This panel reports on the working group deliberations of the first international workshop on expert database systems held at Kiawah island south Carolina during October 24-27, 1984. the workshop was sponsored by the instate of information management, technology and policy college of business administration of the university of south Carolina in cooperation with the IEEE technical committee on data base engineering. the working groups were charged with exploring research issues related to the various facets of expert database systems. the panel chair served as program chairman for the EDS workshop and the panel members organized and coordinate the working groups. the goals of this panel is to review the working group discussions and conclusions and to explore research topics related to expert database systems that span the boundaries of the various groups.