Introducing data visualisation
Do you want to learn how to design state-of-the art data visualisations? This course is for you! Our webinars and reading materials showcase how you can use data to create inspiring and practical visualisations, and how it can be used to tell a story and take your audience on a journey.
About this course
- Level:
- Beginner
- Content:
- 10 lessons
- Theme:
- CommunicationImpactQuality
- Format:
- Webinar, Reading, Videos
- Audience:
- Journalists, Public sector, Non-governmental organisations, Academia, Data providers, Private sector
Lessons in this course
Through webinars and reading materials, you'll explore the creative possibilities and innovation that can be achieved with open data. Moreover, we'll show you how European Data Portal can support the use of open data for various purposes.

In this digital era, data visualisation is a critical asset and essential tool that allows people to grasp information in a second. This was also true during the first waves of the COVID-19 pandemic where open governmental data became crucial to sustaining and improving people’s quality of life. In this webinar, Barnaby Skinner highlightsa spectrum of impactful to less efficient examples of data repositories during the COVID-19 pandemic and shares a set of guidelines consisting of nine recommendations for data sharing policies by governmental bodies.
Furthermore, watch the session on 'The European Drug Report: using an open Data approach to improve data visualisation' where experts from the European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction discuss their experiences with data-driven approaches. They explore how open data has reshaped their reporting strategies, introducing more interactive visualisations. The webinar will also highlight the challenges and opportunities encountered in becoming a more data-centric organization.
- Level:
- Beginner
- Content:
- Videos
- Theme:
- ImpactCommunication

Can data truly be made available for everyone? In this webinar, Davide Vernassa explains how Knowage, a comprehensive open-source analytics and business intelligence platform, takes on this challenge and aims to make data accessible to visually impaired people.
- Level:
- Beginner
- Content:
- Videos
- Theme:
- Impact

Everyone produces data every day. This data represents aspects such as our daily life, our journeys, and our possessions. So, how can we exploit this? In this webinar, Caroline Goulard explains how to work with “hidden data” to visualise intangible phenomena and provides recommendations on how to collectively use it to improve our data ecosystems and create new services or improve existing ones.
- Level:
- Beginner
- Content:
- Videos
- Theme:
- CommunicationImpact

Data visualisation is as susceptible to misinterpretation and manipulation as any other communication method. How do you spot misleading visuals, prevent biases when selecting the context and visualisation, and ensure that data and visual literacy to prevent misinformation? In this webinar,Xaquin G.V. tackles these questions,highlights good practices for visualisation and presents relevant and recent examples of visuals on the topic of COVID-19 in the media.
- Level:
- Intermediate
- Content:
- Videos
- Theme:
- Impact

Evidence does not speak for itself – it must be communicated. But how can we use visualisation to create instant clarity from complex messages or data? Citizens, policymakers, and scientists all speak a different language how can we translate messages through powerful visualisations, and innovative communication? In this webinar, Darren McGarryaddresses these challenges and presents pragmatic solutions based on the knowledge and experience from Joint Research Centre experts, combined with lessons learned through collaboration with visualisation and storytelling experts from various domains.
- Level:
- Beginner
- Content:
- Videos
- Theme:
- Impact

Do you want to learn how to make data visualisations more impactful? In this webinar, Jovan Lekovic demonstrates how designing with aesthetics in mind is a step to improved data visualisations. Lekovic shares what we can learn from research in design aesthetics, and how that can help you create better-looking charts, visualisations, and reports.
- Level:
- Intermediate
- Content:
- Videos
- Theme:
- CommunicationImpact

Do you want to learn about exceptional data visualisations and when to use them? In this lesson, you’ll discover reading materials that dive into how you can boost your data analysis and visualisation, go beyond basic bar graphs and pie charts, and learn how to use the JavaScript library D3.js. You’ll also find a webinar with Maarten Lambrechts that highlights how some non-standard charts and figures can help to communicate specific data.
- Level:
- Advanced
- Content:
- Reading, Videos
- Theme:
- Quality

Do you want to improve your storytelling techniques with data? In this lesson, you’ll discover reading materials that illustrate how information can be used in data visualisation. Through the webinar with Maarten Lambrechts,you’ll also learn journalistic techniques in data visualisation that allow for effective storytelling.
- Level:
- Beginner
- Content:
- Reading, Videos
- Theme:
- Impact

Already know the basics of data visualisation and want to improve? In this lesson, you’ll discover reading materials that illustrate how to assure data quality for visualisation, how to apply best practices on use cases, and how to do this without coding. Through the webinar with Maarten Lambrechts, you’ll also be shown practical guidelines for effective data visualisation, given concrete tools and learn to avoid common pitfalls.
- Level:
- Beginner
- Content:
- Reading, Videos
- Theme:
- Communication

In this three-part training series on data visualisation you will learn how to turn complex data into clear, ethical, and engaging visuals. Led by data visualisation expert and professor Alberto Cairo, each 90-minute episode combines theory, hands-on practice, and curated materials to help you design visualisations that communicate insights effectively.
- Level:
- Intermediate
- Content:
- Webinar, Reading
- Theme:
- CommunicationImpact