At the Knowledge Media Institute (KMi), we transform bold ideas into innovative technologies with real-world impact on society and the environment. We understand technology, and people, and how to harness the latest technical advancements to tackle today's and tomorrow's challenges. For over 30 years, KMi has led AI-driven breakthroughs in knowledge and science, reinforcing research, education, and discovery with intelligent, ethical, and inclusive solutions.
Our work empowers all learners, with a strong focus on those from less advantaged backgrounds, ensuring education remains accessible and equitable. We specialise in Benevolent Tech, developing powerful tools for combating online harms, reshaping life in smart cities, reconnecting people with nature to save the planet, and advancing the world's understanding of critical AI developments.

Our expertise in AI ethics, explainability, and human-AI collaboration is more crucial than ever, offering key insights for the responsible adoption of AI in education, research, and society. Our latest advancements include leveraging generative AI for personalised lifelong learning, powering a global open research system serving 30 million monthly users, and developing AI-driven tools to track and predict the progress and retention of over 100,000 students. What sets KMi apart is our pioneering hybrid approach; blending human and symbolic understanding with machine intelligence and analysis. This fusion enables us to move beyond conventional tech solutions, driving meaningful change through groundbreaking human-centred innovations.

KMi prides itself on being diverse, equitable, non-hierarchical and people-oriented, facilitating the free generation of ideas and their robust deliberation. It provides an agile and supportive environment that removes barriers to creativity, fosters innovation and enables talent to thrive.

See Our Research Themes

Upcoming Seminar

Dr. Ángel Pavón Pérez

Enhancing Fairness in Machine Learning: Identifying and Mitigating Bias with a Focus on Gender Bias in Finance

This event will take place on Tuesday 14 October 2025

Dr. Ángel Pavón Pérez - KMi, The Open University

Machine Learning systems increasingly shape critical decisions—who gets a loan, who receives healthcare support, who’s flagged for risk. However, the data behind these systems often...

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People

Olivia Hagen - Photograph

I am a Web Administrator for the OU Analyse team.

Read more about Olivia Hagen

 
Enrico Daga - Photograph

Enrico Daga has carried out R&D on Web Semantics first at the Italian National Research Council (CNR) and then at the Knowledge Media Institute of The Open University in the UK, where he obtained a...

Read more about Enrico Daga

Testimonials

collaborator
"If you are or want to be a brilliant mind, this is where you want to be!"

Valentina Presutti, Institute of Cognitive Science and Technologies, Italy

collaborator
"I cannot imagine going to a conference without experiencing deep scientific conversations with KMiers!"

Raphaël Troncy, EURECOM: Graduate School & Research Center, France

collaborator
"Top location for SW research for decades and going strong!"

Pascal Hitzler, Kansas State University, USA

Publications

Fernandez, M., Tirado, A., Pavon-Perez, A., Duddin, K., Zhang, M., Bakina, K., Bandara, A., Capdevila, R., Lazard, L. and Jurasz, O. (2025) Co-creating an Ontology of Online Gender-Based Harms: An Interdisciplinary Perspective, ISWC 2025 - The 24th International Semantic Web Conference, Nara, Japan

Publications | Visit External Site for Details  

Ghafourian, Y., Hanbury, A. and Knoth, P. (2025) Ranking To Learn: Human Experts, Search Engines, or LLMs for Learning Guidance, TPDL 2025: The 29th International Conference on Theory and Practice of Digital Libraries, Tampere, Finland

Publications | Visit External Site for Details  

Cancellieri, M., El-Ebshihy, A., Fink, T., Fröbe, M., Galuščáková, P., Goeuriot, L., Iommi, D., Keller, J., Knoth, P., Mulhem, P., Piroi, F., Pride, D. and Schaer, P. (2025) Extended Abstract of LongEval at CLEF 2025: Longitudinal Evaluation of IR Systems on Web and Scientific Data, 16th International Conference of the CLEF Association (CLEF 2025), Madrid, Spain

Publications | Visit External Site for Details  

View all 44 publications from 2025

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CONTACT US

Knowledge Media Institute
The Open University
Walton Hall
Milton Keynes
MK7 6AA
United Kingdom

Tel: +44 (0)1908 653800

Fax: +44 (0)1908 653169

Email: KMi Support

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Email: KMi Development Team