Nicolas Verstaevel is an Associate Professor at the University of Toulouse Capitole and researcher at the Toulouse Institute of Computer Science Research (IRIT), where he contributes to the SMAC (Cooperative Multi-Agent Systems) team. He holds a PhD in Artificial Intelligence and an HDR (Habilitation à Diriger des Recherches). His career includes international experience as an Associate Research Fellow at the University of Wollongong, Australia, and industrial R&D roles at Capgemini. His research explores complex systems through: Agent-based modeling and simulation frameworks Machine learning applications in urban environments IoT-enabled smart city infrastructure Pedestrian dynamics and crowd behavior analysis Real-time traffic monitoring systems He leads projects funded by ANR and EU programs, focusing on high-density crowd simulations and sustainable urban mobility. His publications demonstrate strong emphasis on multi-agent systems, sensor data fusion, and scalable simulation architectures. Key lab affiliations: Cooperative Multi-Agent Systems (SMAC) at IRIT: https://www.irit.fr/-Equipe-SMAC-
Fabrice Lamarche serves as an Associate Professor at Université de Rennes 1 within the ESIR School of Engineering, while maintaining dual affiliation with the MimeTIC research team at IRISA / INRIA Rennes. His academic career spans uninterrupted service since 2004, evolving from Assistant Professor roles at IFSIC (2003-2009) to current positions at ESIR. As co-founder of Golaem (2009), he bridges academic research with commercial application in crowd simulation technology. His institutional journey includes sequential membership in SIAMES (2004-2006), Bunraku (2007-2011), and MimeTIC (2011-present) research teams at INRIA. Lamarche earned his PhD in Computer Sciences from Université de Rennes 1 in 2003 with thesis work on virtual human autonomy. His educational foundation includes a Master of Computer Sciences specializing in Computer Graphics and AI (1999-2000), a Master of Engineering from INSA de Rennes (1997-2000), and a Technical degree from IUT de Limoges (1995-1997). His research program centers on virtual human behavior modeling with emphasis on decision-making systems, path planning under environmental constraints, and crowd simulation architectures. Key innovations include TopoPlan for human-scale navigation and frameworks integrating high-level task scheduling with low-level motion planning. This work addresses fundamental challenges in creating autonomous virtual characters capable of navigating complex 3D environments while exhibiting realistic behaviors, with applications spanning virtual reality, gaming, and simulation-based training systems. Publication analysis reveals consistent output from 2001-2014, evolving from foundational behavioral animation (2001-2004) to sophisticated crowd simulation systems (2013-2014). A notable trajectory shows increasing integration of cognitive modeling with motion planning, alongside exploration of Brain-Computer Interfaces for virtual navigation. Recent work demonstrates particular strength in semantic decomposition of urban environments and time-space constrained task scheduling. His scientific contributions have earned significant recognition: Rennes city medal (2009) for research excellence Second prize at Deutsch Telekom Awards (FMX 2008) for TopoPlan/MKM integration As an active researcher and educator, Lamarche advises students through Université de Rennes 1 while leveraging INRIA resources and Golaem industry partnerships. His publication record indicates sustained grant funding, particularly through INRIA channels, with collaborative projects extending to neuroscience applications via Brain-Computer Interface research. The MimeTIC team affiliation provides infrastructure for multimodal interaction research in complex virtual environments. Lamarche's laboratory work through MimeTIC focuses on developing practical implementations of virtual human autonomy systems. His research group maintains strong industry connections via Golaem, which commercializes crowd simulation technology. Current efforts emphasize semantic understanding of virtual urban spaces and robust path planning under dynamic constraints, building on foundational work in topological navigation and behavioral decision systems.
