Benjamin Bach

Benjamin is a researcher at the French National Institute for Research in Digital Science and Technology (Inria) within the Bivwac Team, Bordeaux. He is also an Associate Professor (Reader) at the School of Informatics at the University of Edinburghy where he founded the VisHub research group. Benjamin's research investigates more effective and efficient data visualizations, interfaces, and tools for data analysis, communication, and education. He is regularly collaborating with social scientists, historians, biologists, peace reserachers, and public organizations. Benjamin was named Significant New Researcher by the IEEE VIS conference (2021) and Eurographics Young Researcher (2019). His PhD received a VGTC Best Thesis honorable mention award (2014).

Contact and Links

Email: benjamin.bach@inria.fr, bbach@inf.ed.ac.uk
Twitter: @benjbach
Full CV
Google Scholar

Research Interest

Short Bio

Before joining the University of Edinburgh, Benjamin was a postdoc at Harvard University (Visual Computing Group), Monash University (Immersive Analytics Lab), Microsoft-Research, and a visiting scholar at the Brain Imaging Center at the University of Washington. Benjamin is an active member of the programme and organization committees of the primar venues for visualization (IEEE VIS) and human-computer interaction (ACM CHI). He is a co-founder of the Edinburgh Data Vis meetup with more than 1300 participants.

Publications (linked)

Projects (linked)

Awards

2022 Best Paper Honorable Mention, IEEE VIS (Dashboard Design Patterns)
2022 Best Paper Honorable Mention, IEEE VIS (Exploring Interactions with Printed Data Visualizations in Augmented Reality)
2021 New Significant Researcher Award, IEEE VIS
2021 ACM CHI Best Paper Honorable Mention: Sketchnote Components, Design Space Dimensions, and Strategies for Effective Visual Note Taking.
2019 Eurographics Young Researcher Award, IEEE/EG Eurographics
2018 BioVis Best Poster Award: Feature Centric Visual Exploration of Genomic Interaction Matrices
2014 VGTC Best Ph.D. Thesis Honorable Mention, IEEE VIS
2013 IEEE VIS Best Poster Award: Visualizing Dense Dynamic Networks with Matrix Cubes
2013 ACH CHI Best Paper Award: Weighted graph comparison techniques for brain connectivity analysis

Current PhD Students

John Harper-Lee (since 2018, Visualizing biological networks), assistant supervisor
Mashael Alkadi (since 2019, Understanding network visualization in the wild), main
Tobias Kauer (since 2019, public engagement with data visualizations), main
Ryan Bowler (since 2019, Inclusive HCI), main
Lucy Heavens (since 2020, Language bias in cultural collections), assistant
Sarah Schöttler (since 2021, Responsive visualization design), main
Magdalena Boucher (since 2022, Educational comics), assistant
Lara Johnson (since 2022, Public health communication), assistant
Rea Michalopoulou (since 2022, VR for health), assistant

Graduated PhD Students

Zezhong Wang (2021, Data comics design), main
Kun-Ting Chen (2022, Network visualization), assistant

Professional Activities (selection)

ACM ISS Workshop Chair (2020)
ACM CHI Paper Associate Chair (2018, 2019, 2021)
ACM CHI Late Braking Work Associate Chair (2017)
ACM CHI Work-in-Progress Program Committee (2015)
IEEE InfoVis Program Committee (since 2018)
IEEE InfoVis Organizing Committee (since 2020)
IEEE VAST Program Committee (2018)
GraphDrawing Program Committee
TransImage Conference: Conference Co-chair 2018

Reviewing (selection)

ACM CHI: since 2013
IEEE InfoVis/Vast: since 2012
TVCG: since 2011
EuroVis: since 2012
Graph Drawing
Computer Graphics and Applications
Creativity & Cognition 2021
ISMAR 2021
UIST 2021
Workshop on Machine Learning and Visualization (EuroVis) 2020, 2021
Vis4DH 2020
Computer and Graphics 2021
IEEE VR: 2019, 2021

Invited Talks

July 2023: Sifting Through the Haystack: From Data to Stories with Visualization, Keynote GrapHNR Conference, Mainz
June 2023: Show me the Data: From Data to Insights and Stories with Visualizations, HEIBRIDS Spring School, Berlin
June 2023: Designing for Understanding: How to Empower People to Create+Use Visualizations? , Keynote for Journe de la Visu, Paris-Saclay
June 2023: Why, What, How: Data Visualization for Exploration and Communication, Annual Conference of the Centre for Statistics, Edinburgh
November 2022: Interacting with Data, Visualizing Information: How to Use Data Visualization for Effective Exploration and Explanation., ETH AI Center, Zurich.
November 2022: Thinking Visualization / Designing for Knowledge, University of Zurich (UZH), Zurich.
June 2022: Open Your Eyes, Finding Shapes for Your Data. Summer Institute in Computational Social Sciences, University of Edinburgh
June 2022: The Role of Visualization in Exploring and Communicating Text. Text & Data Analysis Summer School, University of Edinburgh
February 2022: Data Comics for Data-Driven Storytelling, University of Magdeburg, Germany
January 2022: Tools, Users, and Methods in Data Visualizations, Potioc Team, Inria, France
December 2021: Data Comics for Data-Driven Storytelling, Westminster City Council, London
October 2021: Data Comics for Data-Driven Storytelling. Guest Lecture. Kings College London.
September 2021: Communicating Research through Data Comics, Royal Stastistical Society Conference 2021.
August 2021: Visualization Empowerment, FH Potsdam, Information+Visualisation Talk series, GER
July 2021: Data Visualization for Exploration, Explanation, and Participation, Turing RSE Summer school, UK
July 2021: Data-Driven Storytelling with Data Comics, PKUVIS Visualization Summer school, China
April 2021: Data Comics for Data-Driven Storytelling, DataViz Meetup, Toulouse, FR
April 2021: Visualization Empowerment, iLab University of Calgary, AB
Jan 2021: Visualization Empowerment, Open Lab, Newcastle University, UK.
December 2020: The Immersive Canvas: Information Visualization in Immersive Environments, Keynote to Workshop ImAna at IEEE AIVR
November 2020: Data Comics, Data Stories Symposium, Kings College London
October 2020: Data Comics Guest Lecture, Kings College London
January 2020: Keynote to Dealing with Data conference (Edinburgh): Dealing vis Data
June 2019: Edinburgh Futures Seminar: Visualizing Peace and Conflicts
May 2019: Kings College, London: Data visualization for exploration, explanation and beyond.
December 2018: Shonan Seminar to Immersive Analytics (Tokio): Visualizing Space-Time Cubes in AR.
October 2018: Tuto@Mate (online webinar): Interactive Visualization for Dynamic, Multivariate, and Geographic Networks.
September 2018: University of Tilburg (Netherlands): Data Comics for Data-Driven Storytelling
September 2018: Design Informatics Seminar Series (University of Edinburgh): Perspectives on Data Visualization.
May 2018: Keynote for Workshop on Big Data Analytics and Business Applications, AVI Conference (Casteglione della Pescaia): Interaction Literacy for Data Visualization.
May 2018: Tesco Bank: Data Visualization for Exploration, Explanation, and Engagement
May 2018: OpenVis Conference (Paris): Drawing into the AR-Canvas: Designing Embedded Visualizations for Augmented Reliaty.
March 2018: DataTech Fest Edinburgh: Tools for Data Visualization
March 2018: Alan Turing Institute: Visualization for Interactive Data Exploration
February 2018: Controversies in the Data Society Talk Series, (Edinburgh): Seven Myths about Data Visualization
…

Scientific Workshops

4rd Workshop on the Creation, Curation, Critique and Conditioning of Principles and Guidelines in Visualization Benjamin Bach, Alfie Abdul-Rahman, Alexandra Diehl, IEEE VIS 2022
2nd IEEE VIS Workshop on Data Vis Activities to Facilitate Learning, Reflecting, Discussing, and Designing, Samuel Huron, Benjamin Bach, Uta Hinrichs, Sheelagh Carpendale, IEEE VIS 2021
IEEE VIS Workshop on Data Vis Activities to Facilitate Learning, Reflecting, Discussing, and Designing, Samuel Huron, Benjamin Bach, Uta Hinrichs, Sheelagh Carpendale, IEEE VIS 2020
3rd Workshop on the Creation, Curation, Critique and Conditioning of Principles and Guidelines in Visualization Alfie Abdul-Rahman, Alexandra Diehl, Benjamin Bach, IEEE VIS 2020
Envisioning Future Productivity for Immersive Analytics: Barrett Ens, Benjamin Bach, Maxime Cordeil, Ulrich Engelke, Marcos Serrano, Wesley Willett, CHI 2020
Interactive Visualization of Dynamic Multivariate Networks with the Vistorian:Benjamin Bach, Workshop at The Connected Past, University of Oxford, 2018
VisGuides: 2nd Workshop on the Creation, Curation, Critique and Conditioning of Principles and Guidelines in Visualization: Alexandra Diehl, Benjamin Bach, Alfie Abdul-Rahman, IEEE VIS 2018, Berlin
Storyboards for Science: Combining the Visual and Verbal to Create Engaging Communication: David Rogers, Francesca Samsel, Sean Cunningham, Benjamin Bach, IEEE VIS 2018, Berlin
Interactive Visualization of Dynamic Multivariate Networks with the Vistorian: Benjamin Bach, Jean-Daniel Fekete, Nicole Dufournaud, Open workshop, EHESS, Paris, 2018
Interactive Visualization of Dynamic Multivariate Networks with the Vistorian:Benjamin Bach, Workshop at CAA conference, University of Tübingen, 2018
Immersive Analytics: Exploring Future Visualization and Interaction Technologies for Data Analytics: Benjamin Bach, Maxime Cordeil, Tim Dwyer, Bongshin Lee, Bahador Saket, Alex Endert, Christopher Collins, Sheelagh Carpendale, IEEE VIS 2017 Phoenix, AZ
Discovery Jam: David Rogers, Dan Keefe, Francesca Samsel, Miriah Meyer, Cecilia Aragon, Benjamin Bach: IEEE VIS 2017, Phoenix, AZ
Interactive Visualization of Dynamic Multivariate Networks with the Vistorian: Benjamin Bach, Workshop at The Connected Past, University of Bournemouth, 2017
Immersive Analytics: Exploring Future Interaction and Visualization Technologies for Data Analytics: B Bach, R Dachselt, S Carpendale, T Dwyer, C Collins, B Lee. Proceedings of the 2016 ACM on Interactive Surfaces and Spaces, 529-533

Teaching

Ongoing

Data Science for Design, semester 1 (postgraduate)
Data Visualisation, semester 2 (postgraduate)
The Human Factor
Data Visualization for Professionals

Research Grants

2021 EPSRC (CoI): RAMP VIS: Making Visual Analytics an Integral Part of the Technological Infrastructure for Combating COVID-19, ~£427,000
2021 EPSRC (PI): Visovery: Semi-automatic Data Tours to Support Data Exploration and Visualisation Literacy, ~£320,000
2020 Data Driven Innovation (DDI), Co-I: Outbreak Science and Policy: A Sentiment-based Mathematical Model Repository (SER) for disease emergency decision-making and long-term resilience to future One Health threats; £89,754.30
2020 Data Driven Innovation (DDI), Co-I: Data-driven personalised recovery care pathways after COVID-19, £85,814
2020 MRC (CoI): COVID-19: ISARIC Coronavirus Clinical Characterisation Consortium (ISARIC-4C) Workpackage, £60,000
2019 Scottish Founding Council (SCF): Data Visualization Online Course for Upskilling, £80,000
2019 Global Challenges Research Fund (GCRF): Peacetech Initiative: partnership for interactive mediation, £46,000
2018 EPSRC Capital Grant: VisHub: A Collaborative Data Visualization Space for Interdisciplinary Research, Teaching, and Public Engagement, £200,000
2018 Edinburgh Futures Institute Research Grant: Visualizing Inequalities £8,000
2017 IGS (School internal) PhD scholarship funding: ~£60,000
2017 Principal’s Teaching Award: £15,000
2014 Microsoft Research – Inria Joint Centre 18 month position
2010-2014 French Government Ph.D. grant: $100.000, over 3 years