Ayla Rigouts-Terryn

Chair “At the Crossroads of Languages and AI: Towards a Synergy Between Language Expertise and Computational Innovation” 2025-2030

Ayla Rigouts Terryn is an Assistant Professor in Translation Technologies and Artificial Intelligence at the Université de Montréal (UdeM), as well as an Associate Academic Member of Mila – Quebec Artificial Intelligence Institute. She holds a PhD in Translation Studies on automatic terminology extraction from Ghent University, where she was part of the LT3 (Language and Translation Technology Team) and also conducted postdoctoral research. After serving as an Assistant Professor at KU Leuven, she joined UdeM’s Department of Linguistics and Translation in 2024.

Her expertise lies in Natural Language Processing (NLP), particularly in multilingual or specialized contexts. She is especially interested in applying linguistic knowledge to the analysis and improvement of artificial intelligence systems. As a member of the IVADO consortium, she fully embraces the R³AI vision of robust, reasoning, and responsible AI.

As the chairholder, I will conduct research that leverages the synergy between technical and linguistic expertise to advance the development, evaluation, and application of AI systems. The program is organized around three main axes: (1) integrating computational and linguistic perspectives to analyze and assess AI systems; (2) adopting a multilingual approach that systematically includes languages beyond English; and (3) developing language technologies for specialized domains.

Building on these interconnected axes, my research program focuses on three concrete directions. The first aims to develop innovative methods for analyzing large multilingual corpora by combining linguistic insight with computational rigor. The second focuses on creating novel methodologies for low-resource languages. The third concentrates on machine translation and terminology. These directions naturally align with IVADO’s priorities: robust, reasoning, and responsible AI. The chair will also serve as a platform for assembling a multidisciplinary team of collaborators.