ÌÇÐÄlogoÈë¿Ú

Skip to main content

Dr Jan Hidders

Positions held:
  • Senior Lecturer, School of Computing and Mathematical Sciences
Email
  • Overview

    Overview

    Biography

    Jan Hidders started his scientific career in 1992 as a PhD student at the Eindhoven University of Technology under the supervision of prof. Jan Paredaens. Here he studied the problem of typing graph transformation languages, and their expressive power. This resulted in 2001 in a PhD thesis with the title  A Graph-based Update Language for Object-Oriented Data Models.

    In this period during the years 1996 - 2001 he also worked as a computer science teacher at the Hogere Informatica Opleiding in Breda, now part of the Avans Hogeschool. He taught a wide range of subjects such as System Analysis and Design, Database Design, Compiler Construction, History of Computer Science, and C++ Programming.

    In 2001 he became a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Antwerp, and worked on topics such as XML Databases, Concurrency Management for Semistructured Databases, Query Optimisation for XML databases, and Graph-based Workflow Specification Languages such as Petri nets.

    In 2008 he moved to the Delft University of Technology where he worked as an assistant professor on topics such as RDF data storage and data management, large scale data integration and transformation.

    In 2016 he moved to the Vrije Universiteit Brussel where he worked as an associate professor where he worked on topics such as Semantic Data Management, Declarative Languages for Scalable Distributed Data Processing, Formal Semantics of Data Modelling Languages, and Hierarchical Workflow Analysis.

    Since 2020 he works as a lecturer at ÌÇÐÄlogoÈë¿Ú, University of London, where he now focuses on Graph Data Management and Graph Data Modelling. In particular he works on query languages and data-description languages for the Labelled Property Graph model, and as such he contributes to the ISO standardisation effort that extends SQL with graph data management capabilities and in addition defines a standalone query language called GQL for querying labelled property graphs. In 2025 he continued as a senior lecturer at ÌÇÐÄlogoÈë¿Ú.

    Administrative responsibilities

    • Programme Director MSc Computer Science

    Professional memberships

    • IEEE member since 2006

    • ACM member since 2003

    ORCID

  • Research

    Research

    Research interests

    • Graph data management
    • Workflow modelling and orchestration
    • Conceptual data models

    Research overview

    Graph data management

    My research covers several theoretical and more applied topics within graph data management. An important one is that of graph query languages, both their design and theoretical properties (such as expressive power) but also practical issues such as their efficient implementation, including aspects such as query optimisation and indexing. Another topic is that of graph-based data models, where there is a certain type of schema definition language that specifies what is and is not allowed in a certain graph database, or in other words specifies what the instance graph is allowed to look like. I study the design of such schema definition languages, which includes theoretical properties such as the computational complexity of checking them and reasoning over them. I am closely involved in the development of the schema definition language that is being added to SQL for graph data management, and as such am active with to represent ÌÇÐÄlogoÈë¿Ú. My research also includes how schemas can be used for typing queries formulated in a graph language, in order to detect errors in query specifications or understand what kind of results can be expected from certain graph queries over graphs that conform to a certain schema. This research also investigates how the different schema definition languages that have been developed for RDF and LPG (Labelled Property Graphs) compare with each other, both in practice and in theory.

    Workflow modelling and orchestration

    In my workflow research I focus on a special class of Petri-nets for representing workflows and similar processes. In particular I am interested in using the notion of hierarchy is such nets. This includes for example ways to hierarchically generate and design workflow nets that they then have desirable properties in terms of correctness (such as soundness) and understandability by human beings. We also look at the reverse, where a given large and complex workflow net is hierarchically decomposed, so that it becomes easier to algorithmically test and decide certain desirable properties, and in addition becomes easier for human beings to understand.

    In my research I also look at workflow orchestration, and especially look at the problem of deciding and characterising of a certain orchestration specification that describes what is considered to be a correct interaction between several independent actors via messages, can indeed be implemented such only correct interactions happen.

    Conceptual data models

    I am interested in the formal semantics of conceptual data models, and specifically in the formal semantics of ORM2. As part of this research I'm involved in an effort to formalise that semantics of ORM2 as a mapping to a restricted fragment first order logic. This research also involves investigating the relationship of ORM2 with other data models, and in particular the graph data models that are currently popular. Another subtopic is that of designing an ORM2-native DBMS, where we look as issues such as the design of an appropriate query language, as well as identifying opportunities for query and storage optimisation that benefits form the high-level abstraction that ORM2 offers as a data model.

    Research Centres and Institutes

    • Researcher,
    • Researcher,
  • Supervision and teaching

    Supervision and teaching

    Teaching

    Teaching modules

    • Software Engineering II
    • Computer Systems
  • Publications

    Publications

    Article

    • Bonifati, A. and Dumbrava, S. and Fletcher, G. and Hidders, Jan and Hofer, M. and Martens, W. and Murlak, F. and Shinavier, J. and Staworko, S. and Tomaszuk, D. (2025) . The VLDB Journal 34 (4), ISSN 1066-8888.
    • Aamer, H. and Hidders, Jan and Paredaens, J. and Van den Bussche, J. (2025) . ACM Transactions on Database Systems 50 (3), pp. 1-38. ISSN 0362-5915.
    • Angles, R. and Bonifati, A. and Dumbrava, S. and Fletcher, G. and Green, A. and Hidders, Jan and Li, B. and Libkin, L. and Marsault, V. and Martens, W. and Murlak, F. and Plantikow, S. and Savkovic, O. and Schmidt, M. and Sequeda, J. and Staworko, S. and Tomaszuk, D. and Voigt, H. and Vrgoc, D. and Wu, M. and Zivkovic, D. (2023) . Proceedings of the ACM on Management of Data 1 (2), pp. 198:1-198:25. ISSN 2836-6573.
    • Bonifati, A. and Dumbrava, S. and Fletcher, G. and Hidders, Jan and Hofer, M. and Martens, W. and Murlak, F. and Shinavier, J. and Staworko, S. and Tomaszuk, D. (2023) . SIGMOD Record 52 (1), pp. 64-73. ISSN 0163-5808.
    • Sakr, S. and Bonifati, A. and Voigt, H. and Iosup, A. and Ammar, K. and Angles, R. and Aref, W. and Arenas, M. and Besta, M. and Boncz, P.A. and Daudjee, K. and Valle, E.D. and Dumbrava, S. and Hartig, O. and Haslhofer, B. and Hegeman, T. and Hidders, Jan and Hose, K. and Iamnitchi, A. and Kalavri, V. and Kapp, H. and Martens, W. and Özsu, M.T. and Peukert, E. and Plantikow, S. and Ragab, M. and Ripeanu, M.R. and Salihoglu, S. and Schulz, C. and Selmer, P. and Sequeda, J. F. and Shinavier, J. and Szárnyas, G. and Tommasini, R. and Tumeo, A. and Uta, A. and Varbanescu, A.L. and Wu, H.-Y. and Yakovets, N. and Yan, D. and Yoneki, E. (2021) . Communications of the ACM 64 (9), pp. 62-71. ISSN 0001-0782.
    • Sakr, S. and Bonifati, A. and Voigt, H. and Iosup, A. and Ammar, K. and Angles, R. and Aref, W. and Arenas, M. and Besta, M. and Boncz, P.A. and Daudjee, K. and Valle, E.D. and Dumbrava, S. and Hartig, O. and Haslhofer, B. and Hegeman, T. and Hidders, Jan and Hose, K. and Iamnitchi, A. and Kalavri, V. and Kapp, H. and Martens, W. and Özsu, M.T and Peukert, E. and Plantikow, S. and Ragab, M. and Ripeanu, M.R. and Salihoglu, S. and Schulz, C. and Selmer, P. and Sequeda, J.F. and Shinavier, J. and Szárnyas, G. and Tommasini, R. and Tumeo, A. and Uta, A. and Varbanescu, A.L. and Wu, H.-Y. and Yakovets, N. and Yan, D. and Yoneki, E. (2021) . Communications of the ACM 64 (9), pp. 62-71. ISSN 0001-0782.
    • Sroka, J. and Hidders, Jan (2017) . Fundamenta Informaticae 156 (1), pp. 95-123. ISSN 0169-2968.
    • Litak, T. and Mikulás, Szabolcs and Hidders, Jan (2016) . Journal of Logical and Algebraic Methods in Programming 85 (4), pp. 540-573. ISSN 2352-2208.
    • Hidders, Jan and Michiels, P. and Vercammen, R. (2005) . Bulletin of the European Association for Theoretical Computer Science 86, pp. 199-223. ISSN 0252–9742.
    • Hidders, Jan and Michiels, P. and Paredaens, J. and Vercammen, R. (2005) . SIGMOD Record 34 (4), pp. 21-26. ISSN 0163-5808.
    • Dekeyser, S. and Hidders, Jan and Paredaens, J. (2004) . World Wide Web: Internet and Web Information Systems 7 (1), pp. 29-57. ISSN 1386-145X.

    Book

    • Arenas, M. and Hidders, Jan, eds. (2007) . CEUR Workshop Proceedings. 229, CEUR-WS.org.

    Book section

    • Boneva, I. and Groz, B. and Hidders, Jan and Murlak, F. and Staworko, S. (2023) . In: PODS '23: Proceedings of the 42nd ACM SIGMOD-SIGACT-SIGAI Symposium on Principles of Database Systems. ACM. pp. 251-261. ISBN 9798400701276.
    • Bonifati, A. and Dumbrava, S. and Fletcher, G. and Hidders, Jan and Hofer, M. and Martens, W. and Murlak, F. and Shinavier, J. and Staworko, S. and Tomaszuk, D. (2022) . In: Özcan, F. and Freire, J. and Lin, X. (eds.) Proceedings of the VLDB Endowment. VLDB Endowment. pp. 1105-1118.
    • Aamer, H. and Hidders, Jan and Paredaens, J. and Bussche, J.V.d. (2021) . In: PODS'21: Proceedings of the 40th ACM SIGMOD-SIGACT-SIGAI Symposium on Principles of Database Systems. ACM. pp. 70-81. ISBN 9781450383813.
    • Angles, R. and Bonifati, A. and Dumbrava, S. and Fletcher, G. and Hare, K.W. and Hidders, Jan and Lee, V.E. and Li, B. and Libkin, L. and Martens, W. and Murlak, F. and Perryman, J. and Savkovic, O. and Schmidt, M. and Sequeda, J.F. and Staworko, S. and Tomaszuk, D. (2021) . In: SIGMOD '21: Proceedings of the 2021 International Conference on Management of Data. ACM. pp. 2423-2436. ISBN 9781450383431.
    • Hartig, Olaf and Hidders, Jan (2019) . In: GRADES-NDA'19: Proceedings of the 2nd Joint International Workshop on Graph Data Management Experiences & Systems (GRADES) and Network Data Analytics (NDA). ACM. pp. 6:1-6:11. ISSN 978-1-4503-6789-9/19/06. ISBN 9781450367899.
    • Poulovassilis, Alexandra (2018) . In: Fletcher, G.H.L. and Hidders, Jan and Larriba-Pey, J.L. (eds.) Graph Data Management: Fundamental Issues and Recent Developments. Data-Centric Systems and Applications (DCSA). Springer. pp. 97-142. ISBN 9783319961927.
    • Picalausa, F. and Fletcher, G.H.L. and Hidders, Jan and Vansummeren, S. (2014) . In: Schweikardt, N. and Christophides, V. and Leroy, V. (eds.) Proc. 17th International Conference on Database Theory (ICDT), Athens, Greece, March 24-28, 2014.. Openproceedings.org. pp. 245-256. ISSN 978-3-89318066-1. ISBN 9783893180661.
    • Hidders, Jan and Kwasnikowska, N. and Sroka, J. and Tyszkiewicz, J. and Van den Bussche, J. (2007) . In: Cohen Boulakia, S. and Tannen, V. (eds.) Data Integration in the Life Sciences: 4th International Workshop. Lecture Notes in Computer Science. Springer. pp. 105-121. ISBN 9783540732549.
    • Hidders, Jan and Michiels, P. and Simeon, J. and Vercammen, R. (2007) . In: PLAN-X: 2007, Programming Language Technologies for XML. Association for Computing Machinery. pp. 14-24.
    • Dekeyser, S. and Hidders, Jan and Watson, R. and Addie, R. (2006) . In: Dobbie, G. and Bailey, J. (eds.) Database Technologies 2006: Proceedings of the 17th Australasian Database Conference. CRPIT. Australian Computer Society. pp. 79-88. ISBN 9781920682316.
    • Vercammen, R. and Hidders, Jan and Paredaens, J. (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.) International Conference on Extending Database Technology: Current Trends in Database Technology. Lecture Notes in Computer Science. Springer. pp. 250-263. ISBN 9783540467885.
    • Calders, T. and Dekeyser, S. and Hidders, Jan and Paredaens, J. (2006) . In: Vansummeren, S. (ed.) Proceedings of the Twenty-Fifth ACM SIGACT-SIGMOD-SIGART Symposium on Principles of Database Systems. Association for Computing Machinery. pp. 100-109. ISBN 9781595933188.
    • Hidders, Jan and Paredaens, J. and Vercammen, R. (2006) . In: Amer-Yahia, S. and Bellahsene, Z. and Hunt, E. and Unland, R. and Yu, J.X. (eds.) Database and XML Technologies: 4th International XML Database Symposium. Lecture Notes in Computer Science. Springer. pp. 92-106. ISBN 9783540388777.
    • Hidders, Jan and Paredaens, J. and Thiran, P. and Houben, G.-J. and van Hee, K.-M. (2005) . In: Eder, J. and Haav, H.-M. and Kalja, A. and Penjam, J. (eds.) Advances in Databases and Information Systems: 9th East European Conference, ADBIS 2005. Lecture Notes in Computer Science. Springer. pp. 74-86. ISBN 9783540285854.
    • Hidders, Jan and Dumas, M. and van der Aalst, W.M.P. and ter Hofstede, A.H.M. and Verelst, J. (2005) . In: Atkinson, M.D. and Dehne, F.K.H.A. (eds.) Theory of Computing: The Australasian Theory Symposium 2005. CRPIT. Australian Computer Society. pp. 3-11.
    • Hidders, Jan and Marrara, S. and Paredaens, J. and Vercammen, R. (2005) . In: Bierman, G.M. and Koch, C. (eds.) Database Programming Languages: 10th International Symposium. Lecture Notes in Computer Science. Springer. pp. 154-168. ISBN 9783540309512.
    • Fernandez, M.F. and Hidders, Jan and Michiels, P. and Simeon, J. and Vercammen, R. (2005) . In: Viborg Andersen, K. and Debenham, J.K. and Wagner, R.R. (eds.) Database and Expert Systems Applications: 16th International Conference. Lecture Notes in Computer Science. Springer. pp. 554-563. ISBN 9783540285663.
    • Hidders, Jan and Kwasnikowska, N. and Sroka, J. and Tyszkiewicz, J. and Van den Bussche, J. (2005) . In: Meersman, R. and Tari, Z. and Hacid, M.-S. and Mylopoulos, J. and Pernici, B. and Babaoglu, O. and Jacobsen, H.-A. and Loyall, J.P. and M., Kifer and Spaccapietra, S. (eds.) On the Move to Meaningful Internet Systems 2005. Lecture Notes in Computer Science. Springer. pp. 220-237. ISBN 9783540297369.
    • Le Page, W. and Hidders, Jan and Michiels, P. and Paredaens, J. and Vercammen, R. (2005) . In: Doan, A. and Neven, F. and McCann, R. and Bex, G.J. (eds.) Proceedings of the Eight International Workshop on the Web & Databases: WebDB 2005. Association for Computing Machinery. pp. 85-90.
    • Dekeyser, S. and Hidders, Jan (2004) . In: Schewe, K.-D. and Williams, H.E. (eds.) Database Technologies 2004: Proceedings of the Fifteenth Australasian Database Conference. CRPIT. Australian Computer Society. pp. 93-101.
    • Hidders, Jan and Paredaens, J. and Vercammen, R. and Demeyer, S. (2004) . In: Bellahsene, Z. and Milo, T. and Rys, M. and Suciu, D. and Unland, R. (eds.) Database and XML Technologies, Second International XML Database Symposium. Lecture Notes in Computer Science. Springer. pp. 5-20. ISBN 9783540229698.
    • Dekeyser, S. and Hidders, Jan (2003) . In: Zhou, X. and Zhang, Y. and Orlowska, M.E. (eds.) Web Technologies and Applications: 5th Asian-Pacific Web Conference. Lecture Notes in Computer Science. Springer. pp. 83-88. ISBN 9783540023548.
    • Hidders, Jan (2003) . In: Lausen, G. and Suciu, D. (eds.) Database Programming Languages: 9th International Workshop. Lecture Notes in Computer Science. Springer. pp. 21-36. ISBN 9783540208969.
    • Hidders, Jan and Michiels, P. (2003) . In: Lausen, G. and Suciu, D. (eds.) Database Programming Languages: 9th International Workshop. Lecture Notes in Computer Science. Springer. pp. 54-70. ISBN 9783540208969.
    • Hidders, Jan (2003) . In: Calvanese, D. and Lenzerini, M. and Motwani, R. (eds.) Database Theory: ICDT 2003. Lecture Notes in Computer Science. Springer. pp. 391-406. ISBN 9783540003236.
    • Dekeyser, S. and Hidders, Jan and Paredaens, J. (2003) . In: Flesca, S. and Greco, S. and Saccaand, D. and Zumpano, E. (eds.) Proceedings of the Eleventh Italian Symposium on Advanced Database Systems: SEBD 2003. Rubettino Editore. pp. 323-324.
    • Bielecki, M. and Hidders, Jan and Paredaens, J. and Tyszkiewicz, J. and Van den Bussche, J. (2002) . In: Widmayer, P. and Triguero Ruiz, F. and Morales Bueno, R. and Hennessy, M. and Eidenbenz, S.J. and Conejo, R. (eds.) Automata, Languages and Programming: 29th International Colloquium. Lecture Notes in Computer Science. Springer. pp. 764-775. ISBN 9783540438649.
    • Dekeyser, S. and Hidders, Jan (2002) . In: Wang Ling, T. and Dayal, U. and Bertino, E. and Ng, W.K. and Goh, A. (eds.) 3rd International Conference on Web Information Systems Engineering: WISE 2002. IEEE Computer Society. pp. 105-114. ISBN 9780769517668.
    • Hidders, Jan (1995) . In: Atzeni, P. and Tannen, V. (eds.) Database Programming Languages, DBPL-5: Proceedings of the Fifth International Workshop on Database Programming Languages. Electronic Workshops in Computing. Springer.
    • Hidders, Jan and Paredaens, J. (1993) . In: Paredaens, J. and Tenenbaum, L.A. (eds.) Advances in Database Systems: Implementations and Applications. CISM International Centre for Mechanical Sciences: Courses and Lectures. Springer. pp. 247-265.

    Conference item

    • Ahmetaj, S. and Boneva, I. and Hidders, Jan and Hose, K. and Jakubowski, M. and Gayo, J.E.L. and Martens, W. and Mogavero, F. and Murlak, F. and Okulmus, C. and Polleres, A. and Savkovic, O. and Simkus, M. and Tomaszuk, D. (2025) . WWW '25: The ACM Web Conference 2025, 2025, Sydney, Australia
    • Szárnyas, G. and Bebee, B. and Birler, A. and Deutsch, A. and Fletcher, G. and Gabb, H.A. and Gosnell, D. and Green, A. and Guo, Z. and Hare, K.W. and Hidders, Jan and Iosup, A. and Kiryakov, A. and Kovatchev, T. and Li, X. and Libkin, L. and Lin, H. and Luo, X. and Prat-Pérez, A. and Püroja, D. and Qi, S. and van Rest, O. and Steer, B.A. and Szakállas, D. and Tong, B. and Waudby, J. and Wu, M. and Yang, B. and Yu, W. and Zhang, C. and Zhang, J. and Zhou, Y. and Boncz, P. (2024) . Performance Evaluation and Benchmarking 15th TPC Technology Conference, TPCTC 2023, 2024, Vancouver, Canada

    Other

    • Dekeyser, S. and Hidders, Jan and Paredaens, J. and Vercammen, R. (2005) . The Computing Research Repository The Computing Research Repository.