PeopleofSuperintelligence

Researcher

Terry R. Payne

Dr Payne is an artificial intelligence researcher whose work connects software agents, Semantic Web services and knowledge graphs. He earned a computer systems engineering degree at Kent, an MSc in Applied Artificial Intelligence and a 1999 PhD in nearest-neighbour learning at Aberdeen, then worked at Carnegie Mellon’s Robotics Institute. He coauthored OWL-S, which supports agents in discovering, invoking, composing and monitoring web services, and later joined the University of Liverpool in 2008 after a faculty post at Southampton. His career includes an AAMAS award for Best Industrial and Applied Paper and two Semantic Web Science Association Distinguished Paper Awards; he co-chaired the International Semantic Web Conference’s Research Track in 2023 and coauthored two 2026 papers on knowledge graphs. As of October 2026, he is a Senior Lecturer in Artificial Intelligence in the School of Computer Science and Informatics at the University of Liverpool.

Timeline

  1. 1990–1999

    Degrees at Kent and Aberdeen

    He earns a BSc in computer systems engineering at the University of Kent in 1990 and an MSc in Applied Artificial Intelligence at the University of Aberdeen in 1994. His 1999 PhD thesis at Aberdeen is titled ‘Dimensionality Reduction and Representation for Nearest Neighbour Learning.’

  2. 1998–2002

    Project Scientist at Carnegie Mellon

    From 1998 to 2002, he works with Katia Sycara as a Project Scientist at Carnegie Mellon University’s Robotics Institute.

  3. 2004–2006

    OWL-S and an AAMAS award

    In 2004, he coauthors the W3C Member Submission ‘OWL-S: Semantic Markup for Web Services’, an ontology that supports agent discovery, invocation, composition and monitoring of web services. In 2006, he receives the AAMAS DARPA Award for Best Industrial and Applied Paper.

  4. By 2008

    From Southampton to Liverpool

    After his Carnegie Mellon role, he is faculty at the University of Southampton with its Intelligence, Agents & Multimedia Group, then joins the University of Liverpool in 2008.

  5. 2011–2012

    SWSA Distinguished Paper Awards

    He receives the SWSA 10-year Distinguished Paper Awards in 2011 and 2012.

  6. 2023

    Research Track co-chair at ISWC

    In 2023, he co-chairs the Research Track of the International Semantic Web Conference.

  7. May 2026

    Agentic knowledge-graph research

    In May 2026, he coauthors ‘Discoverable Agent Knowledge’, which derives the Agentic Affordance Profile for knowledge graphs. His paper ‘Knowledge Graph Re-engineering Along the Ontological Continuum’ sets out a vocabulary for describing, comparing, navigating and transforming knowledge graphs.

  8. As of October 2026

    Senior Lecturer at Liverpool

    As of October 2026, he is a Senior Lecturer in Artificial Intelligence in the School of Computer Science and Informatics at the University of Liverpool.

Career

  1. Since 2008University of LiverpoolSenior Lecturer in Artificial Intelligence
  2. Until 2008University of SouthamptonFaculty
  3. 1998–2002Carnegie Mellon UniversityProject Scientist

Education

  1. 1999University of AberdeenPhD
  2. 1994University of AberdeenMSc in Applied Artificial Intelligence
  3. 1990University of KentBSc in computer systems engineering

From the biography.

  1. The Massachusetts Institute of Technology trained or employed 44 of the 187 AI major-prize winners, more than any other universityIncludes Terry R. Payne. The Massachusetts Institute of Technology trained or employed 44 of the 187 AI major-prize winners, more than any other university. We compare doctorate and 5+ year employment links, career timing and current workplaces for 187 major-prize and 1,111 best-paper winners.
  2. More people shaping AI studied at Massachusetts Institute of Technology than at any other institutionIncludes University of Liverpool. We estimate where the people shaping AI studied and where their careers led. Massachusetts Institute of Technology leads with 467 former students, including 291 recorded doctorates.
  3. The company share of AI researchers’ top papers was 31% in 2020–2024 and 8% in 1970–1974Includes University of Liverpool. We estimate where the people shaping AI worked when their most-cited papers appeared: the company share was 31% in 2020–2024 and 8% in 1970–1974, and Google led all organizations in 2020–2024.
  4. Google has the highest combined h-index among AI organizationsIncludes Carnegie Mellon University. We estimate that Google holds the highest combined h-index at 8,016, while universities account for 73% of the deduplicated total across AI organizations.

Colleagues

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

Sources and credits

Photo: We have no published photo of Terry R. Payne yet. Send us a free-licensed photo.

  1. Terry R. Payne - Wikipedia en.wikipedia.org. Checked 20 October 2026.
  2. Dr Terry R. Payne cgi.csc.liv.ac.uk. Checked 20 October 2026.
  3. Dr. Terry R. Payne cs.cmu.edu. Checked 20 October 2026.
  4. Dr Terry Payne | Our people | University of Liverpool liverpool.ac.uk. Checked 20 October 2026.
  5. Research Track PC - ISWC 2023 iswc2023.semanticweb.org. Checked 20 October 2026.
  6. Discoverable Agent Knowledge -- A Formal Framework for Agentic KG Affordances (Extended Version) arxiv.org. Checked 20 October 2026.
  7. Knowledge Graph Re-engineering Along the Ontological Continuum (extended version) arxiv.org. Checked 20 October 2026.