PhD Position F/M Authoring interactive public science lectures - Inria : Job Details

Fonction : Doctorant

The Inria Saclay-Île-de-France Research Centre was established in 2008. It has developed as part of the Saclay site in partnership with Paris-Saclay University and with the Institut Polytechnique de Paris.

The centre has 40 project teams, 27 of which operate jointly with Paris-Saclay University and the Institut Polytechnique de Paris; Its activities involve over 600 people, including scientists and research support staff from 44 different nationalities.

The project is a collaboration between Theophanis Tsandilas, a researcher at Inria Saclay, and Julien Bobroff, a physics professor at Université Paris-Saclay and a renowned science popularizer.

The scientific contributions of the PhD thesis will focus on Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) research, aligning with Theophanis Tsandilas's expertise. The PhD student will be hosted by ex)situ, an Inria team at the Laboratoire Interdisciplinaire des Sciences du Numérique at Université Paris-Saclay, which has extensive experience in multidisciplinary collaborations.

Julien Bobroff and his team, La Physique Autrement, will oversee the design process, leveraging their expertise in science communication. This team uniquely combines innovation, public testing, and research in communication sciences and pedagogy. Over the past decade, they have designed over 300 original science communication projects across various formats. Julien has an audience of nearly a million followers across social networks like TikTok, Instagram, and YouTube.

The PhD is fully funded by the Université Paris-Saclay through the SPRINGCS 2025 program, covering expenses for equipment and conference participation.

Scientific objectives and challenges

Traditional science lectures are often static, relying on pre-designed slides. There is a need for innovative tools that enable speakers to present more interactively and spontaneously, engaging audiences and conveying complex concepts and phenomena that are hard to communicate verbally or visually. Our goal is to develop flexible presentation tools that enhance interactivity, storytelling, and audience engagement, fostering a more equal connection between scientists and the public.

As Julien Bobroff explains, although quantum physics concepts are challenging to visualize, even experts need mental images of the phenomena. He has explored visual representations and lecture formats that combine physical artifact manipulation with visual projections. We aim to extend these with interactive visuals that improve communication and physical interaction during presentations. This involves creating authoring tools that allow speakers to:

• Easily create custom visuals without coding
• Embed interactive behaviors and semantic meanings
• Synchronize visuals with live interactions and input methods

While current popular science videos use narrative techniques, they rely heavily on post-production editing. Our focus is to empower scientists to create and stage interactive, live demonstrations, exploring new presentation formats and public engagement opportunities.

State of the art

Research in Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) has developed tools supporting complex cognitive processes through dynamic, manipulable representations. However, creating flexible tools that balance structure and creative freedom remains a challenge. Relevant systems include:

• Tools for custom visual representations: e.g., DataGarden, RealitySketch, and augmented reality headsets, which support sketching, augmenting real-world scenes, and interactive visualizations.
• Augmented lectures: systems that synchronize visuals with speaker gestures, though often script-based and inflexible.
• Augmented physics: interfaces that augment real-world experiments with dynamic sketches, or transform static diagrams into interactive simulations, though not designed for live audiences.

Methodology

Our approach relies on iterative, user-centered design, driven by real-world scenarios. Key steps include:

• Developing a typology of visualization techniques used by scientists and illustrators for quantum physics
• Creating a domain-specific diagrammatic notation based on this typology
• Building prototypes and collecting feedback from speakers and audiences
• Designing and evaluating authoring tools for physicists to structure visuals and embed interactions

Our aim is to disseminate results widely and showcase examples during public lectures.

Expected results

We anticipate contributions across empirical, theoretical, technical, and pedagogical domains. Our goal is to publish in top HCI conferences (e.g., ACM CHI, ACM UIST) and journals (e.g., ACM TOCHI, IEEE TVCG). Success will be measured by prototype use in public dissemination and audience feedback.

Key references include works on augmented presentations, interactive visualizations, and physics communication, such as:

• Elastica: Adaptive live augmented presentations (Cao et al., 2024)
• Multi-view collaboration in AR (Fages et al., 2022)
• Interactive paper substrates for musical creation (Garcia et al., 2012)
• Augmented physics simulations from static diagrams (Gunturu et al., 2024)
• RealitySketch: Embedding graphics in AR (Suzuki et al., 2020)

The ideal candidate will have a background in Computer Science or Engineering, strong technical skills, and ideally a Master's in Human-Computer Interaction or related fields like interaction design, visualization, or computer graphics. Physics background is not required but interest in science popularization is essential. Given the application context involving French-speaking audiences, proficiency in French is highly desirable.

• Partial reimbursement of public transport costs
• 7 weeks of annual leave + 10 RTT days + possibility of additional leave
• Potential for teleworking after 6 months and flexible hours
• Provision of professional equipment (computers, videoconferencing)
• Participation in social, cultural, and sports activities