PeopleofSuperintelligence

Researcher

Barry Smyth

Barry Smyth is a computer scientist whose research spans artificial intelligence, case-based reasoning, machine learning and recommender systems. Since 1992, his work has covered these areas in more than 400 peer-reviewed papers; he co-founded ChangingWorlds in 1999 based on personalization research. He became an ECCAI Fellow in 2003, co-founded HeyStaks and began directing CLARITY in 2008, joined the Royal Irish Academy in 2011, and led CLARITY through 2013. In 2014 he received SFI Researcher of the Year and an honorary Doctor of Technology from Robert Gordon University; in 2023 he coauthored a paper about research-paper recommendations. As of October 2026, he holds UCD’s Digital Chair of Computer Science, directs the BSc Computer Science programme and serves on the ICCBR program committee.

Works
566
Citations
17,131
h-index
67
Badges

Publication numbers from OpenAlex, as of 19 October 2026.

Timeline

  1. Since 1992

    AI and recommender systems

    Since 1992, his work spans artificial intelligence, case-based reasoning, machine learning, recommender systems, user modeling and personalization, and includes more than 400 peer-reviewed papers.

  2. 1999

    Co-founding ChangingWorlds

    In 1999, he co-founds ChangingWorlds based on his personalization research.

  3. 2003

    An ECCAI fellowship

    In 2003, he becomes a Fellow of ECCAI, and EurAI’s current Fellows list includes him at UCD in Ireland.

  4. 2008–2013

    HeyStaks and the CLARITY Centre

    In 2008, he co-founds HeyStaks based on social-search research and begins directing the CLARITY Centre for Sensor Web Technologies. He directs the centre through 2013.

  5. 2011

    Royal Irish Academy membership

    In 2011, he becomes a member of the Royal Irish Academy.

  6. 2014

    SFI Researcher of the Year

    In 2014, he is named SFI Researcher of the Year and receives an honorary Doctor of Technology from Robert Gordon University.

  7. 2023

    A research-paper recommender study

    In 2023, he coauthors a paper with Eoghan Cunningham and Derek Greene that proposes a framework to evaluate novelty and diversity in research-paper recommendations through network analysis and natural language processing.

  8. As of October 2026

    Leading computer science at UCD

    He holds UCD’s Digital Chair of Computer Science and directs its BSc Computer Science programme. In 2026, he serves on the ICCBR program committee.

Career

  1. Since 1996University College DublinDigital Chair of Computer Science; BSc Computer Science programme director
  2. 2014–2025Insight SFI Research Centre for Data Analytics
  3. From 2008HeyStaksCo-founder
  4. 2008–2013Clarity Centre for Sensor Web TechnologiesDirector
  5. From 1999ChangingWorldsCo-founder
  6. 1992–1998Trinity College Dublin

From the biography and OpenAlex affiliations (the years of papers that list the organization), so some years are approximate.

Most-cited works

  1. Trust in recommender systems2005 · ACM International Conference on Intelligent User Interfaces (IUI) · 865 citations
  2. Retrieval, reuse, revision and retention in case-based reasoning2005 · The Knowledge Engineering Review · 570 citationsWith Boi V. Faltings, Kenneth D. Forbus, Mark Keane and Ramon López de Màntaras
  3. Recommending twitter users to follow using content and collaborative filtering approaches2010 · ACM Conference on Recommender Systems (RecSys) · 482 citations
  4. Similarity vs. Diversity2001 · Lecture notes in computer science · 429 citations
  5. Using twitter to recommend real-time topical news2009 · ACM Conference on Recommender Systems (RecSys) · 419 citations

From OpenAlex, as of 19 October 2026.

  1. More people shaping AI studied at Massachusetts Institute of Technology than at any other institutionIncludes University College Dublin. Our estimates of where the people shaping AI studied and where their careers led, from education records in cited biographies.
  2. The company share of AI researchers’ top papers rose from 2% to 32%Includes University College Dublin. We estimate where leading AI researchers worked when their most-cited papers appeared. The company share rose from 2% in 1975–1979 to 32% in 2020–2024.
  3. Google had the most people shaping AI every year from 2014 to 2025Our estimates of which organizations employed the most people shaping AI from 1961 to 2025, with a year-by-year chart.
  4. The United States employs an estimated 53% of people in our data with a known employment countryOur estimates of where AI careers are concentrated now and how countries’ shares of dated positions changed over time.

Colleagues

People with dated positions at the same organization in the same years.

Sources and credits

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  1. Prof. Barry Smyth - Insight insight-centre.org. Checked 18 October 2026.
  2. Prof. Barry Smyth – Think Bigger UCD thinkbigger.ucd.ie. Checked 18 October 2026.
  3. Awards | European Association for Artificial Intelligence eurai.org. Checked 18 October 2026.
  4. [2309.14984] Facilitating Interdisciplinary Knowledge Transfer with Research Paper Recommender Systems arxiv.org. Checked 18 October 2026.
  5. Facilitating Interdisciplinary Knowledge Transfer with Research Paper Recommender Systems arxiv.org. Checked 18 October 2026.
  6. Key Contacts | UCD Computer Science csintranet.ucd-cs.ie. Checked 18 October 2026.
  7. Organization – ICCBR | 2026 2026.iccbr.org. Checked 18 October 2026.