Dr. Lars Ballieu Christensen

Lars Ballieu Christensen (born 1963) works with information technology and design for people with special needs. He founded Sensus, a research-based consultancy organization, in the mid-1980s. Since then he has advised governments, national and international organizations, academic institutions and private companies on accessibility, inclusive design and access to digital information. Dr. Christensen is the inventor or co-inventor of a number of innovative enabling technologies, including the award-winning RoboBraille service (an automated alternative media conversion service); PharmaBraille (an email-based Braille translation service for the pharmaceutical industry); Biblus (a digital library system for educational material); Motto Captura/CapturaTalk (a mobile solution for the dyslexic); SB4 (multilingual Braille translation); and ForkBra (the first PC-based Braille translation solution in Denmark).  

Since its inception in 2004, Dr. Christensen has directed all RoboBraille projects on behalf of Synscenter Refsnæs, the National Danish Center for Visually impaired Children and Youth. He also serves as Director of the RoboBraille Consortium, an international network of organizations using and promoting the RoboBraille service.

An active accessibility advocate and recognized authority on digital accessibility, Dr. Christensen is the author of many articles and academic papers in Danish and international journals on accessibility, inclusion, information technology, disability and alternative media. He has co-authored the Danish guidelines for accessible web design and is a member of the Danish Expert Committee on Accessibility at the National IT and Telecom Agency and of the Danish Standards Expert Committee on IT Accessibility. He regularly lectures at universities and conferences on web accessibility, information technology and alternative media. 

Dr. Christensen holds Master’s degrees in computer science and journalism from the University of Roskilde, Denmark. In 1996 he was awarded a Ph.D. degree in Computer Science and Communication by the University of Roskilde in recognition of his dissertation “Applying Information Technology as an Intelligent Interface for the Blind.”