Dr Christophe Lounis

Academic Profile

Research scientist specializing in Artificial Intelligence, Reinforcement Learning, sequential decision-making and Multi-Agent Systems, with applications to Human-AI collaboration and complex aerospace and industrial systems. My research combines algorithmic development, simulation and human-subject experimentation to design adaptive artificial agents able to coordinate with human operators under uncertainty and partial observability.

My interdisciplinary background spans Artificial Intelligence, cognitive science and Human-System Interaction, with experience in scientific leadership, graduate teaching, student supervision and collaborative R&D with academic, aerospace, defence and industrial partners. Current research directions include Human-AI teaming for collaborative production systems, adaptive decision support, mixed-initiative systems and intelligent socio-technical systems.

Research Interests

• Reinforcement Learning and Sequential Decision-Making
• Multi-Agent Systems and Cooperative Decision-Making
• Human-AI Teaming and Human-in-the-loop Learning
• Decision-Making under Uncertainty and Partial Observability
• Offline and Risk-Sensitive Reinforcement Learning
• Adaptive Decision-Support and Mixed-Initiative Systems
• AI for Industrial and Collaborative Production Systems
• Simulation-based Learning and Evaluation of Complex Socio-Technical Systems

Research & Professional Experience

• Research Scientist in Artificial Intelligence — Postdoctoral Fellow
  ISAE-SUPAERO, Toulouse, France, 2023 - Present
  CASAC Chair, Dassault Aviation and French Defence Innovation Agency (AID)
  • Research on cooperative Reinforcement Learning and sequential decision-making for Human-AI teaming in partially observable environments.
  • Development and experimental evaluation of multi-agent learning frameworks for adaptive and cooperative decision-making.
  • Investigation of offline and risk-sensitive Reinforcement Learning for robust decision-making under uncertainty.
  • Adaptation of artificial-agent policies using human behaviour, intentions and explicit human feedback.
  • Design of coordination, fluency and task-performance metrics for Human-AI teams.
  • Development of end-to-end experimental pipelines combining Python, PyTorch and Unity ML-Agents, from simulation and training to human-subject evaluation.
• Head of Human-System Interaction Research Lab
  SII, Toulouse and Bordeaux, France, 2021 - 2023
  Collaborations with Airbus R&T, Dassault Aviation and Continental R&D
  • Scientific and technical leadership of a multidisciplinary R&D team of 14 engineers.
  • Definition of scientific and technical roadmaps for AI integration in complex operational systems.
  • Development of AI-driven monitoring and decision-support systems for semi-autonomous and safety-critical applications.
  • Coordination of collaborative R&D activities involving academic, aerospace and industrial stakeholders.
  • Supervision and mentoring of engineers across multidisciplinary research and technology projects.
• R&D Lead Scientist in Human-Machine Interaction
  SII Sud-Ouest, Toulouse, France, Jan. 2021 - Mar. 2021
  Development and assessment of technologies for general aviation, Human-Computer Interaction and accessibility.
• Doctoral Researcher — Artificial Intelligence and Human-System Interaction
  ISAE-SUPAERO, CASAC Chair, Toulouse, France, 2017 - 2020
  PhD thesis: “Monitor the Monitoring: Pilot Assistance through Gaze Tracking and Visual Scanning Analysis”
  • Development of an adaptive cockpit decision-support system exploiting real-time behavioural information.
  • Development of machine-learning and sequence-analysis methods to model operator strategies and classify expertise.
  • Experimental evaluation of adaptive assistance in high-fidelity flight simulation.
• Research Assistant — Human Factors & Decision Support
  DGAC / Human Design Group / SESAR, Toulouse, France, 2016 - 2017
  Experimental assessment of air-traffic controllers' situation awareness during the introduction of a mid-term conflict-detection decision-support tool.
• Research Engineer
  LIMSI-AMU-CNRS, Paris-Saclay / Aix-en-Provence, France, 2016
  Design of experimental protocols for emotion recognition in virtual reality.

Selected Research Projects & Funding

• PANACHE — Human Intention Sharing in AI Collaboration — AID-funded
  Research on Human-AI collaborative decision-making and cooperative agents integrating human intention and feedback to improve team coordination and performance.
• HAICO — Human-AI Collaboration Framework — CASAC 2
  Development of simulation and experimental frameworks for studying cooperative decision-making between humans and artificial agents, including multi-agent Reinforcement Learning and Human-AI coordination.
• MINERVA — AI Assistant in the Cockpit — CASAC 2
  Research on adaptive AI-based decision-support agents for complex aeronautical operational environments.

Selected Publications

Peer-Reviewed Journal Papers

• Online Metrics to Enhance Human-AI Collaboration Efficiency: A Targeted Literature Review
  A. H. M. Pinto, C. Lounis, M. Causse, C. P. C. Chanel. International Journal of Human-Computer Interaction.
• Visual Scanning Strategies in the Cockpit and Pilot Expertise: A Flight Simulator Study
  C. Lounis, V. Peysakhovich, M. Causse. PLOS ONE, 2021.

Peer-Reviewed Conference Papers

• Outperforming but Not Collaborating: Fluency Gaps in Human-AI Teams
  C. Lounis et al. IEEE Conference on Artificial Intelligence (CAI), 2026.
• Offline Risk-sensitive Reinforcement Learning with Partial Observability to Enhance Performance in Human-Robot Teaming
  G. Angelotti, C. P. C. Chanel, A. H. M. Pinto, C. Lounis, C. Chauffaut, N. Drougard. International Conference on Autonomous Agents and Multiagent Systems (AAMAS), 2024.
• Making Aeronautics Accessible for Pilots Who Are Hearing or Speaking Impaired
  C. Lounis, T. Holstein, M. Benejean, F. Hémont, P. Marrast, A. M. Brock. ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (ASSETS), 2022.
• Detecting Ambient/Focal Visual Attention in Professional Airline Pilots with a Modified Coefficient K: A Full Flight Simulator Study
  C. Lounis, A. Hassoumi, O. Lefrancois, V. Peysakhovich, M. Causse. ACM Symposium on Eye Tracking Research & Applications (ETRA), 2020.

Peer-Reviewed Book Chapter

• Flight Eye Tracking Assistant (FETA): Proof of Concept
  C. Lounis, V. Peysakhovich, M. Causse. Advances in Human Factors of Transportation, Springer, 2020.

Ongoing Manuscripts

• C. Lounis et al. Manuscript in preparation for submission to ACM Transactions on Human-Robot Interaction (THRI), 2026.
• C. Lounis et al. Manuscript in preparation for submission to International Conference on Autonomous Agents and Multiagent Systems (AAMAS 2027).

Full publication list available on Google Scholar.

Teaching Experience & Responsibilities

Engineering School, Toulouse — Reinforcement Learning

Scheduled: Nov. 2026 - Jan. 2027 | 12 hours | Engineering / MSc level

• Design and delivery of a graduate-level course on Reinforcement Learning and Sequential Decision-Making, including lectures, practical sessions and student assessment.
• Topics include Markov Decision Processes, Bellman equations, Dynamic Programming, Temporal-Difference Learning, exploration-exploitation, Q-Learning, SARSA and Gymnasium.
• Development of practical exercises illustrating the transition from model-based sequential decision-making to model-free Reinforcement Learning.

ISAE-SUPAERO & IRIT

2017 - 2025 | Approximately 90 hours of higher-education teaching

• Reinforcement Learning and Sequential Decision-Making: fundamentals, learning algorithms and decision-making methods.
• Human Data in Deep Reinforcement Learning: integration of human behaviour, demonstrations and feedback into learning algorithms.
• Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning: AI methods, learning algorithms and experimental evaluation.
• Machine Learning for Video Games and Interactive Simulation: application of learning methods to interactive and simulated environments.
• Introduction to Haptics and Tactile Devices.
• Human-System Interaction, Neuroergonomics and Cognitive Ergonomics: cognitive processes, adaptive systems and evaluation of interactive technologies.
• Eye-Tracking and Pupillometry: experimental methods and analysis of oculometric data.
• Instrumentation and Flight Data Analysis: experimental instrumentation, acquisition and analysis of aeronautical data.

Ecole Multimedia

2018 | Eye-Tracking for UX Design | 8 hours

• Teaching of eye-tracking principles, experimental design and analysis of oculometric data for user-experience evaluation.

Student Supervision

PhD Co-Supervision

• Maeg Medevielle — PhD candidate
  Towards Mixed-Initiative Planning Systems: Building upon Automated Planning and Plan Recognition Systems to Construct Solutions Collaboratively.
  Co-supervision of research on mixed-initiative decision-making combining automated planning, plan recognition and Human-AI collaboration.
• SOGITEC / ISAE-SUPAERO — CIFRE PhD project
  Artificial Intelligence Control of Virtual Entities in Flight Simulation for Mission Achievement.
  Co-supervision of research on hierarchical and multi-agent Reinforcement Learning, sequential decision-making under uncertainty, scalable policy learning and intelligent control of heterogeneous entities in tactical simulation.

MSc & Engineering Student Supervision

Supervision and co-supervision of 15+ MSc, engineering and research projects across ISAE-SUPAERO, CentraleSupélec, ENAC, ENSC, ESTACA, ENSEIRB-MATMECA and French universities.

• S. Amarouche — MSc Artificial Intelligence, Université de Reims Champagne-Ardenne (2026): Reinforcement Learning from Human Feedback for Human-AI collaboration in cooperative multi-agent tasks.
• E. Boyadjian — INSA Toulouse Engineering Program (2026): Goal-Oriented Action Planning (GOAP) for Human-AI collaboration.
• M. Castells — CentraleSupélec / Université Paris-Saclay: Benchmarking Deep Reinforcement Learning methods for Human-AI collaborative tasks.
• T. Holstein — ENSC: Design and neuroergonomic assessment of a multimodal assistive device for aeronautics.
• G. de Haro — Université Toulouse III - Paul Sabatier: Automatic Speech Recognition for sensory disabilities in aeronautics.
• A. Caro Fernandez — ENAC: Preparation and analysis of flight tests for validation of multimodal cockpit systems in general aviation.
• H. Byad — Université de Bourgogne: Driver Monitoring System for semi-autonomous vehicles.
• M. Sillé — ENSC: Adaptive cockpit HMI for pilots with hearing and speaking impairments.
• L. Segaert — ENSEIRB-MATMECA: New cockpit interaction — system software / HMI.
• V. Forite — ESTACA: Multimodal alerting — software development.
• T. Merilhou — Université de Bordeaux / Institut Evering: New cockpit interaction — software development.
• M. Sabourin — ESTACA: New cockpit interaction and aeronautical certification.
• C. Hoarau — MSc Neuroscience, Behavior and Cognition: Gaze-contingent multimodal warnings during a virtual-reality piloting task.
• P. Leconte & J. Ryazi — CNAM / ISAE-SUPAERO: Interface for simulating feedback to pilots based on gaze and flight parameters.
• T. Vagneron — ISAE-SUPAERO: Intelligent cockpit systems and integration of eye-tracking to improve pilot-aircraft interaction.
• I. Khazar, C. Mathou, M. Gornet & B. Gay — ISAE-SUPAERO: Exploring the sense of smell as a warning system in the cockpit.
• D. Citralokam — MSc Aerospace Engineering: Flight crew assistance through real-time monitoring of eye movements.

Scientific Service & Community Engagement

Conference Roles

• Session Chair — IEEE Conference on Artificial Intelligence (CAI), 2026.
• Technical Program Committee Member — IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA), 2024, Yokohama, Japan.

Peer Reviewing

• Conferences: CHI 2023-2024; IHM 2020-2023; Neuroergonomics 2024; ICCAS 2020, 2022, 2024; AAMAS and IEEE conferences.
• Scientific journals: PLOS ONE, Journal of Eye Movement Research, International Journal of Human-Computer Interaction, Heliyon, Frontiers in Virtual Reality, Frontiers in Neurorobotics, Frontiers in Artificial Intelligence, Safety, Sensors, Applied Ergonomics, Human Factors, Journal of Visualized Experiments (JoVE), and The Aeronautical Journal.

Organization of Scientific Events

• Organizing Committee Member — ICCAS 2020, 2022 and 2024.
• Organizing Committee Member — ETAVI 2020, 1st Workshop on Eye-Tracking in Aviation.
• Co-organizer — Semaine du Cerveau, Marseille, 2018.

Scientific Outreach

• Scheduled participant — Nuit de la Science 2026, Tarbes, France, Oct. 2, 2026: science communication and public engagement.
• France 3 interview — “Mieux connaître les mécanismes du cerveau pour améliorer la sécurité dans les avions”, 2019. Watch video.
• L'Usine Nouvelle — “La neuro-ergonomie prend les commandes dans le cockpit”, 2019. Read article.
• 2nd place — Show Your fNIRS Research contest, 2018. Watch video.
• CASAC Chair research video, 2018. Watch video.

Education

• PhD in Computer Science & Artificial Intelligence
  ISAE-SUPAERO, Université de Toulouse, 2020

Technical & Research Skills

• Artificial Intelligence: Reinforcement Learning, PPO, Offline RL, Risk-Sensitive RL, Self-Play, Multi-Agent Learning, Human-in-the-loop Learning.
• Programming & Simulation: Python, PyTorch, TensorFlow, Unity ML-Agents, C#, Git.
• Experimental Research: human-subject experimentation, behavioural data analysis, eye-tracking, experimental design and Human-AI performance evaluation.

References

• Pr. Caroline Chanel
  Full Professor, ISAE-SUPAERO, Toulouse, France
  Email: caroline.chanel@isae-supaero.fr
• Dr Nicolas Drougard
  Associate Professor, ISAE-SUPAERO, Toulouse, France
  Email: nicolas.drougard@isae-supaero.fr