Portrait of Yun Wang

Yun Wang

Senior Researcher

About

I am a Senior Researcher at Microsoft Research Asia, working at the intersection of Human-Computer Interaction (HCI), Information Visualization (VIS), Artificial Intelligence (AI), and Data Science (DS). My research focuses on enhancing human productivity and creativity through AI-powered data exploration, information visualization, knowledge communication, and visual storytelling systems. By integrating automation, interactivity, and collaboration, I develop techniques and tools that empower knowledge workers, visual designers, and data analysts to create, communicate, and interact with information more effectively [Google Scholar].

 

We’re hiring research interns in both Beijing and Hong Kong! If you’re interested in potential collaborations, please email wangyun@microsoft.com.

 

 

Research Focus & Contributions

More specifically, my work in the last decade spans AI-driven system design and human-AI collaboration to enhance information exploration, collection, creativity, and storytelling.

AI-Powered Creativity Techniques I develop AI-driven techniques to automate visual storytelling, media generation, and knowledge communication, enabling more effective and expressive information design.

Data Exploration & Visual Storytelling Systems I design AI-powered systems for complex cognitive tasks, including data analysis, visualization, knowledge synthesis, and creative content generation. These systems empower users to digest complex information and express ideas more effectively.

Human-AI Collaboration & Interaction Design  I study human-AI interaction patterns and optimize the way humans and AI work together, focusing on interaction workflows, adaptive assistance, and role assignment.

  • Adaptive AI assistance – AI systems that learn from human knowledge, preferences, and experiences to support collaborative workflows, such as comparison, assessment, and visual programming
  • Interaction workflows –  more intuitive ways for humans to interact with AI in creative and analytical tasks, such as this interview study on people’s expectations, as well as attempts of natural language and conversational interface for analysis and authoring [GridBook, VisTalk]
  • Human-AI collaboration frameworks – formalizing models and taxonomies for effective human-AI teamwork, including AI for Visualization such as the research framework and survey on human-AI Collaboration [Where are we so far?] and our taxonomy on AI4VIS

 

My research has been published in top venues, including ACM CHI, IEEE VIS, IEEE TVCG, ACM UIST. For detailed information, please refer to the recent publications and Google Scholar ‪page.

 

Our recent work explores the integration of large language models (LLMs) into creativity tools. LLMs serve dual purposes in our research – not only fueling the initial stages of creative processes, but also seamlessly integrate different media modalities. In systems like Live Charts, Data Playwright, Narrative Player, and Data Player, LLMs are used to ground users text input to other modalities, such as visuals and video, and facilitate human users to create dynamic and interactive presentations. This approach opens up new possibilities for content creation by leveraging both user-driven exploration and AI-facilitated generation, providing AI support throughout the creative workflow.

 

I obtained my Ph.D. from the Department of Computer Science and Engineering of Hong Kong University of Science and Technology under the supervision of Prof. Huamin Qu and Prof. Qiong Luo. During my Ph.D. study, I visited Oxford University as a research scholar, hosted by Prof. Min Chen. Before that, I received my B.Eng. in Software Engineering from Fudan University and B.Sc. in Computer Science (Joint Degree) from University College Dublin.

 

 

 

 

 

– News –

Jan  2025 Narrative Player: Reviving Data Narratives with Visuals explores how to generate data-rich documents from plain text. The work is recently accepted by TVCG! Congrats to my intern Zekai and the team.

Oct  2024 Data playwright, a novel LLM-powered system for data video creation, is accepted by TVCG. Congrats to Leixian.

May 2024 Our two papers Piet, and Where are We so Far: Data Storytelling Tools from the Perspective of Human-AI Collaboration accepted by CHI 2024 won Best Paper and Honorable Mention Award!

Mar 2024  Our paper Piet for facilitating color authoring, and our survey on Data Storytelling Tools from the Perspective of Human-AI Collaboration was accepted by CHI 2024!

Oct 2023   Our paper Data Player and Emordle were presented at IEEE VIS 2023.

Oct 2023   Our paper Wakey-Wakey was presented at ACM UIST 2023.

Apr 2023   Our paper GeoCamera, Notable, and NetworkNarratives were presented at CHI 2023.

Oct 2022   Our paper Galvis has won Best Paper honorable mention in CIKM 2022. Congrats to Leixian and co-authors.

Oct 2022   Our paper ChartStamp was presented at ACM MM!

Oct 2022   Our paper VisTalk and the AI4VIS survey was presented at IEEE VIS 2022.

Sep 2022   My Intern Haotian Li has been awarded 2022 Microsoft Research PhD Fellow. Only 12 awardees in Asia. Congrats!

Jun 2022   I have presented Investigating the Role and Interplay of Narrations and Animations in Data Videos at EuroVis 2022, Rome.

Apr 2022   Our research OneLabeler: A Flexible System for Building Data Labeling Tools was presented at CHI 2022, New Orleans.

Mar 2022   Our research GridBook: Natural Language Formulas for the Spreadsheet Grid was presented at IUI!

Feb 2022   We have three papers accepted for presentation at ACM CHI 2022, EuroVis 2022, and IUI 2022.

Oct 2021   Our paper on reusing infographic charts and designing analytical dashboards with deep learning was presented at IEEE VIS 2021.

Oct 2021   My Intern Aoyu Wu has been awarded 2021 Microsoft Research PhD Fellow. Only 11 awardees in Asia. Congrats!

Jul 2021   Invited Talk @ ChinaVis 2021: AI-Powered Design of Data Storytelling.

Jul 2021   Our paper, Multivision: Designing Analytical Dashboards with Deep Learning-Based Recommendation and A Mixed-Initiative Approach to Reusing Infographic Charts is accepted by VIS 2021.

Jul 2021   Check out our survey on AI4VIS: Survey on Artificial Intelligence Approaches for Data Visualization, accepted by TVCG.

Jun 2021   Our technique InfoMotion, generating animations automatically from static infographics, is presented at EuroVis 2021.

May 2021   Our Technique LQ2 for automated suggesting of chart layout is presented at CHI 2021.

Nov 2020   Invited Talk @ ChinaVis 2020: (1) Recent Advances of AI for VIS. (2) AI-Powered Design of Visualizations and Infographics.

Oct 2020   We have 2 papers presented at IEEE VIS conference. (1) Chartem: Reviving Chart Images with Data Embedding and (2) Improving Engagement of Animated Visualization with Visual Foreshadowing.

Aug 2020   Invited Talks @ CAD&CG 2020: How to Conduct Research on Data Storytelling

Oct 2019   This year we have 6 papers presented at IEEE VIS conference. I presented three of them!

Jul 2019   Invited Talk @ ChinaVis 2019: Authoring and Assessing Visualizations for Data Storytelling.

Aug 2019   IEEE CG&A has published our viewpoints “An Emotional Response to the Value of Visualization”!

Aug 2019   Our research was featured the cover story of IEEE CG&A. Thanks Gary Singh for the interview!

 

 

 

– Media –

[MSRA News] Democratize Data Visualization | Automatic Generation of Visualization and Charts (Chinese Article)

[CG&A – Cover Story] My research story Hungry for data interviewed by Gary Singh was featured the cover story of IEEE CG&A.

[MSRA News] CHI 2018 Conference Sharing [1] [2] (Chinese)

[HKUST CSE Department – Research Updates] Data Edibilization (Chinese)

[HKUST CSE Department – News] Google Anita Borg Scholarship