John Beverley (ontologist)

John Beverley
Portrait of John Beverley
Born	(1983-04-08) 8 April 1983 (age 42) United States
Citizenship	American
Education	North Carolina State University University at Buffalo Northwestern University (PhD, 2021)
Known for	Basic Formal Ontology Common Core Ontologies VIDO
Scientific career
Fields	Applied ontology Philosophy Logic Biomedical informatics
Institutions	University at Buffalo Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory Science Applications International Corporation KaDSci
Thesis	Responsibility Where We Find It  (2021)
Website	johnbeverley.com

John Beverley (born April 8, 1983) is an American philosopher and ontologist. He is an Assistant Professor of Philosophy at the University at Buffalo, where he co-directs the National Center for Ontological Research (NCOR). ^[1]

Education and career

Beverley earned a Bachelor of Science in Philosophy from North Carolina State University, followed by a Master of Arts in Philosophy from the University at Buffalo in 2017. He completed his PhD at Northwestern University in 2021 with a dissertation titled Responsibility Where We Find It. ^[2]

Beverley has held senior ontology consulting roles at the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory, Science Applications International Corporation, and KaDSci. ^[3] He joined the faculty at the University at Buffalo in 2022.

Research

Beverley’s work spans applied ontology, logic, and knowledge representation. He is a co-lead developer of the Basic Formal Ontology (BFO), a top-level ontology that was adopted as an international standard under ISO/IEC 21838-2:2021. ^[4] He is a member of the governance board for the Common Core Ontologies suite that extends from BFO and which is widely used in government and defense domains. ^{[5] [6]}

During the COVID-19 pandemic, Beverley co-authored several ontologies aimed at supporting infectious disease data integration, including the Virus Infectious Disease Ontology (VIDO) and the Coronavirus Infectious Disease Ontology (CIDO). ^{[7] [8]}

In 2024, Beverley was awarded a five-year, $3.8 million grant from the U.S. National Institute of Health to study the ontological foundations of aging and loneliness through the development of interoperable psychological data models. ^{[9] [10]}

Editorial and public roles

Beverley serves on the editorial board of the journal Applied Ontology and has edited special issues on the intersection of ontologies and large language models. ^[11] He is co-director of the National Center for Ontological Research (NCOR), a research and training initiative based in Buffalo, NY. ^[12]

In 2024, Beverley was interviewed for the Association for the Philosophy of Autonomy (APA) Blog, where he discussed the opportunities and limitations involved in efforts to leverage applied ontology in the defense and intelligence sectors. ^[13]

Selected publications

• Beverley, J. et al. (2024). "Coordinating virus research: The Virus Infectious Disease Ontology." PLoS ONE, 19(1): e0285093. doi:[10.1371/journal.pone.0285093](https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0285093).
• He, Y., Beverley, J., et al. (2020). "CIDO: A community-based coronavirus ontology." Scientific Data, 7(1). doi:[10.1038/s41597-020-0523-6](https://doi.org/10.1038/s41597-020-0523-6).
• Beverley, J., Otte, J. N., Ruttenberg, A. (2022). "Formalizing change in Basic Formal Ontology." Applied Ontology, 17(1): 17–43.

References

1. "Faculty Profile: John Beverley". University at Buffalo. Retrieved 28 June 2025.
2. "Responsibility Where We Find It". PhilArchive. Retrieved 28 June 2025.
3. "Curriculum Vitae". John Beverley. Retrieved 28 June 2025.
4. "ISO/IEC 21838-2:2021". International Organization for Standardization. Retrieved 28 June 2025.
5. "Common Core Ontologies Governance Board" . Retrieved 28 June 2025.
6. Gambini, Bert. "Federal agencies adopt resource developed by UB ontologists". University at Buffalo. Retrieved 29 June 2025.
7. Beverley, John; Babcock, Shane; Carvalho, Gustavo; Cowell, Lindsay; Duesing, Sebastian; He, Yongqun; Hurley, Regina; Merrell, Eric; Scheuermann, Richard; Smith, Barry (2024). "Coordinating virus research: The Virus Infectious Disease Ontology". PLOS ONE. 19 (1): e0285093. Bibcode:2024PLoSO..1985093B. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0285093 . PMC   10796065 . PMID   38236918.
8. He, Yongqun; Yu, Hong; Ong, Edison; Wang, Yang; Liu, Yingtong; Huffman, Anthony; Huang, Hsin-hui; Beverley, John; Hur, Junguk (2020). "CIDO, a community-based ontology for coronavirus disease knowledge and data integration". Scientific Data. 7 (1). doi:10.1038/s41597-020-0523-6.
9. Gambini, Bert. "UB philosopher awarded $3.8 million NIH grant on aging and loneliness". University at Buffalo. Retrieved 29 June 2025.
10. "Promoting Health Aging through Semantic Enrichment of Solitude Research (PHASES)". National Institute of Health. Retrieved 3 July 2025.
11. "Applied Ontology - Editorial Board". IOS Press. Retrieved 28 June 2025.
12. "People". NCOR. Retrieved 29 June 2025.
13. Taben, Charlie (22 May 2024). "Commercializing Ontology: Lucrative Failure or Necessary Risk?". APA Substack Newsletter: Public Philosophy Digest. Retrieved 3 July 2025.