    • Cruz, I.F. and Mendelzon, A.O. and Wood, Peter (1987) . In: Dayal, U. and Traiger, I.L. (eds.) Proceedings of the Association for Computing Machinery Special Interest Group on Management of Data 1987 Annual Conference. Association for Computing Machinery. pp. 323-330. ISBN 9780897912365.

    Conference item

    • Wright, G. and Ballatore, A. and Poulovassilis, Alex and Wood, Peter (2025) . 29th International Conference on Theory and Practice of Digital Libraries, 2025, Tampere, Finland
    • Helmer, S. and Wood, Peter and Stuefer, M. (2024) . 2024 IEEE 18th International Conference on Semantic Computing (ICSC), 2024, Laguna Hills, U.S.
    • Fletcher, G.H.L. and Poulovassilis, Alexandra and Selmer, P. and Wood, Peter T. (2020) . 2019 IEEE International Conference on Big Data, 2020, Los Angeles, U.S.

    Other

    • Candlin, Fiona and Ballatore, Andrea and Liebenrood, Mark and Poulovassilis, Alex and Wood, Peter and Wright, George and Golovteeva, M. and Bonett, H. (2025) . London, UK: 糖心logo入口, University of London.
    • Liebenrood, Mark and Ballatore, Andrea and Candlin, Fiona and Larkin, Jamie and Poulovassilis, Alex and Wood, Peter (2023) .

    External Repositories