What I do

My research interests include Human-Computer Interaction, Information Visualization and Data Analysis, User Experience Modeling, Reflective technologies, Interpretation systems, or Document and Knowledge Engineering. Application domains are related to education, culture, health, humanities… I focus on interdisciplinary approaches for the study of human-machine coupling and co-development and collaborate with people from sociology, psychology, ergonomy, anthropology, education science, philosophy, design, medecine, focusing on real world activities.

News (all)

Jun. 26: Publication of our paper on the lived content of Breaks in Presence. Breaks in presence (BIPs) are those moments when a user gets “out” of virtual reality, notably when they remember of the facticity of their virtual experience. Those breaks are not abrupt, they unfold temporally. Yet, surprisingly few authors have tried to characterize them phenomenologically. The main idea of this research is to use micro-phenomenology -a method for collecting and analyzing lived experiences- to study what actually happens during a break in presence in virtual reality. We collected the descriptions of BIPs experienced by 14 users of a height exposure VR application, some of them triggered by us (e.g. using external distractors), other spontaneously emerging. From this data we modeled 57 BIP episodes, bringing to light a variety of experiences and behaviors, and unearthing four generic diachronic patterns of BIP episodes. For example, reflected-upon BIPs correspond to the user feeling that something is wrong, then consciously making an inquiry to find the source of the problem, and upon finding it, getting back to presence. On the contrary, discarded BIPs correspond to user discarding the problem pre-reflectively, i.e. without thinking about it. This results lead us to propose an awareness-based definition of BIPs (the moments when a VR user becomes consciously aware of the reality outside VR or of the medium itself), as well as three BIP-related design opportunities. The paper is freely available here What’s in a BIP? Exploring the lived experiences of breaks in presence

Jan. 26: Presentation of our vision scenario for teleclinics for the elderly. At the “Old is Gold, innovations for our elders” session of the French psychiatrists’ association Encéphale congress, we presented with Ketty Steward our vision of what dematerialized and immersive mental health teleclinics in the Metaverse could be in a few years for the accompaniment of older patients, complementing the current care offer. The presentation is available online as a video entitled Metaverse against mood disorders. Towards an immersive teleclinic in psychiatry for the elderly. It took a lot of time, but it was very fun to play with Nano banana and Gemini to generate the images and the video.

Jul. 25: Publication of our main article on the Tecnis project. The paper is entitled Towards teleconsultations in the Metaverse - design and preliminary study of an immersive teleclinic for neuro-psychological assessment, it has been published in Frontiers in Virtual Reality. The Tecnis project was the occasion to explore what teleclinics in the Metaverse could be, where patients and practitioners would meet in social virtual reality and carry out health-related activities. With our interdisciplinary team, we focused on the particular case or neuropsychological testing, and designed a virtual immersive teleclinic where patients wait in a waiting room, are welcome by a neuropsychologist, then proceed to the consultation room where they can do desk-based cognitive tests in front of the practitioner, or standing tests with the practitioner at their side. The neuro-psychologist has a tablet both to control and monitor the tests, and to later debrief with the patient. Our evaluation show the clear value of the proposal as both types of users projected in the system. There was good usability and presence for patients, but clinicians expressed concerns about test validity and avatar quality. We continue our exploration of teleclinics in the Metaverse within the IPC4MH project on immersive prevention centers for junior and senior mental-health patients.

Recent publications (all)

Jean-Philippe Rivière, Roman Malo, Sarah Varlin-Grassi, Yannick Prié. (2026) What’s in a BIP? Exploring the lived experiences of breaks in presence in in Virtual Reality 30, 126 doi Show abstract Since late 2021 there has been increasing interest in the idea of the ‘metaverse’. This is a virtual, augmented or mixed reality system that potentially millions of people can simultaneously inhabit, and where people can interact with one another in real-time, irrespective of the physical distance between them. It is heralded by some as the next level ‘world wide web’, that will use a 3D immersive interface, with the potential to mix virtual and physical reality, with environments persistent over time, and interoperable between different platforms and devices. Yet today there is no true example of a metaverse, only a number of nascent examples. Here we discuss the technical foundations for such metaverses, the role of generative AI, possible impact on society -including education, healthcare and the quality of life, business and consumers, the future of work, and its implications for democracy. We also discuss public perceptions of the metaverse, issues of governance and regulation, and its legal implications. Overall, while the metaverse may radically and positively alter the way that we live, we must take into account ethical and regulatory issues, in order to avoid predictions of a dystopian future being realized. This paper is, therefore, a multi-disciplinary introduction to the metaverse concept that may be useful to readers with many different types of interest.

Yannick Prié, Ketty Steward. (2026) Supporting recovery with mental health teleclinics in the Metaverse in Human Rights in Immersive Realities (XR) - Freedom of Expression, Justice, Children’s Rights and Well-Being, Strasbourg, May 2026 Show abstract We analyze how mental health teleclinics in the Metaverse may support patient recovery focusing on the connectedness, identity, and empowerment dimensions of the CHIME framework. We then discuss how healthcare may be impacted by such teleclinics, and some associated limits, risks, as well as open questions.

Slater, M., Ciochina, R., Di Dalmazi, M., Gillies, M., Pan, X., Prié, Y., Sanchez-Vives, M., Skrzypczynski, P., & Steed, A. (Ed). (2026) Human Rights in Immersive Realities (XR): Freedom of Expression, Justice, Children’s Rights and Well-Being in Council of Europe, Strasbourg, France. doi Show abstract Immersive technologies such as virtual, augmented and mixed reality (XR) are increasingly shaping how individuals communicate, express themselves, interact with public authorities and participate in democratic life. While these technologies offer new opportunities for creativity, inclusion and participation, they also raise emerging challenges for human rights, democratic values and the rule of law. Building on the 2023 Council of Europe- IEEE report on the Metaverse and the Feasibility Study on Freedom of Expression in Immersive Realities adopted by the Steering Committee on Media and Information Society (CDMSI), this conference is conceived as a concrete follow-up to one of the study’s key conclusions: the need to continue and strengthen the Council of Europe’s alerting and awareness-raising function vis-à-vis member States at a stage when immersive technologies are still evolving. The conference also contributes to the consultation process towards a New Democratic Pact, by addressing how emerging technologies may affect democratic participation, trust in information spaces, inclusion, human dignity and the effective enjoyment of human rights.

Roman Malo, Yannick Prié. (2025) De l’humain au numérique : repenser l’alliance thérapeutique à l’ère de l’IA in 63ème congrès de la SFP, 10-12 dec 2025, Nantes, France Show abstract Nous proposons de penser les effets des « agents intelligents » dans l’écosystème de la santé mentale en étudiant ce que ces agents considérés comme des tiers font à l’alliance thérapeutique.