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Ben Auffarth, PhD

AI Consultant, Author & Researcher

I combine deep technical expertise with practical business acumen to help organizations succeed in their AI journey. With a PhD in Computer Science and over 20 years in data science and ML research, I bring both theoretical understanding and hands-on implementation skills to every project.

PhD Computer Science KTH Royal Institute of Technology
3 Published Books Including Amazon bestseller
20+ Years in AI & ML Research & industry combined
International Experience UK, Germany, Sweden, Japan, Spain, Greece

Highlights

570+ Research citations (h-index 11) £350k+ Book revenue
2 → 7 Team built at loveholidays
2 International research fellowships Marie Curie ITN (EU) & Monbukagakusho (Japan)
10–15% Marketing ROI improvement Plus real-time ML at <300ms latency

Published Books

  • Generative AI with LangChain (2023) — Amazon bestseller in Programming
  • Machine Learning for Time-Series with Python (2021)
  • Artificial Intelligence in Python Cookbook (2020) — BookAuthority best-seller
View All Books

Career

2025 – Present

Director & Chief Data Officer

Chelsea AI Ventures, London

Bridging the gap between AI innovation and production-ready systems for SMEs. Developing enterprise AI strategy, designing MLOps pipelines, and conducting technical due diligence.

2023 – 2024

Lead Data Scientist

Hastings Direct

Led ML initiatives in fraud detection and claims processing using Azure ML, Snowflake, and GenAI technologies.

2020 – 2023

Head of Data Science

loveholidays

Grew team from 2 to 7. Built automated marketing optimization improving ROI by 10–15%, ML-driven search relevance, and company-wide A/B testing framework.

2018 – 2020

Lead Data Scientist

Oleeo

Multi-GPU language models for candidate assessment, bias-aware ML systems, and production REST APIs. Led team of 6.

2015 – 2018

Data Scientist

MYJAR

Architected high-throughput decision engine (<300ms latency), ML models for credit risk, and automated forecasting systems.

2008 – 2014

Researcher

FORTH (Greece), Freie Universität Berlin, KTH (Sweden), Universitat de Barcelona

Marie Curie Fellowship. Large-scale modeling, HPC simulations on IBM supercomputers, and novel ML algorithms. Part of €2M EU FP7 project NEUROCHEM.

Education

2011 – 2012

PhD, Computer Science

KTH Royal Institute of Technology, Stockholm

Machine Learning Techniques with Application to the Early Olfactory System. Part of €2M EU FP7 research project. 300+ citations.

2006 – 2007

MSc, Artificial Intelligence

Universitat de Barcelona

Graduated Outstanding (8.6/10). Specialized in ML and feature selection methods.

2001 – 2006

BSc, Cognitive Science

Universität Osnabrück

Focus on AI and neuropsychology. Exchange semesters at Chuo University (Tokyo), METU (Ankara), and NBU (Sofia).

Services

Corporate Training
Executive Coaching
Application Development
Business Analytics
Custom Software & SaaS
UX Research
All Services

Beyond Work

When not consulting or writing, I spend time with my 7-year old son, who's currently deciding between becoming a professional football player or a machine learning engineer. I also practice Choi Kwang Do, constantly working on improvement — a philosophy I bring to both my martial arts and professional work.

I've lived and worked across six countries, speak several languages, and once volunteered teaching English, Russian, and programming to children in St Petersburg.

Ready to Learn from Ben?

Explore hands-on AI and data science training for teams and individuals — from GenAI and LLMs to MLOps and production ML systems.