I investigate human factors in the visual exploration, analysis, and communication of data, with a particular focus on the health and life science domains. My research critically examines the role of interaction, aesthetics, and storytelling in visualization, and how these elements affect (for better or for worse) perception, behavior, and decision-making for various stakeholders. 

For my work on multiscale visualization of human physiology, I was awarded the Dirk Bartz Prize for Visual Computing in Medicine in 2023 and the Karl-Heinz Höhne (MedVis) Award in 2021. Prior to my PhD, I worked as a medical artist and content director in medical education technology start-ups in Chicago, Silicon Valley, and New York City.

For further information and details on my work, visit laura-garrison.com

Research Interests

• Visualization narrative and rhetoric
• Critical visualization
• Human-data interaction
• Visual data science/visual analytics
• Biomedical visualization
• Medical and scientific illustration

I regularly give talks and seminars on visualization best practices within and around UiB. Some highlights include: 

• Visualization for insights and empathy, Norwegian Institute of Public Health, Bergen, Norway, November 2024.
• Exploring engagement and empathy in data-driven (bio)medical stories, Innovative Human-Computer Interaction (HCI): Eight Ways to Advance Interactive Technology, Bergen, Norway, October 2023.
• Data Visualization Basics, R Ladies Meetup, Bergen, Norway, April 2023.
• Accessibility in Data Visualization, University of Bergen Digital Library Lab, November 2022.

For the last two years, I have also co-chaired the Bio+MedVis Challenge Workshop at IEEE VIS, which provides an opportunity for creative exploration and experimentation with the visualization of biological and medical data. 

Courses

1. INF 252 (Visualization). Spring 2024, Spring 2025.
2. INF 251 (Computer Graphics). Autumn 2024. Co-taught with Noeska Smit.
3. DIGI 118 (Introduction to data visualization). Autumn 2024. Taught in norwegian.
4. Approaches in Narrative Medical Visualization (guest lecture), TU Wien, May 2023, 2024, 2025.

Workshops/Schools

1. Workshop on Collaborative Scientific Software Development and Management of Open Source Scientific Packages, 9th: 10th, and 11th editions. International Consortium for Theoretical Physics (ICTP), Trieste, Italy. Nov 2022, 2023, 2024. Part of teaching team. Taught and mentored in data visualization and introductory python programming for physics researchers.
2. Bjerknes Data Visualization Workshop, University of Bergen, December 2023.
3. Share Your Science: Visualization for Communication. Autumn Research School in Artificial Intelligence Methods in Medical Imaging 2023. Sommarøy, Norway, September 2023.
4. Crash Course in Creating Biomedical Graphics. Bio+Med+Vis Summer School 2023. Norrköping, Sweden, September 2023.
5. Visualization and Communication. Bio+Med+Vis Spring School, Virtual, May 2021.

See a complete overview of publications in Cristin.

A more up-to-date publication list may be available at https://vis.uib.no/team/laura-garrison/ or via my Google Scholar profile.