This year’s edition of the CWI Lectures revolved around database research and the work of CWI research fellow Martin Kersten. He joined CWI in 1985 and established a world-renowned database research group before retiring in February 2020.
The CWI Lectures offered talks by several internationally renowned data researchers, discussing recent advances in their database research and reflecting on their collaboration with Kersten. Video recordings and presentations of all talks are now available to view.
One of the highlights was the awarding of a royal decoration to Kersten. He was appointed Knight in the Royal Order of the Netherlands Lion by Hilde van Garderen, deputy mayor of Almere, which is Kersten's city of residence. In her speech, Van Garderen lauded Kersten’s extensive scientific and managerial merits in pioneering database research.
Peter Boncz and Stefan Manegold (CWI) - Welcome and Introduction to Martin Kersten (video)
Anastasia Ailamaki (EPFL, Switzerland) - Nothing is for granted: Making wise decisions using real-time intelligence (pdf / video)
Gerhard Weikum (MPI, Germany) - Machine Knowledge: How I Stopped Worrying about Databases and Started Loving the Web (video)
Gustavo Alonso (ETH, Switzerland) - Data Processing in the Era of Specialization (pdf / video)
Patrick Valduriez (Inria & LeanXcale, France) - Distributed Database Systems: the case for NewSQL (pdf / video)
Martin Kersten (CWI & MonetDB, Netherlands) - The loose ends of my CWI career (pdf / video)
Royal decoration for Martin Kersten. Hilde van Garderen, deputy mayor of Almere, appoints Martin Kersten Knight in the Royal Order of the Netherlands Lion, recognizing his merit in pioneering database research. (video)
