Contract Researcher: Embodied Conversational Agents and Adaptation of the Learning Experience in Immersive Environments

Mission

Designing and evaluating embodied conversational agents, based on generative AI, that adapt the interaction with the learner to what they have just experienced in an immersive or interactive environment, and studying the effect of their representation, role and behaviour on engagement, curiosity, understanding and trust.

Principal activities

• Designing virtual characters and their variations in representation and animation;

• Integrating grounded generative agents and interaction-adaptation mechanisms;

• Designing and running user studies across two learning contexts;

• Contributing to generalising the approach across the two partner teams' environments;

• Scientific dissemination and involvement in student supervision.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

Application dates

From 23/10/2026 to 23/11/2026

Type of contract and anticipated starting date

Fixed-term contract – expected duration of 24 months – to start as soon as possible

Gross monthly salary

Depending on experience and funding

Hours

1,607 hours per year

Work environment and context

This position is part of the PostGenAI@Paris cluster, winner of the "IA-Cluster" call for expressions of interest (France 2030, €35M over five years), led by Sorbonne Université, and more specifically of its Collaborative Acceleration Programme "Integrated multimodal AI to adapt learning content to multiple users' needs". It is jointly carried by the Heudiasyc laboratory (UTC, UMR CNRS 7253) and the MOCAH team at LIP6 (Sorbonne Université), and builds on the ANR ITS-STORY project, which is developing a mixed-reality experience for memorial mediation at the Mémorial de Royallieu. Based at Heudiasyc, Compiègne, with regular stays at LIP6.

Skills

Experience with virtual environments and characters and with user studies is expected; familiarity with generative models is a plus.

Qualification required

PhD in computer science or a related discipline.

Experience

First postdoctoral post strongly preferred.