December 13, 2023
Catherine Régis appointed to the new position of Director of Social Innovation and International Policy at IVADO
Montréal, December 13, 2023 – IVADO, an interdisciplinary and intersectoral consortium for research, training, and knowledge mobilization in artificial intelligence led by the Université de Montréal with the support of four university partners – Polytechnique Montréal, HEC Montréal, Université Laval, and McGill University, is pleased to announce the appointment of Catherine Régis to the new position of Director of Social Innovation and International Policy at IVADO. In this role, she will provide essential leadership in the development of the R3AI program’s knowledge mobilization strategy, as well as the development of partnerships focused on responsible innovation and adoption in different environments. She officially takes up her post in January 2024.
Catherine Régis is a full professor at the Faculty of Law of the Université de Montréal. She is also Special Advisor and Associate Vice-Rector for Strategic Planning and Responsible Digital Innovation. She holds a Canada-CIFAR Chair in AI and Human Rights (Mila) and a Canada Research Chair in Health Law and Policy. She is an Associate Academic Member at Mila and a researcher at the Public Law Research Center of Université de Montréal (CRDP), the Montreal Centre for International Studies (CÉRIUM) and at Obvia.
Professor Régis is very active on the international scene. She is co-Chair of the Working Group on Responsible AI for the Global Partnership on AI (GPAI), which brings together 29 member states. She co-leads the Working Group on responsible Digital Innovation and AI of the international university alliance U7+, which includes over fifty universities worldwide. She has served as a member of the Working Group on Trustworthy AI from the OECD and is a Fellow of the United Nations Institute for Training and Research Science Diplomacy Program (2022). She is Scientific Director of the Summer School on Responsible AI and Human Rights (an initiative of Mila and Université de Montréal), which welcomes an international cohort of students and professionals from several disciplines (law, ethics, international policy, machine learning, etc.). She contributed to the drafting of the Montreal Declaration for the responsible development of AI and is co-leader of the international working group established by the Innovation Council to produce recommendations on the regulation of AI, which will be presented to the Quebec government in January 2024.
Catherine Régis recently co-directed the production of “Missing links in AI Governance” (UNESCO Press, 2023); “AI & Cities: Risks, Applications and Governance” (UN-Habitat-Mila, 2022); “The Innovative University: Renewing the Role of Universities in the Digital Innovation and Artificial Ecosystem” (U7+, 2020); “Connecting the Dots (Expert Panel on Health Data Sharing”, Council of Canadian Academies, 2023); and “Human-Centered AI: a Multidisciplinary Perspective for Policy-Makers, Auditors and Users” (Routledge, forthcoming 2024). She has presented her work to institutions such as the World Health Organization, UNIDIR, UNESCO, the Alan Turing Institute, Massey College, the Aspen Ministers’ Forum, at events such as the AI Safety Summit and NeurIPS, and at more than 20 universities worldwide.
“I am delighted and proud to join IVADO, which brings together a distinguished community of interdisciplinary experts dedicated to the responsible development of AI. My new role will enable me to work even more actively on the deployment of AI aligned with common good objectives. To achieve these goals, my focus will center on making IVADO a leader in operationalizing the principles contained in key tools such as the Montreal Declaration and the Human Rights Framework; a leading contributor to AI governance work on the international scene; and a leader in the design and implementation of applied AI projects aimed dedicated to fostering the well-being of all.”
— Catherine Régis
“Catherine Régis is a world-renowned leader in the field of artificial intelligence governance. Her unwavering dedication and substantial contributions to diverse international bodies underscore her extensive expertise and forward-thinking vision for the future of AI. As Director – Social Innovation and International Policy, Catherine Régis will lead IVADO’s strategic involvement with its partners in social innovation, based on AI guided by ethical and humane principles. I am delighted that she is joining IVADO’s management team to take on this key role in the achievement of the ambitious project for the development and adoption of robust, reasoning and responsible AI (R3AI).”
— Luc Vinet, Chief Executive Officer, IVADO
