Veronika Heimsbakk
Knowledge graph specialist, author, and speaker. I build semantic systems that turn messy data into something both humans and machines can reason with.
About
I'm a knowledge graph specialist at Data Treehouse in Norway, where we build high-performance, open-standards tooling for knowledge graphs. I work with SHACL, SPARQL, ontology engineering, and semantic data architecture — helping organisations make their data interoperable, validated, and meaningful.
I wrote SHACL for the Practitioner, a hands-on guide to the Shapes Constraint Language with real-world case studies and hand-drawn illustrations. I speak at conferences internationally and write about linked data and knowledge engineering on my Substack.
Over the past decade I've led ontology and semantic architecture initiatives across public sector, maritime, energy, automotive, and other industries.
Experience
Knowledge Graph Specialist — Data Treehouse
Building high-performance knowledge graph tooling on open standards. Working with maplib, SHACL validation, ontology engineering, and Graph ELT pipelines for clients across energy, maritime, public sector, and more.
Knowledge Graph Lead — Capgemini
Led knowledge graph and ontology initiatives for clients across public sector, automotive, maritime, and life sciences. Grew into team & tech lead roles on multi-year engagements.
Knowledge Engineer — Acando
Built knowledge graphs and semantic solutions for public media, government, and cultural institutions.
Education
B.Sc. — University of Oslo
Recognition
Client engagements by industry
Selected client engagements
| Role | Client | Year(s) |
|---|---|---|
| Ontology Specialist | Norwegian Food Safety Authority | 2026 — present |
| Outreach | Brønnøysundregistrene | 2026 |
| Ontology Specialist | Norwegian Directorate for Cultural Heritage | 2026 |
| Ontology Specialist | Norwegian National Archives | 2024 — present |
| Ontology Specialist | Norwegian Health Network | 2024 |
| Ontology Architect & Service Manager | Swedish Employment Service | 2023 — 2024 |
| Service Manager | Swedish Social Insurance Agency | 2023 |
| Ontology & Enterprise Architect | Scania CV AB | 2022 — 2023 |
| Team & Tech Lead Semantics | Norwegian Maritime Authority | 2020 — 2025 |
| Knowledge Engineer | Bayer BS GmbH | 2019 |
| Knowledge Engineer | Aker Solutions | 2019 |
| Knowledge Engineer | Deichman public library | 2018 |
| Knowledge Engineer | Digdir | 2016 |
| Knowledge Engineer | NRK | 2015, 2017 |
Book
SHACL for the Practitioner
A hands-on guide from the fundamentals of RDF and semantic technologies through the full depth of the Shapes Constraint Language — with hand-drawn illustrations, real code, and stories from production. Foreword by Holger Knublauch, one of the original SHACL specification authors.
Published November 2025 · ISBN 978-82-694212-0-0 (paperback) · 978-82-694212-1-7 (digital)
Learn more & order →Upcoming Events
Where you can find me next.
Talks & Workshops
A decade of talks on knowledge graphs, SHACL, semantic technologies, and more.
Beyond Work
Resources
Writing
Substack — Veronika Heimsbakk
Writing about knowledge graphs, semantic technologies, SHACL, and the craft of building things with linked data.
The Semantic Medallion
Building a knowledge graph-powered data catalog. Guest post on Modern Data 101.
Knowledge Graph Insights — Interview
Connecting data and knowledge engineering.
Code
SHACL for the Practitioner — Companion Code
Exercises and code examples from the book.
Trainmarks
RDF Framework Benchmark — comparing eleven RDF frameworks and triplestores across I/O and SPARQL query performance at 100K, 1M, and 10M triples.