PhD Position in Local Crowd Simulation and Augmented Reality for Event Planning

This PhD position at Inria’s Rennes center focuses on advancing crowd simulation and authoring through augmented reality (AR) to enhance large-scale event planning. The project, part of the PEAR ANR-funded collaboration between Inria, LIST, and French emergency services, aims to shift from traditional global crowd simulations to localized, interactive AR-based tools. The candidate will design AR paradigms for on-site crowd scenario exploration, integrate real-world semantic cues, and evaluate usability with non-expert users. The work will directly inform real-world applications, including New Year’s Eve planning on the Champs-Élysées, and validate broader applicability across festival sites like Hellfest and Paléo.

• Design and implement an AR-based local crowd authoring paradigm, enabling on-site interactive configuration of crowd behaviors without full site re-computation.
• Develop methods to ground AR-based crowd simulations in real-world semantic cues, leveraging Interaction Fields and AR sensing technologies.
• Collaborate with the AR platform development team to integrate local authoring tools into the broader PEAR framework.
• Conduct usability evaluations with non-expert users (e.g., event organizers, safety officers) using metrics like task completion time, NASA-TLX, and SUS scores.
• Contribute to the construction of a digital twin for the Champs-Élysées New Year’s Eve event and evaluate immersive crowd planning scenarios with LCPP.
• Participate in on-site evaluations at Hellfest and Paléo festivals to validate the applicability of the developed tools across different event formats.
• Publish findings in peer-reviewed conferences and journals, and complete a PhD thesis within 3 years.