Ruben Verborgh

Dr. Ruben Verborgh is a Professor of Decentralized Web Technology at Ghent University – imec and a Visiting Fellow at the Oxford Martin School, University of Oxford. His work bridges academic research and industrial application as a Data Technology Advisor to Inrupt and other companies.

• Decentralized data ecosystems
• Trust envelope frameworks
• GDPR-compliant data sharing
• Linked Data and Semantic Web
• Economic impacts of data control

With over a decade of contributions to Solid specifications and data reuse models, his research group focuses on creating mutually beneficial data flows that balance personal agency with corporate needs. Recent work includes automated policy negotiation systems and legally-aligned health data exchanges.

He advocates for personal data vaults as the solution to the unsustainable Big Data paradigm, arguing they enable responsible data processing while improving user experience. Key concepts from his work include:

• Trust envelopes that travel with data
• Automated data sharing without consent fatigue
• Reversible data markets where control is a right
• Decentralized knowledge graphs for sustainable ecosystems