Description du sujet de thèse

Aphasia is a language disorder, often linked to a stroke, that can variably affect speech, comprehension, reading, or writing abilities (Repetto et al., 2021). It poses significant challenges for those affected, particularly in social interactions and daily autonomy. Speech therapy helps support these patients, but rehabilitation is often limited in time and requires complementary support, especially outside therapy sessions.
In recent years, various digital tools have emerged to address these needs: mobile apps, training software, and communication aids (Oussama et al., 2021; Phosanarack et al., 2025). Although promising, these technologies sometimes struggle to effectively sustain patients' learning throughout their rehabilitation journey and may not adapt to the evolution of their abilities. Rehabilitation is a complex process that requires the patient's active engagement, yet personalization in current technologies is often restricted to communicative interactions (written, oral, and informational) provided via digital platforms. Dimensions of adaptability and engagement remain insufficiently explored or only partially integrated in existing approaches.
A promising path is to integrate, from the design phase, techniques from Digital Behaviour Change Interventions (DBCI) and Digital Health Interventions (DHI) (Pinder et al., 2018). Many DBCIs incorporate multiple behaviour change techniques (e.g., goal setting, feedback, reinforcement), but their selection is often unguided by theory. This disorganized approach can lead to ineffective combinations or contradictory mechanisms of action (Michie et al., 2013). Their implementation must be carefully tailored to the cognitive, emotional, and interactional characteristics of people with aphasia, requiring a rigorous ergonomic, user-centered approach (Barcenilla & Bastien, 2009).
This PhD will contribute to a better understanding of the levers of engagement and empowerment for people with aphasia in a technology-assisted rehabilitation context. Combining insights from social sciences, ergonomics, and human-computer interaction (HCI), it aims to identify the conditions of use, barriers, and facilitators specific to this population. Through a user-centered design approach, involving patients and healthcare professionals at each stage, this research will define appropriate design principles respectful of users' cognitive and emotional abilities and will produce a prototype to be tested and evaluated.

Activities / Work plan and resources
The PhD will follow these steps:
• Conduct a state of the art on DBCI, especially those including personalization and engagement mechanisms applied to healthcare and rehabilitation.
• Analyze existing systems (mobile applications, technological aids, augmentative communication systems, etc.) supporting people with aphasia, with particular attention to adaptive strategies used to address heterogeneous user profiles.
• Implement a user-centered approach involving people with aphasia, caregivers, and healthcare professionals. This includes needs assessment, co-design of adapted digital solutions (e.g., multimodal technologies, adaptive interfaces), and prototype evaluation.

Required skills
The candidate must hold a Master's degree (Master 2) in Ergonomics, preferably recognized by the Junior Certified Ergonomist (EJC) certification. They should show strong interest in user-centered design and innovation, as well as multidisciplinary research, particularly in ergonomics and HCI.
Excellent oral and written French is essential for research activities and collaboration with local stakeholders. Proficiency in English is also desirable.

Supervision
• Christophe Kolski, Professor of Computer Science, PhD supervisor
• Christian Bastien, Professor of Psychology and Ergonomics, co-supervisor
• Eugénie Avril, Associate Professor in Ergonomics, co-supervisor
• Sophie Lepreux, Associate Professor in Computer Science, co-supervisor

Contexte de travail

The PhD will take place at LAMIH-UMR CNRS 8201, Université Polytechnique Hauts-de-France, Valenciennes, France. It is part of the JCJC ANR TeCAPE project (Technology for engagement and personalized support of people with aphasia in rehabilitation).
The candidate will join a research team with extensive experience in ergonomics and HCI, particularly in the design and evaluation of interactive systems, adaptive and personalized interaction, and context-aware systems, applied across multiple domains including healthcare.

Le poste se situe dans un secteur relevant de la protection du potentiel scientifique et technique (PPST), et nécessite donc, conformément à la réglementation, que votre arrivée soit autorisée par l'autorité compétente du MESR.

Contraintes et risques

The research will take place in a ZRR (Restricted Access Zone) laboratory, therefore the candidate's application file must be validated by the UPHF security and defense officer.
Given the specific nature of the unit, closures are imposed by the UPHF: 4 weeks for the summer closure, 2 weeks at the end of the year, 1 week during the winter holidays, and 1 week during the spring holidays. The recruited agent will be required to take their leave during these periods.