[{"content":"Well-Play Teen tests whether six weeks of at-home play with an action-like video game, Eco-Rescue, reduces anxiety in adolescents aged 11 to 15, compared with a casual puzzle game and with no training. Funded by the Swiss National Science Foundation, the trial runs at three sites: the University of Geneva and the Geneva School of Health Sciences (Switzerland), the University of Haifa (Israel) and Florida International University (United States).\nI led its implementation from protocol to field: I wrote the published protocol, designed the procedures for blinded and unblinded experimenters, trained and harmonised the international teams, coordinated the partners and managed operational risks. With the engineers, I set up and piloted the digital chain of the study: the games delivered through Steam, the questionnaires in Qualtrics and Wave, the lab\u0026rsquo;s platform for following participants and their progress.\n","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/en/projects/well-play-teen/","section":"Projects","summary":"","title":"Well-Play Teen","type":"projects"},{"content":" Track the ships, catch the butterflies, get immediate feedback, and watch the planet recover level after level. Screen captures from the game. A cognitive-training game that wraps a multiple-object-tracking task in a planet-restoration story, adapts its difficulty to each player, and is now being tested in a three-site randomised trial with anxious adolescents.\nWhat it is Eco-Rescue is played from a third-person view on a PC. The player is a pilot who recruits a planet\u0026rsquo;s residents and catches butterflies to depollute and reforest it. Underneath, every trial is a multiple-object-tracking task with a concurrent detection task: track the ships carrying residents with happy, angry or neutral faces, and press a key the moment a butterfly appears. A three-up one-down staircase adjusts the ships\u0026rsquo; speed to keep each player near 80% accuracy, so difficulty follows the player\u0026rsquo;s own learning curve.\nHow the design works The tutorial states each sub-goal in words before play. Every trial closes with immediate feedback, recruited ships in green and missed ones in red, and every level with statistics, an unlocked card about a real astronomical object and a visibly restored planet. The number of ships and distractors changes from trial to trial, and the butterfly appears where and when the player cannot predict, so performance never becomes automatic. The story was chosen for adolescents, who are particularly concerned by climate change, and stays out of the trained trials themselves so that it does not compete with the task.\nEach trial feeds the staircase that sets the next one; each level ends with the player\u0026rsquo;s results shown as a recovering planet. What came out The game. Ten design principles across five classes (challenge, feedback, goals, resources, storytelling), coded against the taxonomy from my systematic review of 25 mental-health games. The trial. A three-arm randomised controlled trial, Eco-Rescue against Bejeweled 3 and no training, planned for 150 adolescents aged 11 to 15 with elevated anxiety, 12 hours of play over six weeks at home, run in Geneva, Haifa and Miami, with completion expected by the end of 2027. The redesign brief. From the review and the meta-analysis, two changes proposed for a next version: a deeper, persistent narrative delivered between trials rather than during them, and a more embodied input, each to be tested against the current version. My role I co-designed the game with Swann Pichon and Daphné Bavelier at Campus Biotech, from the mapping of the tracking paradigm onto a game mechanic to the adaptive difficulty, feedback and story. I then led the implementation of the trial that evaluates it, wrote the first draft of the published protocol, and take part in recruitment across the three sites.\nWhat this shows Turning a laboratory paradigm into a game mechanic without losing the operation it trains. Adaptive difficulty and feedback design grounded in learning science, with built-in variability against boredom. Designing for a clinical population: a story adolescents relate to, kept out of the trials where it would compete with the task. Carrying a game from design into a multi-site clinical trial. ","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/en/projects/eco-rescue/","section":"Projects","summary":"","title":"Eco-Rescue","type":"projects"},{"content":"Video games are increasingly used to complement treatments for anxiety and depression, but each game is described on its own terms, which makes it hard to compare them or to learn from one to the next. My PhD thesis, Video game-based interventions for anxiety and depression: from design to effectiveness, addresses this gap.\nSystematic review: 39 randomised trials covering 25 games, each coded against 47 design principles and four types of player engagement. Clustering revealed four design profiles that cut across therapeutic approaches. Meta-analysis: 31 effect sizes from 19 trials show that game-based interventions produce a small but reliable reduction in anxiety and depression symptoms (Hedges\u0026rsquo; g = 0.25). Reporting blueprint: a proposal to document the design of therapeutic games so that design choices become transparent, searchable and shareable. The data extraction for both syntheses relied on llmde, and the review\u0026rsquo;s design taxonomy was applied to Eco-Rescue.\n","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/en/projects/video-games-mental-health/","section":"Projects","summary":"","title":"Video games for mental health","type":"projects"},{"content":"A language-model extraction pipeline for a systematic review and meta-analysis, built so that every value carries its page and quotation and a human reviewer keeps the last word.\nWhat it does Extracting study data from 39 trials by hand is slow and inconsistent between readers. llmde hands the mechanical part to a language model under strict rules: extract exactly, never interpret, return an explicit null for anything unreported, and cite the page and quote behind every value.\nFigure 2 of the thesis. Panel (a) is the design implemented: one call per article and prompt, every value with its page and quote, checked against a manual extraction. Panels (b) and (c) are the agentic alternatives, the second with a human gate, proposed but not built. How the prompts were built Each prompt was drafted, run on two or three deliberately varied papers in parallel with a human reader, and revised wherever the two disagreed. Mismatches were diagnosed before anything was changed, since most came from a definition with two readings or a reporting variant with no rule.\nThe loop ran on two or three varied papers until model and human agreed; only then was the prompt frozen and run on the whole corpus. What came out Duplicate extraction. 39 trials for the review and 19 for the meta-analysis, once by hand and once by the model (Claude Opus 4.6), reconciled by discussion, with 97% precision for the model against the manual extraction. Open-source package. llmde on GitHub, MIT licence: five extraction prompts, one system instruction, Claude and Gemini backends, a batch CLI that resumes interrupted runs. Written method. Chapter 5 of the thesis: the single-call design next to two agentic alternatives, with a case for keeping a human gate. My role I led the project: I designed the extraction method and co-wrote the prompts and schemas, and Mathieu Scheltienne implemented them as the package. I ran the model side of the duplicate extraction and reconciled it with the manual side.\nWhat this shows LLM workflows designed with verification built in: evidence trail, explicit nulls, structural checks, pinned model version. Evidence-synthesis method: duplicate extraction and calibration on a pilot sample, as review guidance recommends. Specifying a method precisely enough for an engineer to turn it into a reusable tool. ","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/en/projects/llmde/","section":"Projects","summary":"","title":"llmde","type":"projects"},{"content":" The problem A research lab had built a low-cost tangible prototype for children with little or no vision, but it had never been studied in the classrooms it was meant for.\nWhat we did Observed and interviewed specialised teachers, benchmarked eight tactile devices, ran demonstration workshops with the professionals, and checked every idea against the engineers\u0026rsquo; low-cost constraint.\nWhat came out 13 prioritised recommendations, a functional specification and two mock-ups for version 2, including five safety and legibility fixes rated as blocking.\n","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/en/projects/flexiboard/","section":"Projects","summary":"","title":"Flexiboard","type":"projects"},{"content":" Experience 2020 – present Postdoctoral researcher University of Geneva, Brain and Learning Lab Postdoctoral researcher (since 2026), PhD candidate (2021–2026) and research assistant (2020–2021).\nProject management: preparation, deployment and operational follow-up of a randomised clinical trial across three sites (Switzerland, Israel, United States); partner coordination and risk management.Protocols and training: procedures for blinded and unblinded experimenters; harmonisation of practices and training of the international teams.Digital solutions: co-design of the Eco-Rescue game and contribution to the Wave platform; Qualtrics integration, pilot testing, validation and incident handling with the developers.Research and evaluation: systematic review of 39 trials (25 games analysed) and meta-analysis of 19 trials on digital interventions for mental health.AI innovation: co-development of llmde, an open-source tool for structured data extraction with language models, evaluated on 40 studies (97% precision).Supervision: supervision of a research assistant and main supervisor of at least 11 master\u0026rsquo;s theses. 2019 – 2020 Professional esports player (League of Legends) OOB Team Top laner under the name Freyja. GIRLGAMER World Champion (2020) and two-time European Champion (2019); high-level teamwork.\n2018 UX design intern Capgemini (for Airbus) Design of an interface for Skywise, Airbus\u0026#39;s data platform: user interviews, personas and design workshops in an agile team (SAFe).\nEducation PhD in Psychology 2021 – 2026 University of Geneva Thesis: Video game-based interventions for anxiety and depression: from design to effectiveness.\nPost-master\u0026#39;s degree in Ergonomics and Cognitive Psychology 2018 University of Toulouse 2 Team project: Flexiboard, a tangible learning device for visually impaired children.\nMaster\u0026#39;s degree in Cognitive and Developmental Psychology 2017 University of Angers Bachelor\u0026#39;s degree in Psychology 2015 University of Angers Awards 2020 World Champion, GIRLGAMER Esports Festival Dubai 2019 European Champion, GIRLGAMER Esports Festival Madrid 2019 European Champion, La Ligue Féminine Paris 2015 Winner, ESWC Paris Games Week Open (women\u0026#39;s League of Legends) Paris Community involvement 2022 – 2025 Committee member Social Campus Biotech Association, Geneva Skills Project management\nCoordinationRisk managementTeam trainingAgile methods (SAFe) Digital\nUX designUser testingQualtricsRAI / LLMs Languages French · NativeEnglish · C1, working language ","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/en/cv/","section":"Naïma Gradi","summary":"","title":"CV","type":"page"},{"content":"Television programmes I took part in, and press coverage of my work.\nScope · ARTE An episode of ARTE\u0026rsquo;s science programme Scope on the effects of video games and esports on the body (in French).\nC\u0026rsquo;est toujours pas sorcier · France 4 Jeux vidéo : une plongée dans notre cerveau (season 8), an episode of France 4\u0026rsquo;s science programme on video games and the brain (in French).\nWatch on france.tv →\nIn the press FIU researchers test video game as anxiety treatment for teens, FIU News, July 2026: the Well-Play Teen trial at its Miami site. Read the article → Les Out Of the Blue ont été sacrées championnes du monde lors du GirlGamer Festival, Dexerto, February 2020 (in French): my team\u0026rsquo;s League of Legends world title in Dubai. Read the article → Vitality s\u0026rsquo;impose enfin, deux Françaises championnes du monde, L\u0026rsquo;Équipe, 2020 (in French): the weekly esports results, with the two French world champions of the GIRLGAMER festival. Read the article → ","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/en/media/","section":"Naïma Gradi","summary":"","title":"Media","type":"page"},{"content":"I am a project manager and applied researcher with a PhD in psychology from the University of Geneva. I design, deploy and evaluate digital interventions for mental health: I co-designed a therapeutic video game and led the implementation of its international randomised controlled trial across Switzerland, Israel and the United States, working hand in hand with researchers, clinicians and engineers.\nMy toolbox combines project management, user-centred design, rigorous evaluation and AI-assisted methods. I enjoy sharing research with every audience, from scientific conferences to science programmes on ARTE and France 4. Before research, I was a professional League of Legends esports player and won the GIRLGAMER World Championship in 2020.\nSelected projects Well-Play Teen An international randomised controlled trial testing whether a video game can reduce anxiety in adolescents. Eco-Rescue An action-like video game that trains attentional control in anxious adolescents, now in a three-site randomised trial. Video games for mental health A systematic review and a meta-analysis of video game interventions for anxiety and depression. llmde AI-assisted data extraction for systematic reviews, with every value traceable to the page and quote it came from. Flexiboard Making a tangible learning device work for visually impaired children and the teachers who use it. Recent publications 2026 A Blueprint for Unraveling Therapeutic Video Game Design Conference paper Naïma Gradi, Camille Carliez, Shadee Thiam, Swann Pichon, Mathieu Scheltienne, Chenyu Ye, Jan L. Plass, Daphne Bavelier Companion Proceedings of the Annual Symposium on Computer-Human Interaction in Play (CHI PLAY Companion \u0026#39;26) · DOI 2026 Video game-based interventions for anxiety and depression: from design to effectiveness PhD thesis Naïma Gradi Université de Genève, no. 960 2025 Analyzing Video Game Design Elements in Mental Health Interventions Conference paper Naïma Gradi, Jan L. Plass, Daphné Bavelier Joint Conference on Serious Games (JCSG 2025), Lecture Notes in Computer Science 16243, pp. 174–181 · DOI All publications →\n","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/en/","section":"Naïma Gradi","summary":"I am a project manager and applied researcher with a PhD in psychology from the University of Geneva. I design, deploy and evaluate digital interventions for mental health: I co-designed a therapeutic video game and led the implementation of its international randomised controlled trial across Switzerland, Israel and the United States, working hand in hand with researchers, clinicians and engineers.\nMy toolbox combines project management, user-centred design, rigorous evaluation and AI-assisted methods. I enjoy sharing research with every audience, from scientific conferences to science programmes on ARTE and France 4. Before research, I was a professional League of Legends esports player and won the GIRLGAMER World Championship in 2020.\n","title":"Naïma Gradi","type":"page"},{"content":" Well-Play Teen An international randomised controlled trial testing whether a video game can reduce anxiety in adolescents. Eco-Rescue An action-like video game that trains attentional control in anxious adolescents, now in a three-site randomised trial. Video games for mental health A systematic review and a meta-analysis of video game interventions for anxiety and depression. llmde AI-assisted data extraction for systematic reviews, with every value traceable to the page and quote it came from. Flexiboard Making a tangible learning device work for visually impaired children and the teachers who use it. ","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/en/projects/","section":"Projects","summary":"","title":"Projects","type":"projects"},{"content":" 2026 A Blueprint for Unraveling Therapeutic Video Game Design Conference paper Naïma Gradi, Camille Carliez, Shadee Thiam, Swann Pichon, Mathieu Scheltienne, Chenyu Ye, Jan L. Plass, Daphne Bavelier Companion Proceedings of the Annual Symposium on Computer-Human Interaction in Play (CHI PLAY Companion \u0026#39;26) · DOI 2026 Video game-based interventions for anxiety and depression: from design to effectiveness PhD thesis Naïma Gradi Université de Genève, no. 960 2025 Analyzing Video Game Design Elements in Mental Health Interventions Conference paper Naïma Gradi, Jan L. Plass, Daphné Bavelier Joint Conference on Serious Games (JCSG 2025), Lecture Notes in Computer Science 16243, pp. 174–181 · DOI 2024 Evaluating the effect of action-like video game play and of casual video game play on anxiety in adolescents with elevated anxiety: protocol for a multi-center, parallel group, assessor-blind, randomized controlled trial Journal article Naïma Gradi, Adrien Chopin, Daphné Bavelier, Tomer Shechner, Swann Pichon BMC Psychiatry, 24, 56 · DOI Talks \u0026amp; posters 2026 A Blueprint for Unraveling Therapeutic Video Game Design Poster CHI PLAY 2026 · York, United Kingdom · November 2, 2026 Download (PDF) 2025 Analyzing Video Game Design Elements in Mental Health Interventions Poster Joint Conference on Serious Games (JCSG 2025) · Lucerne, Switzerland · December 4, 2025 Download (PDF) 2025 Evaluating the effect of action-like game play and of casual game play on anxiety in adolescents with elevated anxiety: protocol for a randomized controlled trial Poster Learning and Plasticity Conference · Äkäslompolo, Finland · April 6, 2025 Download (PDF) ","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/en/publications/","section":"Naïma Gradi","summary":"","title":"Publications","type":"page"},{"content":"","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/en/tags/","section":"Tags","summary":"","title":"Tags","type":"tags"}]