Andy is a freelance data visualisation specialist based in Yorkshire, UK. He is a data visualisation consultant, training provider, teacher, author, speaker, researcher and editor of the award-winning website visualisingdata.com.
After graduating from Lancaster University in 1999 with a BSc (hons) in Operational Research, Andy’s working life began with a variety of business analysis and information management roles at organisations including CIS Insurance, West Yorkshire Police and the University of Leeds.
He discovered data visualisation in early 2007, when it was lurking somewhat on the fringes of the web. Fortunately, the timing of this discovery coincided with Andy shaping his Master’s (MA) degree research proposal, a self-directed research programme that gave him the opportunity to unlock and secure his passion for the subject.
He launched visualisingdata.com to continue the process of discovery and to chart the course of the increasing popularity of the subject. Over time, this award-winning site has grown to become a popular reference for followers of the field, offering contemporary discourse, design techniques, and vast collections of visualisation examples and resources.
Andy became a freelance professional in 2011. Since then he has had the fortune of working with a diverse range of clients across the world, including organisations such as Google, CERN, Electronic Arts, the EU Council, Hershey, and McKinsey. He has have delivered over 275 public and private training events in 27 different countries, reaching more than 6,000 delegates. Alongside his busy training schedule, Andy also provides design consultancy with his primary client being the Arsenal FC Performance Team, since 2015.
In addition to commercial activities, Andy maintains ongoing academic engagements. Between 2014 and 2015 he was an external consultant on a research project called ‘Seeing Data’, funded by the Arts & Humanities Research Council and hosted by the University of Sheffield. This study explored the issues of data visualisation literacy among the general public and, among many things, helped to shape an understanding of the human factors that affect visualisation literacy and the effectiveness of design.
He joined the highly respected Maryland Institute College of Art (MICA) as a visiting lecturer in 2013 teaching a module on the Information Visualisation Masters programme through to 2017. From January 2016, he taught a data visualisation module as part of the MSc Business Analytics programme at the Imperial College Business School in London through to 2018. From 2019/20 he will be teaching on a Masters module at the UCL School of Management.
The responsibility for handling, analysing and communicating data is increasingly a ubiquitous demand. The availability of data will never reduce and the appetite for getting more from it will only increase: this means the emphasis on good data visualisation practices are more important than ever. However, effective data visualisation is not something that can just be accomplished through astute instincts and taste alone.
A motivation to help clients and organisations get more from and do more with their data themselves is at the heart of the range of visualisation training and consultancy services offered by Andy Kirk on behalf of Visualising Data Ltd. The emphasis is always on offering best practice advice and assistance for developing client capabilities and solutions to their visualisation challenges. Rather than have data visualisation done to you, Andy's motivation is to help you do it for yourself.
You can read more about Andy's training offerings on the dedicated training page. His consultancy offerings include the following:
If you have an enquiry about these services or are interested in a potential engagement then please use the information on the ‘Contact’ tab to get in touch.
Visualising Data Ltd is a Private Limited Company based in Leeds, UK, incorporated in 2010 with company number 7147133 and VAT registration number 140476625. Andy Kirk is the Managing Director.
I have had the privilege of working with a wide variety of clients across all industries and locations, from global brands and esteemed institutions through to startups and NGOs. This list is comprised of those with whom I have provided training courses, undertaken design consultancy services, and/or delivered talks.
Andy has had the great pleasure of delivering many talks, particiating in webinars and podcasts. If you would like to invite Andy to speak at your event please just get in touch using the information on the ‘Contact’ tab.
** Time has stood still during the pandemic, and so it seems has my list of engagements... this list will be updated by October! **
25th January 2020: Speaking at the 'Data Viz Live' conference in London 29th November 2019: Gave a lunch time talk at ABN AMRO in Amsterdam 15th November 2019: Spoke at the BIG2019 conference in Olso 14th November 2019: Spoke at the INDVIL conference in Olso 10th October 2019: Gave a guest lecture at the Lloyds of London data lab 10th October 2019: Delivered a talk to colleagues at an analytics away-day for Expedia/Hotels.com staff in London 30th September 2019: Gave a talk at the North West TUG in Manchester 20th September 2019: Spoke at the Encode conference in London 29th July 2019: Presented at the NUX Leeds meetup 20th June 2019: Gave a talk to members of the British Computer Society (BCS) in London 2nd May 2019: Took part in the live data viz debate event as part of the London TUG 14th February 2019: Gave a talk to researchers and students at the Leeds Institute of Health Sciences, University of Leeds 11th December 2018: Gave a guest lecture at the Lloyds of London data lab 16th October 2018: Presented at the first Yorkshire Tableau User Group meetup 28th February 2018: Gave a talk to post-doc researchers at Imperial College 9th January 2018: Gave a talk at the MancDB meetup in Manchester 23rd November 2017: Gave a talk at the Hacks/Hackers meetup in Brisbane 19th July 2017: Gave a talk to staff at Jet2.com's Leeds HQ 15th May 2017: Gave a talk at Sage's annual staff meeting in their London HQ 23rd March 2017: Gave a talk to staff and students at the University of Edinburgh Business School 23rd March 2017: Spoke at the DataFest 2017 Summit in Edinburgh 8th February 2017: Gave a talk for staff and students at The Bartlett Centre for Advanced Spatial Analysis (UCL) in London 7th February 2017: Spoke at the London Business Analytics Group 7th September 2017: Gave a talk at Lloyds of London 16th June 2016: Gave a talk at the Information+ Conference in Vancouver 14th June 2016: Presented at the Vancouver Data Visualisation Meetup 9th June 2016: Gave a talk to colleagues at Oxford Policy Management (OPML) 7th June 2016: Spoke at the Market Insight Forum in London 23rd May 2016: Spoke at the London Tableau User Group meeting 20th April 2016: Gave a talk at the ICNARC Case Mix Programme conference in London 22nd March 2016: Gave a talk at the 'Making Informed Decisions with Big Data' event being held @3MBIC in Huddersfield 10th February 2016: Gave a talk at the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) in Warrington as part of the 'Techtalk' series of lectures 24th November 2015: Gave a talk at UK Parliament 10th November 2015: Spoke at the 'What Can Data Visualisation Do' event at the University of Sheffield 30th July 2015: Spoke at the Melbourne Data Visualisation Meetup 5th June 2015: Gave a talk at Saggezza HQ, Chicago 20th March 2015: Gave a talk at the National Audit Office, London 3rd February 2015: Spoke at the PyData London Meetup 22nd January 2015: Gave a talk at the AztraZeneca Advance Analytics Centre (AAC) symposium in Alderley Park, Chester 15th January 2015: Did a recorded video interview with Alicia Sutton of ReachMD, during the ACEhp Annual Conference 15th January 2015: Spoke at the ACEhp Annual Conference in Dallas, TX. Here are the slides 22nd November 2014: Giving a talk at Visualized.io in London 23rd October 2014: Speaking at the Data Visualization Group in the Bay Area Meetup at the University of San Francisco 18th/19th September 2014: Spoke at ScienceComm in Switzerland 4th September 2014: Spoke at the 'Visualize It!' event in Utrecht 6th August 2014: Spoke at the London Business Analytics Group 24th April 2014: Gave a talk at OpenVis Conference in Boston 27th March 2014: Gave a talk at the School of Computing, University of Dundee 19th March 2014: Speaker at the launch of the Dublinked Data Visualisation competition 6th February 2014: Speaker at the Higher Education Strategic Planners' Association annual conference in Warwick 24th January 2014: Speaker at the Design of Understanding annual conference in London 5th December 2013: Speaker at the Software and Information Industry Association (SIIA) Issue Brief event in London 29th August 2013: Speaker at the INMA Conference in Oslo 16th May 2013: Speaker at the NYC Data Visualisation Meetup 8th May 2013: Speaker at an Information Design Association (IDA) event in London 25th April 2013: Speaker at the Big Data Week London event 15th/16th April 2013: Speaker at II-SDV 2013 Conference in Nice, France 21st March 2013: Keynote speaker at the Netherlands Society for Statistics and Operational Research annual seminar 26th/27th February 2013: Talk and workshop at the Dashboarding for Peak University Performance conference at the University of Nottingham 11th February 2013: Talk given at Tableau UK HQ in Richmond 17th January 2013: Talk and panel discussion at the Bank of England's 'The future of regulatory data and analytics' event 10th January 2013: Talk given to folks at Facebook HQ in San Francisco (slide deck) 8th January 2013: Talk at Seattle Datavis (SeaVis) Meetup (similar slide deck) 8th January 2013: Talk given to folks at Tableau HQ in Seattle 19th October 2012: Guest talk at the Big Dive EU event in Turin, Italy. 19th/20th September 2012: Speaker at the Big Data World, Europe conference, London 16th July 2012: Presentation at a Nuffield Foundation event, exploring visual navigation for STEM subjects. 14th June 2012: Speaker at the Chicago Data Visualisation Meetup 14th June 2012: IDEAS Talk for Orbitz at their Worldwide HQ in Chicago - watch a video of the talk 24th April 2012: Panel member for the Big Data Week, London community meetup 17th April 2012: Speaker at Big Data Con, Mainz, Germany 18th to 23rd March 2012: Judge and speaker at the Malofiej 20, Infographics World Summit and Awards 23rd February 2012: Visualisation seminar at the School of Computing, University of Leeds 12th November 2011: Speaking at the Visualizing.org data visualisation marathon event, LondonIf you have an enquiry about data visualisation services please email Andy via andy@visualisingdata.com. 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