My main research interests are in Visual Data Analysis and in applied 3D Object Retrieval. The research questions we are tackling in our group include, among others, how large collections of data, e.g., high-dimensional and spatial-temporal data, and 3D object data, can be visually explored and analysed for data understanding and decision making. We are researching how users can interactively search for visual patterns in data, assisted by similarity functions, visual quality measures, and novel search interfaces, including approaches based on user sketching and eye tracking. We are interested in how to interactively visualize and steer machine-learning approaches like clustering and regression analysis by users, supporting effective and scalable data exploration. Our considered application areas include among others, data exploration for engineering and industrial applications, in research data repositories, and digital libraries.