Franck Vidal

Biography

Franck is a computational scientist in imaging at the Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC), the research arm of UK Research and Innovation (UKRI). His research focuses on image analysis and computer vision, mathematical optimisation, and high-performance computing. He is particularly interested in X-ray Computed Tomography (CT), investigating how high-performance computational simulations can improve experimental X-ray imaging.

Franck has held research positions in France, Wales and the United States of America and developed a keen interest in large multi-disciplinary research projects. He completed his MRes in Imaging and Systems at Institut National des Sciences Appliquées de Lyon (INSA-Lyon), France, in 2003, working in close collaboration with the European Synchrotron Radiation Facility (ESRF), a pan-Europe large scale particle accelerator. He mathematically modelled the experimental response of X-ray detectors to remove artefacts in 3D tomography. Franck achieved his PhD research in the School of Computer Science at Bangor University in 2008. His research area addressed medical virtual environments, particularly for interventional radiology training. He worked on a simulator for ultrasound guided needle puncture: BIGNePSi (Bangor Image Guided Needle Puncture Simulator). Following up his PhD research, he worked as a research officer in the School of Computer Science at Bangor University.He was the technical lead of a large multi-disciplinary project on the implementation and validation of ImaGINe-S (Imaging Guided Interventional Needle Simulation), a VR Simulator for Visceral Needle Puncture funded under the Health Technology Devices (HTD) Programme. ImaGINe-S was awarded 2nd place in the Eurographics 2009 Medical Prize “for its innovative use of computer graphics in a complex system that is already far advanced towards clinical use. In late 2008, he took a secondment position at INRIA Saclay—Île-de-France (the French national research institute in computer science and automation) and the French Atomic Commission where he was investigating novel tomography reconstruction algorithms in nuclear medicine. He then worked at the Department of Radiation Oncology of the University of California, San Diego (UCSD) where he developed Compton scattering computations on GPU. As part of his position, Franck had clinical duties including the monthly testing and calibration of the medical particle accelerators. In 2011, Franck went back, 1st to INRIA Saclay—Île-de-France to investigate multimodal visualisation of MRI data, 2nd to Bangor University to take up a lectureship position in Computer Science. He was promoted to Senior Lecturer in 2018 and Reader in 2023.

Franck has been awarded grants from the European Commission, European Synchrotron Radiation Facilities (ESRF), Diamond Light Source, NVIDIA, Santander, Fisheries Society of the British Isles, and the Royal Academy of Engineering. Since 2017, he is the secretary of EGUK, the UK Chapter of the Eurographics. Franck has ~70 peer reviewed scientific articles.

He is developing an opensource toolkit, gVirtualXray (gVXR), to simulate realistic X-ray images in realtime. gVXR is used by many scientists in the field of X-ray imaging. People use gVXR:
- To develop VR medical simulations for training purposes,
- To create large training datasets of X-ray images in AI/ML applications,
- In microtomography (micro-CT) for material science,
- To study the causes of artefact in X-ray micro-CT,
- To design new clinical imaging techniques,
- To teach particle physics and X-ray imaging,
- To simulate realistic data with patient respiration,
- To improve non-destructive testing of batteries to shorten their development time, hence reducing costs.