Foundations of Data Management Workshop

Dates: July 27 -30, 2026

Location: KO2-F-152, main building of the University of Zurich

The field of data management has evolved rapidly in response to increasingly complex, large-scale, and heterogeneous data. Modern applications — ranging from machine learning to large-scale query evaluation — demand new paradigms that go beyond traditional approaches. These challenges have encouraged the Foundations of Data Management (FDM) community to engage with other disciplines, including algorithm and information theory for efficient processing, machine learning theory for integrating AI systems, formal language theory for query design, and knowledge representation for reasoning over diverse data.

This workshop primarily brings together FDM researchers from Switzerland and Chile, and further researchers from Europe, Asia, and North America to discuss the current state of FDM, reflect about the future of this research field, establish new collaborations, and strengthen existing ones.

08:45 – 09:00 Coffee

09:00 – 10:20 Logical Foundations of AI

• Pablo Barceló (Pontifical Catholic U Chile): The role of activation functions in graph neural networks
• Floris Geerts (U Antwerp): Relational learning

10:30 – 11:50 AI for Data Management

• Juan Reutter (Pontifical Catholic U Chile): Foundational models for knowledge graphs
• Omer Abramovich (Tel Aviv U): Shapley-based fact attribution in databases

12:00 – 13:30 Lunch break

13:30 – 14:50 Data and AI for Social Good

• Ioana Manolescu (INRIA and Ecole Polytechnique): Data and AI for journalism and fact-checking
• Michael Theologitis (U Washington): Fact verification over structured data: Agentic systems and benchmarks

15:00 – 16:20 Query Maintenance

• Ahmet Kara (OTH Regensburg): Query Maintenance over static and dynamic relations
• Eden Chmielewski/Andrei Draghici (U Zurich): The role of semirings and data partitioning in query maintenance

17:00 – 19:00 City Tour starting at Central (Polybahn station)

19:00 - 23:00 Dinner at Zunfthaus zur Schmiden

08:45 – 09:00 Coffee

09:00 – 10:20 Query Optimization

• Chris Mayer (U Zurich): CorrBound: Cardinality Estimation Accounting for Inter- and Intra-relation Correlations
• Mihail Stoian (U Technology Nuremberg) & Tiemo Bang (Microsoft GSL): Productizing Pessimistic Cardinality Estimation

10:30 – 11:50 Query Optimization

• Christoph Koch (EPFL): Query Result Size Estimation for Datalog
• Kyle Deeds (U Boston): Languages for Sparse Array and Tensor Programming

12:00 – 13:30 Lunch break

13:30 – 14:50 Query Evaluation

• Dan Suciu (U Washington): On the space-time complexity of sum-product queries
• Altan Birler (TU Munich): Robust query processing

15:00 – 16:20 Query Evaluation

• Gonzalo Navarro (U Chile): Compact data structures for worst-case-optimal joins and beyond
• Mahmoud Abo Khamis (RelationalAI Berkeley): Output-sensitive evaluation of conjunctive regular path queries

17:00 – 19:00 Hike (public transportation) to Uto Kulm

19:00 - 23:00 Dinner at Uto Kulm

Day trip: Reflect & hike

Hike at the Rigi mountain, followed by a boat trip to Luzern

Highlights of the trip:

• Rigi Kulm
• hike to Kaltbad
• cog-wheel train to Vitznau
• boat on Vierwaldstättersee to Luzern
• city of Luzern

Closer to the date, we will consider further variants if the weather does not favour the above plan.

08:45 – 09:00 Coffee

09:00 – 09:50 Discussion and outlook on Logical Foundations of AI

                            Discussion led by the presenters in the first three sessions

10:00 – 10:50 Discussion and outlook on Query Optimization

                            Discussion led by the presenters in the two query optimization sessions

11:00 – 11:50 Discussion and outlook on Query Evaluation

                            Discussion led by the presenters in the two query evaluation and the query maintennce sessions

12:00 – 13:30 Lunch break

13:40 – 14:20 Where are we and where do we go from here

• Wim Martens (Bayreuth U): How to stick to our principles, stay relevant, and change the world

14:30 – 14:40 Closing Remarks

15:15 – 16:30 Boat from Bürkliplatz to Au Peninsula

18:00 Dinner at the restaurant on Au Peninsula

This is a tentative list of in-person participants.

• Mahmoud Abo Khamis, RelationalAI Berkeley
• Omer Abramovich, Tel Aviv University
• Marcelo Arenas, Pontifical Catholic University of Chile
• Tiemo Bang, Microsoft GSL Barcelona
• Pablo Barceló, Pontifical Catholic University of Chile
• Michael Benedikt, University of Oxford
• Altan Birler, Technical University of Munich
• Eden Chmielewski, University of Zurich
• Yannis Chronis, ETH Zurich
• Kyle Deeds, University of Boston
• Daniel Deutch, Tel Aviv University
• Andrei Draghici, University of Zurich
• Floris Geerts, University of Antwerp
• Niko Göbel, RelationalAI Zurich
• Yuchen He, University of Zurich
• Moritz Hoffmann, Materialize Inc Zurich
• Ahmet Kara, OTH Regensburg
• Ana Klimovic, ETH Zurich
• Christoph Koch, EPFL
• Ioana Manolescu, INRIA and LIX/Ecole Polytechnique
• Wim Martens, Bayreuth University
• Christoph Mayer, University of Zurich
• Gonzalo Navarro, University of Chile
• Dan Olteanu, University of Zurich
• Juan Reutter, Pontifical Catholic University of Chile
• Miguel Angel Romero Orth, Pontifical Catholic University of Chile
• Mihail Stoian, University of Technology Nuremberg
• Dan Suciu, University of Washington
• Michael Theologitis, University of Washington
• Haozhe Zhang, University of Zurich
• Qichen Wang, Nanyang Technological University