Curriculum Vitae

Najoua Assila is an engineer by training with a Dipl. Ing. in mechanical engineering from INSA of Lyon (France) and a Master’s in Bioengineering and Robotics from Tohoku university (Japan). She completed her doctoral studies under a cotutelle between the university of Montréal (Canada) and the university of Lyon (France) where she evaluated the pathomechanisms of the shoulder of manual wheelchair users. During her Ph.D. studies, Najoua developed an expertise in human modelling at different levels (from skeletal kinematics to local soft tissue deformation). She used this expertise to predict indicators of performance and injury within different contexts. Her current work aims to translate her biomechanical results into concrete applications, by designing interventions to improve motor learning. She is particularly interested in the interactions between perception and motor control, particularly within the context of dynamic task with a high level of motor and muscular redundancy.

Projects/Cooperation within CeTI you are involved in:
Multisensory feedback design for redundant motor tasks; Use cases for TaHiL

What is your research interest?

Human motor control and learning; Musculoskeletal redundancy; Injury prevention through the optimization of motor control; The shoulder complex; Human biomechanics.

What motivated you to do what you do today?

A curiosity and fascination with human mobility, as well as a desire to have a tangible positive impact on society.

What do you find particularly interesting about CeTI?

The multidisciplinarity, and the possibility to interact with other brilliant and motivated scientists.

To which question have you not found an answer lately?

How does the nervous system define how to activate the different muscles to actuate the joints?

How do you spend your free time?

In nature, reading, cooking, knitting or trying new experiences.