Jul 2024 to Feb 2025
Aix-Marseille University, France
Seven-month research stay collaborating with Prof. Magalie Ochs and her team on natural language processing and computational linguistics.
Research
Studying and improving human communication
My research asks how technology can help people communicate better, and how that improvement can be measured rigorously. It spans the design of immersive training environments, the multimodal measurement of communicative behaviour, and the fairness of interactions between humans and artificial agents.
Areas
Research areas
Data Science & Artificial Intelligence
Machine learning and the analysis of multimodal data such as speech, voice, language, and nonverbal behaviour, used to model how people communicate and how artificial agents are perceived.
Mathematics & Statistics
Statistical modelling and the design of user-centred, explainable metrics that turn empirical observation into actionable insight for education and research.
Immersive Technologies & Human-Machine Interaction
Virtual reality, embodied conversational agents, presence and perception, and the socio-affective dynamics of immersive and hybrid environments.
Current project
What I am working on now
2025-2027 · INRIA Paris
TRUST: Transparent and Responsible Unbiased Social Teams
A two-year postdoctoral project funded by the PEPR eNSEMBLE programme (€168,960), carried out at INRIA Paris under Prof. Chloé Clavel and Prof. Magalie Ochs. TRUST studies how bias, in particular gender bias, arises in multimodal human-agent collaboration, and develops approaches to observe, simulate, and mitigate it, so that hybrid human-agent teams interact more fairly.
Doctoral research
Virtual reality & analytics for communication skills
My Ph.D. at HEC Liège (University of Liège, 2019-2025) developed a multidisciplinary framework for public speaking training in virtual reality. The thesis combined the theoretical modelling of persuasive competencies, the design and validation of immersive training environments with virtual audiences, integration into university curricula, and the multimodal evaluation of communicative performance, drawing on speech, voice, and nonverbal behaviour.
A central output of this work is EVE, an acted audiovisual corpus of validated emotional expressions, created to support emotion analysis and the design of expressive conversational agents. The dissertation, Virtual reality and analytics to enhance communication skills: A multidisciplinary approach, was defended in 2025.
International experience
Research stays
May 2023
Manchester Metropolitan University, United Kingdom
One-month research stay collaborating with Prof. Timothy Jung and his team.
Funding
Research funding & grants
2025
PEPR eNSEMBLE: TRUST
Authored a two-year postdoctoral project, Transparent and Responsible Unbiased Social Teams, under the supervision of Prof. Chloé Clavel and Prof. Magalie Ochs.
2025
Interreg Grande Région: 4VIR Health
Contribution to the preparation of 4VIR Health, on virtual reality training for nurses in communication skills.
2024
Research Stay Grant, Marseille
Authored the project proposal for a six-month research stay at Aix-Marseille University.
2022
CDR-SH, University of Liège: EVE
Authored the EVE project proposal, coordinated with Prof. Michaël Schyns.
2021
Interreg EMR: Digital Twin Academy
Contribution to project preparation and scientific input to the proposal.
2020
CDR-SH, University of Liège: ADAM
Contribution to the ADAM project proposal, led by Prof. Michaël Schyns.
Recognition
Awards & honours
2025
Best Paper Award in Immersive Technologies
For the most innovative and impactful scientific contribution in immersive technologies.
2025
Best Participant in the Metaverse
For the most outstanding engagement during the AIRSI 2025 conference.
2025
Rising Star
For exceptional early-career research achievements and demonstrated academic potential.
2022
Best Participant in the Metaverse
For the most outstanding engagement during the AIRSI 2022 conference.
2021
Mini-Hackathon Ethias: Winning Team
For the most effective solution built during a six-hour hackathon at the RSSB Annual Meeting.
2019
Hackathon WeCargo: Winning Team
For the most feasible and innovative solution in the WeCargo logistics hackathon.
2014
Prix d'Excellence
For outstanding academic excellence.
Community
Scientific memberships
Association for Computing Machinery (ACM)2024-2026
International Speech Communication Association (ISCA)2023-2024
Royal Statistical Society of Belgium (RSSB)2021-2022
Belgian Association for Psychological Sciences (BAPS)2021-2022
Belgian Operational Research Society (ORBEL)2020-2025
Service
Institutional responsibility
2021-2025
Representative of the Scientific Staff, HEC Research Board
Represented the scientific staff on the faculty research board.
2021-2025
PhD Representative, University Level
Represented doctoral researchers within the university-wide PhD network.