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David Tena Cucala

Personal photo - David Tena Cucala

David Jaime Tena Cucala

Research Associate

Wolfson Building, Parks Road, Oxford OX1 3QD

Interests

I work in the area of knowledge representation and reasoning, within the field of artificial intelligence. Currently my research is focused on three topics:

  1. The design of reasoning algorithms for expressive Description Logics, particularly algorithms that are sound and complete, but also efficient and scalable. I have worked on the reasoners PAGOdA and Sequoia, which cover the logic behind the ontology language OWL 2 DL, a standard of the Semantic Web.  
  2. The study of machine learning models based on logical rules. These models are straightforwardly interpretable, which helps verify their safety and compliance with fairness and transparency standards. I believe that rules can also provide effective inductive biases.
  3. Logics for temporal reasoning, particularly in the intersection of Datalog with Metric Temporal Logics

For my broader interests, please see my personal website.

Biography

I studied Mathematics and Physics at Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, from 2008 to 2013. I was originally interested in Astrophysics, but I became fascinated by metaphysical questions arising from modern physics. I applied for the MSt in Philosophy of Physics at University of Oxford in 2013, and I spent another year in the BPhil in Philosophy at the same university, studying Ethics and Philosophy of Science. My focus then shifted towards the question of how existing sources of knowledge can be aggregated to answer complex questions, like those of Philosophy. In 2015, I went on to study the MSc in Computer Science at the University of Oxford, with a focus on Knowledge Representation and Automated Reasoning. In 2016, I started a DPhil in Computer Science in the same area and research group, which I finished in 2020.

Selected Publications

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Activities