SPECIAL SESSION #1
Just Ask the Metrologist: Eliciting Domain Knowledge for Digitalisation in Metrology
ORGANIZED BY
Blair Hall
Blair Hall
Measurement Standards Laboratory of New Zealand
Anjali Sharma
Anjali Sharma
National Physical Laboratory of India
Julia Neumann
Julia Neumann
Physikalisch-Technische Bundesanstalt (PTB)
ABSTRACT
Digital transformation in metrology involves replacing workflows and processes with suitable digital equivalents. These processes are currently managed by experts familiar with metrological concepts; however, the development of digital equivalents is typically undertaken by specialists from different fields. Consequently, digitalisation in metrology is an interdisciplinary effort, inherently susceptible to communication challenges between disciplines.
Within the metrology community, there is growing recognition of the complexities involved in digitalisation. Realistic timelines and accurate estimates of resource requirements--including personnel, infrastructure, and software--are essential for project success. Leadership is equally important. Digital transformation often drives organisational change, which can meet with resistance from individuals. So, effective leadership is essential to communicate the need for change and secure cooperation.
This session provides an opportunity for in-depth discussions on the challenges posed by digitalisation in metrology. We invite submissions that explore: case studies of elicitation (whether successful or not), approaches to elicitation, tools for knowledge capture, and leadership strategies to drive digitalisation forward.
ABOUT THE ORGANIZERS
Blair Hall leads a digitalisation project at the Measurement Standards Laboratory of New Zealand (MSL). He is a founding member of IMEKO TC6 and represents MSL at the CIPM Forum on Metrology and Digitalization. Blair earned a doctorate in physics from the École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL) in Switzerland and joined MSL in 1998 after working at the Swiss National Metrology Institute (METAS) and lecturing in physics and electronics at Massey University, New Zealand.
Dr. Anjali Sharma is a Senior Principal Scientist at the National Physical Laboratory of India (NPLI) with over 20 years of experience across corporate, academic, and R&D sectors. She represents NPLI at the CIPM Forum on Metrology and Digitalization and specializes in project management, ERP implementation, predictive modelling, and software requirements analysis. She holds a Ph.D., M.Tech., and B.E. in Computer Science and previously worked at IBM India Software Labs. Her research focuses on software quality, machine learning, and digital metrology. A co-author of multiple patents, book chapters, and research papers, Dr. Sharma has also been actively involved in training end-users to streamline automated workflows.
Julia Neumann is a research associate at the Physikalisch-Technische Bundesanstalt (PTB). She holds a Master of Arts in Information Science. Julia is developing and supporting (inter)national digital workflows which apply information retrieval methods, semantics and natural language processing. She has designed concepts of a dynamic controlled vocabulary for the multilingual cross-domain topics of metrology. Julia represents the PTB at the CIPM Forum on Metrology and Digitalization.
