Christophe Debruyne

My cat, Bettina, is being silly on our dining table when I set it up for an afternoon of DND!

Bettina just loves it when I set up the table for a D&D session. Bettina, Destroyer of Worlds!

Cover of Terry Pratchett’s The Bromeliad Trilogy.

Well, that book was quite the page turner. And some themes were developed for a children’s book! I love me some #TerryPratchett

Woops. I accidentally excluded the folder. It should be fixed now.

Gaston doesn’t like the Roomba hovering around the house and thus seeks comfort in my arms… 😻

Happy holidays! ❤️ ✨ 🐱 🎄 🎆

I'm grading papers and, for the first time in my career, I was so shocked by the naive approach to comparing things that aren't comparable. I wrote: "What I am about to write, I am writing with the utmost humor: You are not comparing apples to oranges, you are comparing seafoods to salads."

I’m overhearing a student explaining to another student what a library is, how it works, and how one can borrow books at the university library. 😢 #liege

Totally unexpected. 😳😬 But honored. 🙏

I’m still around if you want to know more about pre- or postdoc opportunities @semantics-conf.bsky.social

😬

For those at #SEMANTiCS2025 interested in #PhD or
#Postdoc opportunities at the Montefiore Institute at ULiège, feel free to grab my attention during coffee, lunch, ...

I tried booking a later flight, but ended up booking an earlier one because I mistakenly confused the arrival time with the departure time. 🤦🏻‍♂️

My exam hasn’t finished yet and they locked us in the building, oops.

Bettina, the tabby cat, is all cute and lying on the ground.

Gaston, the Panda with black ears and a black tail, is keeping me company on my desk.

Balzac, the tuxedo cat, in a Lego Tuxedo Cat box. The Lego build is in the background.

Happy International Cat Day! Here are some pictures of my cats. #InternationalCatDay #Cats #Cat

I did. I love to learn by doing. :-)

I haven’t developed the skills to alter yet, but I’ll give it to a friend. ;-)

I’m low key proud of myself. This is my first ever sewing project. I was unfortunately off by a couple of inches (damn you, imperial system), so I can’t wear it 😭 #sewing #dungarees

Hear me out… Stephen Colbert on @dropout.tv?

Anyhoo. That will be all for now. I'll be off galivanting, admiring temples, and observing fish, lizards, and amphibians. I'm truly geeking out! ;-D

And finally, I am very proud of a person who has obtained a prestigious postdoctoral grant; we worked pretty hard on it. While the reviews were overwhelmingly positive, I respect their difficult decision (!) to transition into the industry.

Fourthly, I completed some research-related tasks. We sent notifications for the First International Workshop on Users and Knowledge Graphs (at SEMANTiCS 2025). And we submitted the CR of a paper written by @davidchavesfraga.com , Souail Jaadari, and me. Souail did fantastic work as an intern.

Starting from my early twenties, I gradually lost mobility and the ability to walk without pain(s). I wouldn't have dared to dream about doing this (without crutches) 2-3 years ago. I was even able to climb some of the towers! My life is radically different ever since I had my knee replaced.

Thirdly, it was an opportunity to visit a new country, a new culture, and (finally) the chance to see the ancient temples of Angkor! Yes, I'm not ashamed to wear Crocs with socks.

Secondly, it was an honor to have been invited to Institute of Technology of Cambodia where I provided, over the course of five days, training on Knowledge Graphs and KG construction. It is hoped they can address some of their data integration issues with these technologies.

First, I survived the June exam madness, and that is a feat on its own. It was highly intertwined with some issues pertaining to my health, but exams did allow me to be distracted from the latter. :-)

The past few weeks have been CRAZY, but I should share some of the highlights. :-)

Many of my French-speaking students call database joins "joints" in my English-taught (!) database course. I can't help but see them as a bunch of potheads.
It's because a "join" is a "jointure" in French.

I’m giving exams and trying to reply to emails. I just signed one with Christmas instead of Christophe… I am mortified.

I'm grading papers, and most students provide examples about Pokémon, Cats, and D&D. What are they trying to achieve? 😏

Anyone else having trouble with DBLP? It's been behaving erratically for the past two days.