Renée Sieber is an Associate Professor at McGill University in Montreal. She has 20+ years experience working at the intersection of civic empowerment and computational technologies. She is best known for her research and practice on public participation in computerized mapping and in climate modelling. She is currently researching public participation in GeoAI and is advising the design of two AI risk assessment tools. Oh, and she also conducts research on supervised and unsupervised classification and has done some computer vision feature detection.

Pamela Robinson (MCIP, RPP) is a Professor in the School of Urban and Regional Planning at Toronto Metropolitan University. She is also a registered professional planner. As part of the geothink.ca, external link research team, Pamela’s research and practice focus on urban sustainability issues with a particular focus on cities and climate change and the use of open data and civic tech to support open government transformations. She serves on the board of directors of the Metcalf Foundation and has participated in four Metrolinx Community Advisory Committees.

Samantha Biglieri, MCIP, RPP is an assistant professor in the School of Urban and Regional Planning at Toronto Metropolitan University, and the director of the Health, Access + Planning (HAP) Lab. As a planner, her research uses critical approaches at the intersection of planning and health/wellbeing, making connections with practice to build inclusive and accessible communities. She is also interested in the intersections of disability studies and care geographies with urban planning and how insights from this kind of research can work toward more just cities.

Ana Brandusescu is a PhD candidate at McGill University. She researches political power and privatization in the scale of AI governance. As a Balsillie Scholar, she examined privatization in governance by AI, and the use of AI in immigration. As the McConnell Professor of Practice, she researched AI policy and public investments and served on Canada’s Multi-Stakeholder Forum on Open Government. Before returning to academia, she led research and policy projects at the World Wide Web Foundation.

Kayleigh Christensen is a master’s student at McGill University in the Department of Geography. Their current research examines the discourses of Responsible AI in the Canadian and Québécois governments and their impact on public participation. They are also interested in Québec’s unique culture of civic engagement and the role that it plays in participation in AI. Previously, they worked and volunteered at community organizations in Montréal. Their other academic interests include critical social theory and the politics of technology.

Roberta Du is an undergraduate at McGill University, pursuing a double major in Computer Science and Urban Studies. She has studied at the intersection of tech and social sciences, and has taken a interest in how computational systems can and have shaped urban life and experiences. She studies civic pushback against AI, focusing on how it has been documented in literature. Her research explores how people are resisting AI, the concerns motivating these responses, and broader implications of meaningful public participation in AI.

Peck Sangiambut is a PhD candidate at McGill University researching AI supply chains. He also is a Senior Advisor at the Open Data Charter where he supports strategy, business, and organizational development. Previously he worked at Open North, where he created an applied research lab. He has extensive experience with qualitative research methods to map and assess data ecosystems. He has published on civic engagement, open data, and smart cities.

Alyssa Sebben is a PhD student at McGill University where she is researching public participation in the context of municipal government AI governance. She is interested in exploring both civil servant and civil society perspectives on participatory AI and is eager to contribute to ethical AI discourse. Prior to McGill, Alyssa completed a Master’s degree at Bocconi University and wrote her dissertation on Canada’s responsible AI framework through a public value lens.

Anna Abramova is an undergraduate student at McGill University studying Finance and Business Analytics, interested in urban development, quantitative methods in finance and social sciences as well as tech policy. Having worked at PwC, she helped produce Regulatory Radar publications by summarizing changes and updates to financial services legislation. Via the Student Management Fellowship program, she explores how concepts from business ethics and social responsibility influence government-deployed AI.

Abigail Adu-Daako is a University of California, Berkeley trained tech policy professional with extensive experience in research and data analysis, policy and regulatory analysis as well as stakeholder engagement through her work with the World Bank, Mozilla, several international governments, and most recently a tech startup. She is passionate about ethical, inclusive, and responsible AI as well as internet trust and safety issues. Her current research focuses on the meaningful engagement of civil society in the development and deployment of AI.

Sam Lumley is interested in technologies that promise to deliver social and environmental impacts. He is now working for Statistics Canada. Through his Master’s research at McGill University, Sam explored the use of interactive visualization to share climate change information on the web. Previously, he was the Digital Manager of the Geothink partnership grant, showcasing research on civic geospatial technology through articles, webinars, and podcasts, as well as Project Manager of an Environment Canada research grant. Sam examined civic engagement through AI while working with AI for the Rest of Us.

Allen Zheng graduated in Geography from McGill University. Allen applied machine learning to analyze applications from over 200 communities in Canada to the Canadian federal government’s Smart City Challenge grant. He found topics related to health and language preservation. This expanded the definitions of ‘smart’, with innovations in traditional tech and ‘city’, including concerns of rural, remote, and Indigenous communities. He created a deployment model of ML that recognized the limits to automation promised by these methods and he detailed the steps in which the human-as-researcher was involved. He is currently employed by JD.com, Inc. as an algorithm engineer, where he provides smart city solutions to governments in Asia.

Ruth Bankey is the Senior Advisor Artificial and Business Intelligence and Ethicist at the Canada Revenue Agency. She is the Chair of a variety of Boards in the Environmental NGO and CSO sectors, and is an Adjunct Professor at Telfer School of Management, University of Ottawa, where she is a SSHRC collaborator on “Enabling Systems Transitions Towards Inclusive Innovation”. Her current work bridges together these various worlds with previous experience in geography, applied ethics, architecture, etc., to explore the importance of meaningful and pragmatic transdisciplinary inclusion and co-creation in AI, Social Machine, and Intelligent Automation Systems. Finding ways to work in the “messiness” of the lived contexts of AI to build research and policy that may be high level but is not “removed from the ground”.

Rob Davidson is the Director, Data Science at the Information and Communications Technology Council (ICTC), an independent, non-profit think tank. Rob is a 25-year seasoned veteran of the software industry and has excelled in senior roles, ranging from Chief Technologist, Vice-President of Product Management to Director of Marketing & Communications. Rob has spoken at national and international events on emerging technologies, AI, and open data and government. Rob is a passionate open data advocate, promoting the use of open data for social good and business creation. He is a current member of and former co-chair of Canada’s Open Government Multi-Stakeholder Forum.

Bianca Wylie is a writer with a background in tech and public engagement. She is the founder of Time & Space Studios, a partner at Digital Public and a co-founder of Tech Reset Canada. She worked for years in operations, infrastructure, corporate training, and product management. As a facilitator, she spent years co-designing, delivering and supporting public consultation processes for various governments and government agencies. She founded the Open Data Institute Toronto and co-founded Civic Tech Toronto. Her writing has been published in a range of publications including: Boston Review, VICE, The Globe and Mail, and Toronto Life. She is currently a member of the advisory boards for the Electronic Privacy Information Centre (EPIC) and The Computational Democracy Project.

Jonathan MacDonald is an executive in the Responsible Data and AI team at the Office of the CIO at Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat leading the GC policy and strategy files for AI.  Recently, he led the development and launch of the AI Strategy for the Canadian Federal Public Service. He has been responsible for setting government policy direction in the space of privacy and data ethics. At TBS, he has championed privacy and data ethics through key pan-government projects and led development of new digital-focused privacy tools. He has also worked at Fisheries and Oceans Canada where he began his public service career and gradually took on various leadership roles.

Fenwick McKelvey is an Associate Professor in ICT Policy in the Department of Communication Studies at Concordia University. He studies digital politics and policy, appearing frequently as an expert commentator in the media and intervening in media regulatory hearings. He is the author of books including SimPoltics: America’s Quest to Solve Politics with Computers and Internet Daemons: Digital Communications Possessed, winner of the 2019 Gertrude J. Robinson Book Award. His research has been published in journals including New Media and Society, the International Journal of Communication, public outlets such as The Conversation and Policy Options, and been reported by The Globe and Mail, CBC The Weekly and CBC The National.

Luke Stark is an Assistant Professor in the Faculty of Information and Media Studies at Western University in London, Ontario. From 2024 to 2026, he is also a CIFAR Azrieli Global Scholar in the Future Flourishing Program. He was the inaugural Scholar-in-Residence at the University of Toronto’s Schwartz Reisman Institute for Technology and Society, and a Visiting Fellow at the U of T’s Centre for Culture and Technology. His research explores history and contemporary effects of AI systems designed to interact with humans. He is interested in the application of social and emotional AI systems in areas where AI is deployed to reshape the lives of citizens in the name of societal improvement.

Peter Johnson is an associate professor in the Department of Geography and Environmental Management (GEM) at the University of Waterloo. His research seeks to understand how governments, citizens, and private companies share information through geospatial technology, including open data, the geoweb, social media, mobile devices, and the process of crowdsourcing.

Gabe Sawhney is a designer, creative technologist and innovation strategist. He uses design and technology to address civic, creative and business challenges. Gabe is the co-founder and Executive Director of Code for Canada, a nonprofit which enables civic tech and digital government. Gabe is also one of the co-founders of Civic Tech Toronto.

Ushnish Sengupta is an Assistant Professor of Community Economic and Social Development at Algoma University. He worked with Federal crown corporations, Provincial Government organizations, as well as private sector corporations. He is the former president of Free Geek Toronto, a social enterprise and nonprofit organization, and co-founder of the social enterprise Rotman Nexus. Ushnish’s research interests include social enterprises, triple bottom line enterprises, nonprofits, user centered design, diversity equity in information technology, and open data. His specialties are social enterprise, management consulting, project management, government policy, business analysis, and user centered design.

Based in Montréal/ Tiohtià:ke/ Mooniyaang, Mich (Michèle) Spieler worked as a Community Technology Co-coordinator at COCo (Centre for Community Organizations), a non profit whose mission is to help build a more socially just world by supporting the health and well-being of community organizations in Québec. A political scientist by training, they’ve done work on gender equity in universities through analysis of employment data and research on reconciling academic career and raising children. They have been involved in several feminist media projects and bring a background of ICT trainer, web developer and Executive Director of a Quebec community group to their current position, as well as a passion for the question how technology contributes to or can help eliminate oppression.

Tracey Lauriault is an Associate Professor, Critical Media and Big Data. She is a critical data studies scholar who works on open data, big data, open smart cities, open government, data sovereignty, data preservation and data governance. Her ongoing research includes disaggregated equity data, digital twins, intersectional approaches to data governance, data invisibilities and the history of the census. As a publicly engaged scholar, she mobilizes her research into data and technology policy in all sectors. As a data and technological citizen, she examines large and small complex systems with the hope of making them more just, inclusive, equitable and environmentally sustainable.

Thomas Linder is passionate about designing technological change that reduces inequality, empowers communities, and embeds equity and sustainability in social, political, and economic systems. He is currently the Senior Coordinator for Research and Delivery at Open North. My areas of expertise are digital inequality and data justice-informed responsible AI governance, data governance (CDMP), digital policy development, and risk and privacy impact assessment (CIPP/C). Thomas is also a member of the CAIDP Policy Group and teaches Responsible AI at Concordia University.

Benoit Deshaies is a leader in the Government of Canada’s digital policy space. He serves as Director of Privacy Protection Policy at the Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat, where he leads government-wide efforts to safeguard personal information. Previously, he was Director of AI Policy, where he developed foundational frameworks such as the Directive on Automated Decision-Making, the Algorithmic Impact Assessment, and the Guide on the Use of Generative AI. These tools help ensure that the federal government’s use of AI prioritizes transparency, accountability, and fairness. A computer science graduate of Carleton University, he brings a strong technical foundation and public service experience to his work at the intersection of data, privacy, and AI.

Martin Canning is an urbanist and public sector leader driving innovation and sustainability in Canada’s public infrastructure. With 20+ years in government and non-profit roles, he is known for creative, effective policy and program design that strengthens communities and delivers measurable outcomes. As Executive Director of Community Innovation at Evergreen Canada, he leads national initiatives to modernize public infrastructure and integrate design, technology, and community engagement. Based in Ottawa and a Memorial University graduate, he is committed to positioning Canadian cities at the forefront of climate-ready, innovation-driven urban transformation.

Nasma Ahmed is a technologist and community organizer that works within the intersections of social justice, technology, and policy. She is the Director of the Digital Justice Lab, which is based in Toronto. The Lab’s mission is to build alternative digital futures in Canada by working alongside technologists, community activists, and policymakers to shape a better understanding of technology and its impact on communities across the country.

Allison Cohen is the Applied AI Lead at Mila, Quebec AI Institute. Allison works with AI researchers, social science experts and partners to professionalize and deploy socially beneficial AI projects. She also is Co-Lead of the AI for Drug Discovery Committee for the Global Partnership on AI, building policy recommendations for an AI-enabled R&D process. Her portfolio of work includes: a misogyny detection and correction tool; an application that can identify online activity that is suspected of containing human trafficking victims; and an agricultural analytics tool to support sustainable practices among smallholder farmers in Rwanda.

Shannon Mattern is the Penn Presidential Compact Professor of Art History and Media Studies at the University of Pennsylvania (2023). She was the Director of Undergraduate Studies in Anthropology at Eugene Lang College and Director of the minor in Anthropology + Design in the New School for Social Research. Her writing and teaching focus on archives, libraries, and other media spaces; media infrastructures; spatial epistemologies; and mediated sensation and exhibition. She is the author of The New Downtown Library: Designing with Communities, Deep Mapping the Media City, and Code and Clay, Data and Dirt: Five Thousand Years of Urban Media, all published by University of Minnesota Press.

Derek Ruths is an Associate Professor of Computer Science at McGill University, with a PhD in Computer Science at Rice University. His ongoing work considers the problem of characterizing and predicting the large-scale dynamics of human behavior in online social platforms. His work involves active collaborations in social sciences, humanities, and industry. He published in top-tier journals and conferences. His research is funded by a wide array of organizations – underscoring the broad, interdisciplinary nature of his work.

Jean-Noé Landry is a Social Entrepreneur and 2021-2022 Obama Scholar. Previously, he was the Executive Director of Open North, a nonprofit organization specialized in data governance, open smart cities, and applied research. With more than 20 years of international democratic support experience and a leadership role in the global open data community, Jean-Noé is part of the directing committee of the International observatory on the social impact of AI (OBVIA), a Fellow at the Center for Law, Technology and Society at the University of Ottawa’s Faculty of Law, and on the national jury of the Canadian Mortgage and Housing Corporation’s Housing Supply Challenge.

Alexandra (Sasha) Luccioni is a Research Scientist at HuggingFace, where she works on the ethical and societal impacts of Machine Learning models and datasets. Previously, she was a Postdoctoral Researcher at Mila, where she led various climate change-related initiatives, including projects that aim to estimate the environmental impact of Machine Learning and to analyze financial disclosures from a climate standpoint. Sasha’s work sits at the intersection of AI and the environment; her goal is to find ways to maximize the positive impacts of AI while minimizing the negative ones, be it from a research or application perspective.

Drew Bush is the Executive Director of Mount Washington Observatory, a nonprofit with a mission to advance understanding of the natural systems that create Earth’s weather and climate. He has experience teaching about Earth, ocean and climate science and evaluating the impact of tech-based inquiry, citizen science, and service-based curricula. He has developed and evaluated technology-based science curricula for high school, Collège d’enseignement général et professionnel and undergraduate students.