Andy Kirk is a freelance data visualisation specialist based in Yorkshire, UK. He is a visualisation design 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. At the time of publication, he will have delivered over 270 public and private training events in 25 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 regular engagements in academia. 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.
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.
I have had the great pleasure of delivering many talks, particiating in webinars and podcasts. Here is a log of my past speaking and recording engagements. Where possible I have shared links to published slide decks or video recordings.If you would like to me to speak at your event please just get in touch using the information on the ‘Contact’ tab.
Gave a guest lecture at Lloyds of London
Presented at the first Yorkshire Tableau User Group meetup
Gave a talk to post-doc researchers at Imperial College
Gave a talk at the MancDB meetup in Manchester
Gave a talk at the Hacks/Hackers meetup in Brisbane
Gave a talk to staff at Jet2.com's Leeds HQ
Gave a talk at Sage's annual staff meeting in their London HQ
Gave a talk to staff and students at the University of Edinburgh Business School
Spoke at the DataFest 2017 Summit in Edinburgh
Gave a talk for staff and students at The Bartlett Centre for Advanced Spatial Analysis (UCL) in London
Spoke at the London Business Analytics Group
Gave a talk at Lloyds of London
Gave a talk at the Information+ Conference in Vancouver
Presented at the Vancouver Data Visualisation Meetup
Gave a talk to colleagues at Oxford Policy Management (OPML)
Spoke at the Market Insight Forum in London
Spoke at the London Tableau User Group meeting
Gave a talk at the ICNARC Case Mix Programme conference in London
Gave a talk at the 'Making Informed Decisions with Big Data' event being held @3MBIC in Huddersfield
Gave a talk at the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) in Warrington as part of the 'Techtalk' series of lectures
Gave a talk at UK Parliament
Spoke at the 'What Can Data Visualisation Do' event at the University of Sheffield
Spoke at the Melbourne Data Visualisation Meetup
Gave a talk at Saggezza HQ, Chicago
Gave a talk at the National Audit Office, London
Spoke at the PyData London Meetup
Gave a talk at the AztraZeneca Advance Analytics Centre (AAC) symposium in Alderley Park, Chester
Did a recorded video interview with Alicia Sutton of ReachMD, during the ACEhp Annual Conference
Spoke at the ACEhp Annual Conference in Dallas, TX. Here are the slides
Giving a talk at Visualized.io in London
Speaking at the Data Visualization Group in the Bay Area Meetup at the University of San Francisco
Spoke at ScienceComm in Switzerland
Spoke at the 'Visualize It!' event in Utrecht
Spoke at the London Business Analytics Group
Gave a talk at OpenVis Conference in Boston
Gave a talk at the School of Computing, University of Dundee
Speaker at the launch of the Dublinked Data Visualisation competition
Speaker at the Higher Education Strategic Planners' Association annual conference in Warwick
Speaker at the Design of Understanding annual conference in London
Speaker at the Software and Information Industry Association (SIIA) Issue Brief event in London
Speaker at the INMA Conference in Oslo
Speaker at the NYC Data Visualisation Meetup
Speaker at an Information Design Association (IDA) event in London
Speaker at the Big Data Week London event
Speaker at II-SDV 2013 Conference in Nice, France
Keynote speaker at the Netherlands Society for Statistics and Operational Research annual seminar
Talk and workshop at the Dashboarding for Peak University Performance conference at the University of Nottingham
Talk given at Tableau UK HQ in Richmond
Talk and panel discussion at the Bank of England's 'The future of regulatory data and analytics' event
Talk given to folks at Facebook HQ in San Francisco (slide deck)
Talk at Seattle Datavis (SeaVis) Meetup (similar slide deck)
Talk given to folks at Tableau HQ in Seattle
Guest talk at the Big Dive EU event in Turin, Italy.
Speaker at the Big Data World, Europe conference, London
Presentation at a Nuffield Foundation event, exploring visual navigation for STEM subjects.
Speaker at the Chicago Data Visualisation Meetup
IDEAS Talk for Orbitz at their Worldwide HQ in Chicago - watch a video of the talk
Panel member for the Big Data Week, London community meetup
Speaker at Big Data Con, Mainz, Germany
Judge and speaker at the Malofiej 20, Infographics World Summit and Awards
Visualisation seminar at the School of Computing, University of Leeds
Speaking at the Visualizing.org data visualisation marathon event, London
Presented a webinar for Tableau, 'The Design of Time'
Presented a webinar for Tableau, 'The Little of Visualisation Design'
Presented a webinar for Sage, 'Data Visualisation: A Game of Decisions'
Presented a webinar for Tableau, '50 Charts in 50 minutes'
Took part in the 2017 'Data Debate' webinar hosted by Tableau
Presented a webinar for Tableau, 'The Design of Nothing: A 2017 Reboot'
Presented a webinar for Tableau, 'The Seven Hats of Visualisation Design: A 2017 Reboot'
Participated in another special 'Ask Andy Anything' webinar hosted by Tableau
Took part in the 2016 'Data Debate' webinar hosted by Tableau
Presented a webinar for Bright Talk, 'Separating Myths from Truth in Data Visualisation'
Presented a webinar for Tableau, 'Bringing Method to the Madness'
Presented a webinar for Tableau, 'Separating Myths from Truth in Data Visualisation'
Conducted a special 'Ask Andy Anything' webinar hosted by Tableau
Presented a webinar for Tableau
Gave a webinar for Tableau
Gave a webinar for Tableau Software
Data Stories Episode #132: Discussing the latest generation of data visualisation tools
Policy Viz Podcast Episode #137: Discussing our experiences in Potsdam of the Information+ Conference 2018
Policy Viz Podcast Episode #114: Discussing our experiences at Facebook HQ of the Social Science Foo Camp
Policy Viz Podcast Episode #108: Discussing new projects and trends in the field
Data Stories Episode #92: Contributed to the tribute show dedicated to Hans Rosling
Being Freelance Podcast: Discussing my experiences as a freelance professional
Policy Viz Podcast Episode #56: Discussing the challenges of book writing
Data Stories Episode #69: Reviewing the findings and implications of the Seeing Data visualisation literacy research
Rad Presenters Podcast Episode #29: Discussing a range of topics relating to our roles as presenters/trainers
Data Stories Episode #65: Reviewing the major trends and developments during 2015 and preview the main hopes and expectations for 2016
Tableau Wanna Be Podcast Episode #31: Discussing some of the nevers and shouldn'ts of data visualisation
Policy Viz Podcast: Discussing data visualisation literacy
Data Stories Episode #46: Reviewing the major trends and developments during 2014 and preview the main hopes and expectations for 2015
Data Stories Episode #37: Discussing the teaching of data visualisation
Nature Jobs Podcast: Discussing the teaching of data visualisation
Data Stories Episode #31: Reviewing the major trends and developments during 2013 and preview the main hopes and expectations for 2014
Data Stories Episode #16: Discussing our feelings on what was big in 2012 and our hopes and expectations for 2013
Interview on DataRemixed.com: Interviewed by Ben Jones about the state of data visualisation
Data Stories Episode #5: Covering the subject of data visualisation training
Data Stories Episode #4: Reflecting on Malofiej20, discussing the judging process, detailing the conference talks and the week in general
If you have an enquiry about data visualisation services please email Andy via andy@visualisingdata.com. Please note no guest post or link sharing requests will be accepted or replied to.
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