David Saint-Jacques has always been keen on exploring the world around him. Prior to joining the Canadian space program in May 2009, he practised family medicine in a northern Canadian village overlooking Hudson Bay. Before that, he worked as an astrophysicist in Cambridge, United Kingdom; Tokyo, Japan; Hawaii, USA; and Montreal, Canada. He was also a clinical faculty lecturer for McGill University’s Faculty of Medicine and an engineer for a Quebec-based small business. As a member of the international astronaut team, David Saint-Jacques has acted as capcom (the liaison between the team on the ground and the crew in space) and carried out various operations planning and support functions at NASA’s Mission Control Center and Astronaut Office. On December 3, 2018, he flew to the International Space Station as an Expedition 58/59 flight engineer and co-pilot of the Soyuz spacecraft. During his 204-day mission, he conducted a series of scientific experiments, robotics tasks and technology demonstrations. David Saint-Jacques became the fourth Canadian Space Agency astronaut to perform a spacewalk and the first to use Canadarm2 to catch a visiting spacecraft.

Eileen M. Collins is a former astronaut and a retired U.S. Air Force colonel. A former military instructor and test pilot, Collins was the first woman pilot and first woman commander of a space shuttle. She received a bachelor’s degree in mathematics/economics from Syracuse University in 1978, where she was an Air Force ROTC Distinguished Graduate. She has earned a master of science degree in operations research from Stanford University in 1986, and a master of arts degree in space systems management from Webster University in 1989. Her career included tours as a T-38 instructor pilot, a C-141 aircraft commander, an assistant professor in mathematics at the U.S. Air Force Academy, and a graduate of the USAF Test Pilot School.Collins piloted space shuttle Discovery in 1995 and Atlantis in 1997. Collins became the first woman commander of a U.S. spacecraft with shuttle mission Columbia in 1999, the deployment of the Chandra X-Ray Observatory. Her final space flight was as commander of Discovery in 2005, the “Return to Flight Mission” after the tragic loss of Columbia.Collins currently serves on several boards and advisory panels, is a professional speaker and an aerospace consultant. She is married with two children.

Dr. Janet Kavandi is the President of Sierra Space Corporation. The Dream Chaser® spaceplane is under contract to deliver supplies to the International Space Station beginning in 2023. Sierra Space is also partnered with Blue Origin to place a commercial space station (Orbital Reef) in orbit by 2028. Before coming to Sierra Space, Dr. Kavandi served 25 years at NASA. She was Director of NASA’s Glenn Research Center and prior to that, Director of Flight Crew Operations and Deputy Director of Health and Human Performance at the Johnson Space Center. Dr. Kavandi was selected as a NASA astronaut in 1994 and flew on three space shuttle missions. Dr. Kavandi logged 33 days in space and 13.1 million miles in 535 Earth orbits. Dr. Kavandi earned a BS from Missouri Southern State University, an MS from the Missouri University of Science and Technology, and her Doctorate in analytical chemistry from the University of Washington. Dr. Kavandi received two Presidential Rank Awards, two NASA Outstanding Leadership Medals, two Exceptional Service Medals, three NASA Space Flight Medals, and the Distinguished Service Medal. She was inducted into the Astronaut Hall of Fame in 2019. Dr. Kavandi and her husband, John, have two children.

Jean-François Clervoy, successively active French, NASA and European astronaut for 33 years ranks as brigadier general from DGA (Defense procurement agency) reserve. Born in 1958, JFC graduated from Ecole Polytechnique in 1981, from SupAero college of Aeronautics in 1983 and from Test flying school in 1987. He flew on three missions aboard the space shuttle: in 1994 to study the atmosphere, in 1997 to resupply the Russian space station Mir, and in 1999 to repair the Hubble space telescope. Then JFC worked as senior advisor for the ESA human space flight programs and is chairman of Novespace which organizes weightlessness parabolic flights aboard the Airbus A310 ZERO-G. He is author, inventor and professional speaker. He is member of several organizations for the promotion of space exploration and for the protection of planet Earth.

From 1992 to 2011, Julie Payette worked as an astronaut and flew two missions in space. She also served many years as CAPCOM at NASA’s Mission Control Center in Houston and was Chief Astronaut for the Canadian Space Agency. Following her space career, she became active in the development of public policies and promotion of science and technology. From 2011 to 2016, she was a scholar at the Woodrow Wilson Center in Washington DC and CEO of the Montreal Science Center. She also served on numerous public and non-profit boards, was a member of the women in sports commission of the International Olympic Committee and produced scientific outreach short programs on Radio-Canada. Julie Payette iserved as Canada’s 29th Governor General from 2017 to 2021. Ms. Payette is a member of the Ordre des ingénieurs du Québec and the International Academy of Astronautics. She has obtained a Bachelor of Electrical Engineering from McGill University, and a Master in Computer Engineering from the University of Toronto. Julie Payette has received many distinctions and holds 28 honorary doctorates. She is a Knight of the Ordre national du Québec. and a Companion of the Order of Canada.

Over the course of his 16-year-career at NASA, Terry Virts piloted a space shuttle and commanded the International Space Station. Virts, a colonel in the U.S. Air Force, considers Columbia, Maryland, his hometown. He is a graduate of the United States Air Force Academy, Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, and Harvard Business School. He also was a member of the U.S. Air Force Test Pilot School class 98B at Edwards Air Force Base in California, and served as an experimental test pilot in the F-16 Combined Test Force there before being selected for the astronaut class of 2000. During his time on the ground at NASA, Virts served in a variety of technical assignments, including as the lead astronaut for the T-38 training jet program, chief of the astronaut office’s robotic branch and lead astronaut for the Space Launch System rocket program. In space, Virts served as space shuttle pilot for the STS-130 mission in 2010, helping to deliver the Tranquility module to the space station, along with its cupola bay windows. He then returned to the station in December of 2014, serving as flight engineer for Expedition 42, and commander on Expedition 43. Virts spent a total of 213 days space and conducted three spacewalks for a total of 19 hours and 2 minutes outside of the space station.

Affected by breast cancer in 2018, after participating in two clinical trials and a research project on the quality of life of patients affected by cancer, Catherine Wilhelmy became a full-time research patient partner! Responsible for the patient partnership at the CHUS Research Centre, she is also involved with the SSA Quebec Support Unit where she is a patient partner in the scientific direction and co-leader of Experiences; the Quebec community of practice of patient partners in research. She also contributes to the mission of organizations associated with breast cancer research, such as the McPeak Sirois Group, the Quebec Breast Cancer Foundation, Coalition priorité cancer au Québec, the Sherbrooke Cancer Research Institute, Biocan RX. "To actively participate in research is to regain power over the disease and to create meaning from events that do not have any.

François William Croteau was mayor of the Rosemont-Petite-Patrie borough and member of the executive committee of the City of Montreal in charge of the smart city, information technologies, innovation and higher education. François has led major projects in ecological transition as well as ethical and responsible digital transformation that have led to distinctive achievements such as the Montreal Urban Innovation Lab, which notably allowed the City to win the "Canadian Smart Cities Challenge" competition in 2019. His vision based on the principles of open innovation, social acceptability, citizen participation and organizational social responsibility enriches his work in helping municipalities transform, foster innovation, improve the quality of life in communities and increase the competitiveness of businesses. With an Executive MBA and a PhD in Urban Studies from UQAM, François also brings his expertise in urban governance and data development to bear on building more innovative and resilient organizations. François is currently a Senior Director in the Strategy and Innovation Consulting team at Innovitech, working on urban projects and smart cities.

A full professor in the Department of Philosophy at the Université de Montréal, Frédéric Bouchard has been the Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences at the Université de Montréal since June 2017. A philosopher of science and philosopher of biology, his interdisciplinary research focuses on the theoretical foundations of evolutionary biology and ecology as well as on the relationship between science and society. He was Associate Vice-Rector for Research, Discovery, Creation and Innovation at the University of Montreal, and the first holder of the ÉSOPE Chair in Philosophy (2014-2016). He is a member of the Interuniversity Research Center on Science and Technology and served as its director (2014-2015). He was elected President of the Association francophone pour le savoir (ACFAS) for a two-year term (2015-2017) and was President of the Canadian Philosophical Association. He is also involved in several organizations working to advance research. He is a member of the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC) and the MILA. He currently chairs the Board of Directors of the Érudit platform and of the Bibliothèque et Archives nationales du Québec (BAnQ).

Loïc Kevin Kouatchet Ziemi is a second year student in environmental geography at the Université du Québec à Trois-Rivières. He is a member of the Student Committee (CIRÉ) of the Conseil supérieur de l'éducation du Québec. He is fascinated by the economy of self-giving and knowledge, entrepreneurship, science, art and humans. Loïc is also the host of the podcast and a student journalist and columnist. He likes to present images of the subjects he deals with in order to create a constructive debate.

Elise Labonte-LeMoyne, Ph.D. is a researcher at the Tech3Lab and Ux Research Chair at HEC Montreal and the principal investigator of the Thèsez-vous digital ecosystem participatory design research program. She combines her expertise in neuroscience, exercise science and information technology to study user experience and human-computer interaction. Her research has been published in journals and conferences such as Computers in Human Behavior, Journal of the Association for Information Systems and the CHI conference. She is a team member of the "L’IA centrée sur l’humain : du développement des algorithmes responsables à l’adoption de l’IA" research project, funded by IVADO.

Érick Delage est professeur à HEC Montréal au département des sciences de la décision. Il a un intérêt marqué pour les méthodologies quantitatives qui peuvent aider à gérer les risques liés à l'incertitude du marché, de l'environnement ou de la physique que l’on rencontre dans les problèmes de décisions industrielles et financières. Plus précisément, ses intérêts de recherche couvrent les domaines de l'optimisation, de l'analyse décisionnelle, de l'intelligence artificielle et de la statistique appliquée. Il est particulièrement fasciné par la manière dont le concept d'optimisation robuste peut concilier la conception d'un modèle de décision avec l'ambiguïté qui prévaut quant aux résultats et à la manière dont ceux-ci peuvent être perçus par le décideur. Les applications qui ont retenu son attention comprennent, entre autres, la sélection de portefeuilles, le commerce électronique, l'allocation de ressources, le routage de réseaux, la gestion des stocks et les problèmes de production d'énergie. Il est membre de l'équipe du projet de recherche " Apprentissage automatique et optimisation intégrés pour la prise de décision en incertitude ", financé par IVADO.

Lena Simine is an assistant professor in the Department of Chemistry at McGill University. She received her PhD in 2015 from the University of Toronto, did postdoctoral work at Rice University, and launched an independent group in 2019 at McGill University. The Simine group works at the intersection of theoretical and computational chemistry, biophysics and materials science. By combining traditional computational techniques with novel artificial intelligence and machine learning methods, it aims to tackle difficult and impactful problems in intellectually exciting ways. Her research is currently supported by NSERC, FRQNT, NRC and CFI-JELF. She is a member of the IVADO-funded research team "AI for Materials and Molecules Discovery".

Michaël Chassé is a critical care physician at the Centre hospitalier de l'Université de Montréal (CHUM), senior scientist at the CHUM Research Centre and associate professor at the Department of Medicine and the School of Public Health of the Université de Montréal. He holds a PhD in epidemiology from the University of Ottawa. Dr. Chassé is the Scientific Director of the Centre for Integration and Analysis of Medical Data (CITADEL) at CHUM. CITADEL brings together a group of scientists and professionals specialized in health sciences, biostatistics, bioinformatics and machine learning. He is also the Assistant Scientific Director of Data Science at the CHUM Research Centre. His research focuses on improving traditional epidemiological research methods using new technologies such as machine learning and innovative clinical trials, particularly in critical care areas such as organ donation, organ transplantation and blood transfusions. He is a member of the IVADO-funded "Human Health and Secondary Use of Data" research team.

In progress

Janice L. Bailey obtained a Ph.D. in animal reproduction from the University of Guelph in 1992 and a postdoctoral position in reproductive biology from the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine in 1994. As a researcher, she is attached to the Centre de recherche en reproduction, développement et santé intergénérationnelle of Université Laval, as well as the Réseau québécois en reproduction, one of the 38 strategic clusters supported by the FRQNT. Her research focuses on the influence of the environment, including exposure to toxic substances and nutrition, on reproductive capacity and functions in different generations.

Maude Bonenfant is a professor in the Department of Social and Public Communication at the Université du Québec à Montréal (UQAM) and holds a PhD in semiotic studies. Her research focuses on the social dimensions of communication technologies, digital social networks, massive data, artificial intelligence, online communities and the study of games. She holds the Canada Research Chair in Massive Data and Gaming Communities, is co-director of the Laboratory for Research in Socionumeric Media and Gamification and director of the Homo Ludens research group on gaming and communication.

Philippe Gagnon is co-founder and CTO at Waverly where the entire team is working on this beautiful vision of putting AI to work for readers. Waverly is developing a mobile reading app that allows users to follow the ideas that really interest them. The Waverly community can create new ideas that are directly expressed in natural language and each one generates a unique content feed. Before Waverly, Philippe worked in the video game industry for 21 years. As a technical architect at Ubisoft, he touched almost every aspect of video games such as 3D rendering, game AI or production tools including procedural generation. What motivates Philippe is to develop innovative products using an ever-growing array of technologies

Since he started at Ubisoft in 2004, Yves Jacquier filled many different positions related with the fast growth of the Studio: heading first online Services, he is then put in charge to develop the Production Services Studios in 2008 and make them the best of the industry by leading transformative activities such as Performance capture, biometrics or telemetry. In addition to the development of the production services activities, Yves designs the Ubisoft academic R&D strategy with two significant milestones: creation of a chair in Artificial Intelligence (Deep Learning) in 2011 with Yoshua Bengio and foundation in 2016 of the first Lab in the gaming industry dedicated to apply academic research: Ubisoft – La Forge. Since his debut as electronics engineer in the health sector, then in particle physics as research engineer at the CERN (Conseil Européen de la Recherche Nucléaire) on the ATLAS experiment, moving to telecoms and then the videogame industry, Yves has developed a solid expertise in technical innovation development Yves is also member of the board and scientific counsellor of CDRIN (Centre de Développement et de Recherche en Imagerie Numérique) and an enthusiastic scientific communicator for Ubisoft.

Arnaud Zinflou has an extensive history working with AI projects in the fields of industrial manufacturing, logistics, finance, and online retail. He holds both a Bachelor and Master of Computer Science, as well as a Ph.D. in Computer Engineering. He currently principal research scientist at Hydro-Québec research institute and leads projects in many areas of machine learning such as computer vision, time series forecasting or representation learning. He is also the author and coauthor of more than 40 papers, 7 book chapters and 3 patents. He has been an IEEE senior member since 2015.

Benoit Boulet, P.Eng., Ph.D., is Professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at McGill University which he joined in 1998, and Director of the McGill Engine, a Technological Innovation and Entrepreneurship Centre. He is Associate Vice-Principal of McGill Innovation and Partnerships and was Associate Dean (Research & Innovation) of the Faculty of Engineering from 2014 to 2020. Professor Boulet obtained a Bachelor's degree in applied sciences from Université Laval in 1990, a Master of Engineering degree from McGill University in 1992, and a Ph.D. degree from the University of Toronto in 1996, all in electrical engineering. He is a former Director and current member of the McGill Centre for Intelligent Machines where he heads the Intelligent Automation Laboratory. His research areas include the design and data-driven control of autonomous electric vehicles and renewable energy systems, machine learning applied to biomedical systems, and robust industrial control.

Fatima Amara is a researcher at Hydro-Quebec since 2021. She holds a postdoc in CanmetEnergy in 2020 and Concordia University in 2019. She had also a Ph.D. in electrical engineering from the University of Quebec at Trois-Rivières (UQTR), Trois-Rivières, QC, Canada, in 2018. Her research interests are modeling and quantification of the energy flexibility of residential, institutional, and commercial buildings, forecasting the electrical loads and building energy efficiency. Fatima works actually on transactive energy system, where customer participants can trade electricity on the grid. Through this system, traditional consumers of electricity can generate electricity and sell their excess capacity back into the grid.

Odile is a product owner for the artificial intelligence and data engineering team at Hilo. In this role, she is responsible for guiding the development of AI capabilities to increase energy efficiency and power shedding for Hilo's customers. Odile previously worked in energy optimization in the industrial gas sector, where she was exposed to industrial issues related to the various constraints in the Alberta and Ontario energy markets. She holds a Bachelor of Laws and a Bachelor of Chemical Engineering from the University of Montreal.

Olivier is co-founder and VP of decision science at Moov AI. He is the editor of the international ISO standard that defines the quality of artificial intelligence systems where he leads a team of 50 AI professionals worldwide. His cutting-edge knowledge in AI and machine learning has led him to lead the implementation of a data-driven culture in various industries and to support digital transformation projects in many companies such as Pratt & Whitney, Metro, Sharethrough and Premier Tech. He is an AI mentor for Creative Destruction Labs and coaches several start-ups. Olivier is the winner of the prestigious "30 under 30" award (Infopresse - 2019) and is co-author of a patent for an advanced algorithm that evaluates the creditworthiness of a borrower.

Omar Zeitoun is the lead for the software development team at EVLO Energy Storage, where he specializes in data analysis, visualization and monitoring. He has a master’s degree in software engineering from McMaster University.

Gheorghe Comanici is a Research Scientist in the DeepMind Montreal team. His research is focused mainly on Hierarchical Reinforcement Learning for building AI agents to assist mobile device users. He received his PhD in Artificial Intelligence at McGill University, with a focus on mathematical models for sequential decision making. After graduating from McGill, he joined Google in 2016 to study the use of AI for assistive features in the Chrome Browser. In 2018 he joined the Montreal DeepMind team where he is following his passion for fundamental research in AI and the practical use of AI to improve access to information and education.

Marc G. Bellemare leads the Reinforcement Learning (RL) team at Google Research in Montreal. He also holds a CIFAR-Canada Chair in AI at Mila and is an associate professor at McGill University and the University of Montreal. D. at the University of Alberta, where he developed the Arcade Learning Environment, an experimental research platform widely recognized as one of the main drivers of the growth of NL research. A researcher at DeepMind in the UK from 2013 to 2017, he is known for his work on exploration methods, representation learning, and for the distributional method. His work on applying reinforcement learning to stratospheric balloon navigation was recently published in the prestigious scientific journal Nature.

Rémi Tachet des Combes is a mathematician, computer scientist and entrepreneur. He is currently a researcher at Microsoft Research Montreal, in the fields of artificial intelligence and machine learning. At Microsoft, he develops and studies new algorithms, with the goal of using AI to solve fundamental scientific problems facing humanity. His research has been published in numerous journals and conferences. He is also involved in various initiatives to study and reduce the environmental impact of artificial intelligence and deep learning. Prior to Microsoft Research, Rémi co-founded and was the CTO of AceUp, a talent management platform providing personalized executive coaching. He also worked at MIT in the Senseable City lab, where he studied the potential impact of future technologies, such as autonomous cars, on the urban landscape. Rémi has a PhD in applied mathematics from Ecole Centrale Paris and is an alumnus of Ecole Normale Supérieure de Paris.

Shibl leads DeepMind Research Engineering teams for North America and co-leads the Montreal DeepMind Research Lab. Shibl is passionate about combining best engineering practices with machine learning research to advance the frontiers of our knowledge of AI and using it to build a better world. Before joining DeepMind, Shibl was Site Director for Google Montreal, where he helped grow the team and expand its scope to include both engineering and AI research. He was also involved in local initiatives contributing to the Montreal tech and AI community. Previously, Shibl has founded and managed a number of start-ups. He was VP Technology of E-Concept, building interactive TV solutions that bridged the web and TV worlds. He later founded W4 Technologies. Then became VP Wireless Solutions for Cognicase, where he oversaw the development of banking, retail and consumer solutions in the mobile space. Shibl later founded Sequence Bioinformatics that developed genome analysis and knowledge management solutions for biotechs. He holds an Msc in Artificial Intelligence and BEng in Computer Science, both from Queen Mary College, London University. Shibl also co-founded TechAide and participated in helping startups through TechStars and FounderFuel. Shibl’s current interests include building useful AI, and contributing to making Montreal the capital of machine learning.

Simon Lacoste-Julien is an associate professor in the department of computer science and operations research at Université de Montréal, a co-founding member and associate scientific director of Mila, and the part-time director of the SAIT AI Lab Montreal from Samsung. He received the B.Sc. degree in mathematics, physics and computer science from McGill University, and the PhD degree in computer science from University of California, Berkeley, in 2009. Before joining Université de Montréal, he completed a post-doctoral fellowship at University of Cambridge as well as at Inria Paris, and was an Inria researcher in the Department of Computer Science at the Ecole Normale Supérieure (ENS) in Paris. His research interests are in machine learning, optimization and statistics with applications to computer vision and natural language processing. He has published more than 60 scientific publications in machine learning, has served as an area chair for all the major machine learning conferences and is an associate editor for TPAMI, JMLR and TMLR. He received a Google Focused Research Award in 2016 and a CIFAR AI Chair in 2018.

Valerie is Director of the Research Group and Scientific Programs at ServiceNow Research where she leads the fundamental research teams and applied research labs. She previously held the role of Director of Basic Research at Element AI until its acquisition by ServiceNow in January 2021.Prior to joining the Element AI team, Valerie served as Executive Director of IVADO at its inception, where she worked to build the community and team while securing partnerships and funding. She was instrumental in the creation of several initiatives including the Data Philanthropy Hub and SynapseC. She holds a PhD in Chemical Engineering from Polytechnique Montreal. She began her career as a researcher and worked for 15 years in the field of sustainable development. She was director of CIRAIG, the International Reference Centre for the Life Cycle of Products, Processes and Services, and co-founder and director of CIRODD, the Interdisciplinary Centre for the Operationalization of Sustainable Development, before making the leap into the world of artificial intelligence. Her somewhat atypical background now allows her to approach the development of artificial intelligence in a sustainable and responsible manner with her team.

Ingrid Peignier is a graduate engineer from the École des Mines d'Alès in France and holds a master's degree (M.Sc.A.) in industrial engineering from the École Polytechnique de Montréal. She has been working at the Centre interuniversitaire de recherche en analyse des organisations (CIRANO) for 21 years. She is currently the Senior Director of Partnerships and Research Development at CIRANO. Ms. Peignier specializes in the identification, assessment, management and communication of risks in various fields such as the transportation of hazardous materials, underground infrastructure failures and the risk of food fraud. Since 2011, she publishes, with Nathalie de Marcellis-Warin, the annual Barometer on the perception of risks in Quebec. She is currently working on several projects in the food industry, in particular the Baromètre de la confiance des consommateurs québécois à l'égard des aliments (Barometer of Quebec consumers' confidence in food) and various studies on the digital transformation in the agricultural sector.

Nicolas Deschamps is the son and brother of farmers. He has a degree in mechanical design, is an experienced drone pilot and is passionate about innovative technologies such as drones and robotics. He is the initiator of the Drone Des Champs project, a company he created in Canada when he arrived as a French immigrant. Nicolas is the indispensable link between farmers and the Drone Des Champs team. His expertise and experience allow the company to take on projects with adapted solutionsto the challenges that farmers, agronomists and environmental experts face in reality.

Philippe La Roche-Audette is the son of a farmer - In the past, production was limited to dairy farming. Today, he is involved in field crops and organic vegetable production with nearly 3000 ha spread over Quebec and Ontario. After studying tourism at UQAM, Philippe was self-employed for 15 years. From 2007 to 2018, he successively held several positions at Agri-Fusion: marketing, human resources, and IT. Since 2018, Philippe works in business development, R&D and information technology. He is in charge of data analysis in collaboration with Agri-Fusion's teams of agronomists, technologists and farm operators.

Pierre Otis is co-founder of Agrisoft, a software development and data preparation company in the agricultural field. For more than 30 years, Mr. Otis has acted as a manager in projects related to data governance and standardization. At the heart of modern AI projects, data is the cornerstone of the predictive power of Machine Learning. To achieve sufficient quality, data preparation must be done as much as possible at the source by understanding the business processes, their inputs, outputs and the definition of each. Mr. Otis assists producers and agricultural advisors in the production and use of data in order to exploit them in AI. Mr. Otis accompanies Agri-Fusion 2000, the largest organic farm in Quebec, and the Institut de recherche et de développement en agroenvironnement (IRDA) on projects of the Consortium de recherche et d'innovation en bioprocédés industriels au Québec (CRIBIQ).

Sophie Rochefort is the Assistant Director of the IRDA's Research and Development Department for the Resource Protection expertise pole since September 2021. She holds a bachelor's degree in agronomy, a master's degree in plant biology, a doctorate in plant biology specialized in urban ecology and a post-doctorate in forest entomology. She has been working in the fields of agronomy, agriculture and agri-food for over 25 years. Prior to joining the IRDA, she was the Executive Director of a non-profit organization dedicated to knowledge transfer for the agriculture and agri-food sector and a professor-researcher and director of the agronomy department at the Haute École du paysage, d'ingénierie et d'architecture de Genève in Switzerland for seven years. In addition, she has been principal applicant, co-applicant and coordinator of several projects in agriculture, urban agriculture, green infrastructure, functional biodiversity and impact of climate change on crop pests. She has also written numerous scientific publications, supervised graduate students and served on various committees.

Yacine Bouroubi is a professor in the Department of Applied Geomatics at the University of Sherbrooke, specializing in remote sensing, geospatial data science and artificial intelligence. He has more than twenty-five years of experience in the field, acquired in university, public and industrial research organizations. His work focuses on the exploitation of geospatial data using machine learning algorithms, particularly by applying deep learning to the analysis of Earth observation images. Pr Bouroubi has several collaborative projects with the practical community in various themes of remote sensing, particularly in relation to sustainable agriculture.

In progress

Jean-Maxime Larouche is the CEO and co-founder of Hippoc.ai, but also a Ph.D candidate in cognitive computational neuroscience at the University de Montréal. He specializes in Neuro-AI, a field of research that involves combining neuroscience and artificial intelligence to reproduce and understand the human brain and cognition. Jean-Maxime is the recipient of numerous research and excellence grants. An entrepreneur at heart, he also has extensive experience in managing IT research and development teams in academia and industry

Maelenn Corfmat is a doctoral student in law, under the joint supervision of Catherine Régis and Anne Debet at the University of Montreal and the University of Paris Descartes. Her research focuses on the legal framework of personal health data throughout the life cycle of artificial intelligence systems in health. Rich in foreign experiences and inspired by several years of practice as a data protection and health compliance lawyer in France and Germany, she has chosen to conduct her research from a comparative perspective between France, Quebec and California. She can also count on the support of various groups and initiatives in which she is involved, such as the Foncer en sciences des données responsables dans le domaine de la santé program, the Canada Research Chair on Collaborative Culture in Health Law and Policy, the H-POD, the Institut parisien Droit et Santé and the Institut québécois d'intelligence artificielle (MILA).

Patricia Gautrin is a PhD student in AI ethics at the University of Montreal, under the supervision of Professor Marc-Antoine Dilhac. She is a research assistant at the Algora Lab of MILA. The Algora Lab is an interdisciplinary academic laboratory that develops a deliberative ethics of AI and digital innovation and analyzes the societal and political aspects of the emerging algorithmic society. Patricia is also an AI ethics journalist for CScience AI. CScience IA is the media 100% dedicated to Artificial Intelligence in Quebec. As president of Intelligence NAPSE, she seeks to develop a new international ethical framework for AI aligned with the United Nations' SDG16.

In his fourth year of doctoral studies at HEC Montréal in the Economics Department under the supervision of professors Georges Dionne, François Bellavance and Decio Coviello, Raphael is specializing in fraud detection, mixing techniques from machine learning with economic models. The PhD is done in collaboration with a Canadian insurance company. Raphael sees a great complementarity between the predictive power of data science models and the empirical applications of economics. His previous research focused on operational risk management in the US insurance industry, again under the direction of Prof. Dionne, for the Canada Research Chair in Risk Management. Raphael has also worked with IFAD, a UN fund specializing in rural economic development.