STÉPHANE VIAL
Professor - Université du Québec à Montréal (UQAM)

Educated as a philosopher and a clinical psychologist, Stéphane Vial is a design researcher specializing in digital innovation for mental health.

Born in France, he studied in Lyon (philosophy) and Paris (clinical psychology), and earned his PhD in philosophy at Paris Descartes University in 2012, then his Habilitation to direct research (HDR) in design at the University of Nîmes in 2015.

Since 2019, he has been a professor at the School of Design of the Université du Québec à Montréal (UQAM), where he teaches the theory ︎of design and interaction design. He is also the Chairholder of the UQAM Research Chair in Design for e-Mental Health (Diament), and the Editor-in-Chief of the French language design journal Sciences du Design at the Presses Universitaires de France.

Vial is the author of more than six ︎books published by Presses universitaires de France, The MIT Press or Springer, including Being and the Screen: How the Digital Changes Perception ; A Short Treatise on Design ; or Advancements in the Philosophy of Design.

He spent the first part of his career in France, where he was an Associate Professor in design at the University of Nîmes (2013-2018) and a professor of philosophy at the École Boulle in Paris (2005-2013). He also worked in Paris as a web designer (2007-2015) and as a clinical psychologist (2004-2007).