Dr. Uta Hinrichs is the director of SACHI. She joined SACHI as a lecturer in June 2015, after working as a Research Fellow at the group. Uta received her PhD in Computer Science with a specialization in Computational Media Design from the University of Calgary in Canada where she was with the InnoVis Group. Uta also holds a Diplom (equiv. to MSc) in Computational Visualistics from the University of Magdeburg in Germany.
Uta’s research is at the intersection of visualization, HCI, design, the humanities, and art. Her work focuses on designing and studying the use and experience of interactive systems that facilitate the exploration and analysis of (cultural) data collections from academic, leisurely, and artistic perspectives. Her research approach is interdisciplinary, drawing not only from various areas of Computer Science but also from other fields such as Design, Information Sciences, Media Arts, and Philosophy.
Recent works include collaborations with literary scholars and historians, where Uta designed and studied visualizations that can facilitate the exploration of large-scale, untapped cultural collections, such as science fiction stories, literature around the city of Edinburgh (Palimpsest/LitLong Edinburgh), or 19th century commodity trading documents (Trading Consequences project).