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PhD in Mixed Reality and Building Digital Twins: Situated Analytics and Decision Support

Project 1463 · Université Toulouse Capitole / Université de Sherbrooke · IRIT / DOMUS; BEST MSCA COFUND

Application workspace

Save this opportunity and prepare around its actual requirements. Confirm deadlines and eligibility at the original source.

Read the research report View the recruitment source
Country or region
France
Application deadline
2026-11-23 (confirm the exact time with the source)
Funding
BEST MSCA COFUND doctoral employment contract described as fully funded; funding is assigned only to topics selected by successful candidates. Salary, contract duration, social coverage and France–Canada travel and living terms are unspecified.

The research opportunity

PhD in Mixed Reality and Building Digital Twins: Situated Analytics and Decision Support

Research project

The project proposes combining mixed reality with a building digital twin so that users can view spatial and temporal data on site, understand changes and support building management or decisions. The stated themes are immersive presentation, situated visualization and interaction with digital twins. The description does not fix a sensor, software platform, experiment design or evaluation metric. The French research partner is IRIT/ELIPSE in Toulouse; the Canadian partner is DOMUS at Université de Sherbrooke.

The project materials name Toulouse Capitole as the degree-awarding institution and Professors Emmanuel Dubois and Charles Gouin-Vallerand as co-supervisors. International co-supervision and a partner-lab stay do not by themselves establish a signed France–Canada cotutelle or double degree. Registration, employer, credits, progress reviews and time in each country depend on the final agreement.

Funding, application and dates

The topic is described as a fully funded doctoral employment contract under BEST, an MSCA COFUND programme. Funding is assigned only to topics selected by successful candidates, so the listing does not mean this topic has already been funded for a particular applicant. The stated application deadline is 23 November 2026. Project materials propose a 1 September 2027 start, while the short listing record created on 26 September says “as soon as possible”; confirm the intended schedule. The saved material does not verify current topic availability.

  • Applicants must hold a Master's degree or equivalent by the deadline and must not already hold a doctorate. The listed experience is in mixed, extended, augmented or virtual reality, with a strong interest in human–computer interaction and data visualization.
  • The MSCA mobility rule allows no more than 12 months' residence in France during the 36 months before the application deadline. Check this against personal residence records. Chinese nationality is not listed as an exclusion in the saved material.
  • BEST says applications are submitted in English through ADUM. Confirm the complete document list and whether the topic and programme use the same deadline.

The available materials do not give this topic's salary, contract duration, social coverage, Canada-stay schedule, travel or visa support, accommodation costs or tuition terms. A French student budget is background only and cannot substitute for a cross-border employment budget. An MR prototype, spatiotemporal data example or user-evaluation plan can help demonstrate fit; none is stated as an extra required document. No job or internship outcome is guaranteed.

Questions to resolve

Before applying, confirm residence eligibility, the formal application steps and how topic funding is awarded. Ask how the two supervisors divide work, how long the Sherbrooke stay lasts, which working language is expected, and what headsets, building data and user-study resources are allocated. Before accepting, confirm the employer, degree institution, cotutelle status, contract term, salary and benefits, and who pays tuition, travel, visas and accommodation in both countries.

Relevant links

Research and application brief

Report generated: . This date does not confirm that recruitment remains open.

Information updated: . Recheck the original notice before applying.

Show report contents

PhD in Mixed Reality and Building Digital Twins: Situated Analytics and Decision Support

Research fit and central question

Standing inside a building, how can a user interpret its current condition, historical changes and the temporal information in its digital twin? This computer-science doctorate combines mixed reality, situated visualization and human-computer interaction to support that judgment. IRIT in France and DOMUS in Canada bring complementary research backgrounds. The funding mechanism is crucial: BEST funds only subjects chosen by successful candidates, so an advertised topic is not a scholarship already assigned to its reader. The formal call and personal contract must settle that decision.

Research question and proposed work

What needs to be demonstrated

The proposal asks how a digital twin's spatial and temporal information can be interpreted in the physical building through mixed reality. A useful thesis must solve registration, data freshness, visual clutter and the link from display to decisions, then test whether users actually make better decisions. Related timeline and MR interaction papers show methodological activity, but none establish the proposed building system's effectiveness. Exploring Concave 3D Timelines in RV (2025) Hand interaction designs in mixed reality (2023) Ambient sensor activity-recognition study

Possible doctoral comparisons

  1. Synchronize building events and twin history with on-site MR views and quantify misalignment.
  2. Compare situated visualization with conventional dashboards on task accuracy, time and cognitive load.
  3. Study transitions among physical observation, past states and simulated future states.

These are evidence-backed research options, not declared work packages.

School, programme and doctoral training

The project materials name Toulouse Capitole as the degree-awarding institution, with international co-supervision at Sherbrooke. BEST is a University of Toulouse MSCA COFUND framework planning 37 doctoral recruits in two cohorts; topic information describes 19 subjects in the first cohort and a 2027 start. It requires international co-direction and a partner-lab stay.

The saved materials provide no comparable subject ranking for this France–Canada pairing; the research groups and final contract are more useful signals. Sherbrooke's rules distinguish formal cotutelle from looser co-supervision, so the status must be clarified for this project.

The doctoral-school course requirements, credit total, progression milestones and routine meeting arrangements for this individual thesis remain unspecified; the final academic agreement must define them. BEST doctoral programme University of Toulouse doctoral governance Sherbrooke cotutelle doctoral rules Sherbrooke international cotutelle guidance

Supervisor and Lab Assessment

Supervisor Research Directions

Professor Emmanuel Dubois is listed by Toulouse's doctoral service as an HDR researcher in IRIT ELIPSE, working on advanced HCI, immersive and spatialized interaction. Professor Charles Gouin-Vallerand's Sherbrooke profile lists augmented/mixed reality and context-aware smart environments. He co-directs DOMUS, whose work includes mixed reality and ambient interactions. This is a credible complementary pairing; it does not prove the size of the dedicated project budget. Emmanuel Dubois official doctoral supervisor profile Charles Gouin-Vallerand official research profile Charles Gouin-Vallerand DOMUS profile DOMUS laboratory

Temporal visualization (2025)

Exploring Concave 3D Timelines in RV (2025), coauthored by Dubois, explores three-dimensional temporal visualization; it is relevant to displaying building changes over time. Exploring Concave 3D Timelines in RV (2025)

Input design in immersive workspaces (2024 online/2025 issue)

Versatile text input in immersive workspaces (2024 online/2025 issue), coauthored by Gouin-Vallerand, evaluates interaction design for immersive work. Versatile text input in immersive workspaces (2024/25)

Hand-interaction review (2023)

Hand interaction designs in mixed reality (2023) surveys spatial interaction methods and design constraints. It is a review rather than a building analytics result. Hand interaction designs in mixed reality (2023)

User-centred evaluation in a different setting (2022)

Mixed-reality cognitive orthosis (2022) shows user-centred evaluation in a different application setting. Mixed-reality cognitive orthosis (2022)

Lab, Resources, and Collaboration Environment

DOMUS publicly describes smart environments and mixed reality. IRIT ELIPSE is named in the supervisor profile. Sherbrooke announced DOMUS infrastructure development in 2026. None of those pages specify which headset, building dataset or study population is allocated to this thesis; ask for a resource plan. Emmanuel Dubois official doctoral supervisor profile DOMUS laboratory Sherbrooke research infrastructure update 2026

Funding, Application, and Living Cost

The topic listing calls this a fully funded doctoral contract and gives a 23 November 2026 deadline with 1 September 2027 as the intended start. A short listing created on 26 September 2026 also says “as soon as possible”; the programme should clarify the schedule. Neither statement establishes an individual start date, contract duration or daily working language. Project listing

Under BEST's rule, funding goes only to topics selected by successful applicants. The MSCA mobility rule allows no more than 12 months' residence in France during the 36 months before the application deadline. Chinese nationality is not itself an exclusion stated in the call, but residence history and all formal criteria must be checked.

The programme page does not establish this topic's gross/net salary, Canadian travel allowance, visa support or tuition arrangements. An official French student guide provides a France-wide student budgeting guide and Toulouse student services; no meaningful affordability calculation is possible until pay and Canada stay terms are confirmed. BEST doctoral programme Official French student budget Toulouse student city guide Sherbrooke cotutelle practical guide

Applicant Fit and Preparation

Best suited for

Applicants holding a master's or equivalent, with no doctorate, who have MR/XR/AR/VR experience and strong interest in HCI and visualization. A portfolio with a functioning prototype and user-evaluation thinking is more probative than a generic statement of interest.

May need caution if

Applicants who have lived in France beyond the mobility limit may be ineligible. Those requiring an already guaranteed stipend for this named topic should understand the competitive selection mechanism. A formal French–Canadian dual registration is not yet confirmed simply because two supervisors are named.

Skills and evidence to strengthen

Prepare an MR prototype, examples of spatiotemporal data handling, an evaluation plan and clear evidence of master's equivalence. Document France residence dates. BEST's official page says student applications are in English through ADUM; verify the current final call documents and whether the project deadline matches the programme deadline. BEST doctoral programme Emmanuel Dubois official doctoral supervisor profile Charles Gouin-Vallerand official research profile

Career and transferable skills

The skills span XR prototyping, visualization, HCI evaluation and building data systems. Academic HCI and applied digital-twin research are plausible pathways; the available sources do not quantify hiring demand or guarantee industry placement. CNRS HCI community opportunities DOMUS laboratory

Risks and Questions to Verify

High-priority questions

  • Does this specific topic have a guaranteed first-cohort BEST position, or only compete after candidate selection?
  • What are the exact BEST first-cohort application steps and is the 23 November 2026 topic deadline also the programme deadline?
  • Does the applicant satisfy the France 12-months-in-36-months mobility test?
  • What is the gross and estimated net salary, contract duration and social coverage?

Medium-priority questions

  • Is a formal France–Canada cotutelle signed, or only international co-supervision?
  • How long is the Sherbrooke stay and who pays travel, visa, accommodation and any Canadian tuition?
  • What building data, MR devices, user participants and evaluation facilities are available?
  • Which institution awards the degree and who is the contractual employer?

Evidence and Sources

The recruitment record was created on 26 September 2026; the saved material does not confirm current topic availability or individual contract terms. The cited literature establishes relevant interaction work and publication stages, but does not establish that the proposed building system is effective.

Sources

The listing may come from a university or recruitment platform. Check the notice and official sources in the report for current application requirements. View the recruitment source

Explore opportunities with related research or the same country, prioritising similar funding where relevant. Recheck each notice before applying.

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