Alia I. Abdelmoty
BEng, MSc, PhD
Senior Lecturer
School of Computational and Mathematical Sciences
Cardiff University, Wales, UK
Email: abdelmotyai@cardiff.ac.uk
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BEng, MSc, PhD
Senior Lecturer
School of Computational and Mathematical Sciences
Cardiff University, Wales, UK
Email: abdelmotyai@cardiff.ac.uk
Teaching language models to plan over qualitative geographic knowledge
This project investigates whether language models can generate abstract, verifiable reasoning programs over qualitative spatial relations — containment, adjacency, proximity and direction — with a symbolic engine that executes and checks every answer. The work combines current research on language models with knowledge representation and qualitative spatial reasoning.
Funded by Cardiff University & China Scholarship Council (CSC) Research Excellence Scholarships. Self-funded applicants also welcome.
CSC application deadline: 3 November 2026
Qualitative GIS, Qualitative Spatial Reasoning, Place Ontologies, Linked Geospatial Data, Place Knowledge Graphs, Digital Gazetteers, Geographic Question Answering
Place Affordance, Geo-Folksonomies, Spatiotemporal User Modelling, Location-Based Social Networks, Location Privacy Awareness, Privacy Threat Models
Biomedical Ontologies, Mental Health Informatics, Ontology Reuse Patterns, Knowledge Graphs, Cross-Domain Applications
Audio-based Social Media Analytics, Assistive Technology for Elderly Care, Algorithmic Fairness, Bias in Recommender Systems