Sustainability in the Digital Age and Future Earth Canada welcome Micheline Ayoub as new Executive Director

Future Earth Canada and Sustainability in the Digital Age (SDA) are delighted to announce the selection of Micheline Ayoub as our new Future Earth Canada Global Hub Director and Executive Director for SDA. Dr. Ayoub will be responsible for leading the ongoing research initiatives and strategic direction of both organizations.

Micheline brings over 20 years of experience promoting science-based evidence and cutting-edge technology on a local and international scale. Her expertise ranges from data management and governance, to multi-stakeholder partnership development, to AI for multi-omic data analysis in sustainable agriculture.

“Since SDA was launched as a Concordia think tank in November 2022, we are thrilled to now have Micheline on board to lead on developing linkages and partnerships within the Concordia community and beyond.” said Dr. Damon Matthews, Concordia Professor and scientific co-director of SDA. “Micheline’s expertise across a range of topics in AI, innovation and sustainable agriculture will play a pivotal role in shaping SDA’s strategic direction going forward.”

Micheline’s diverse career experience, recently with an AI tech start-up, and previously with Genome Quebec and with the federal government, means she brings a strong track record of scaling up teams and new initiatives, and liaising with early adopters and new strategic partners.

“I am honored to join Future Earth Canada and Sustainability in the Digital Age at a time when achievement of global environmental goals can be complemented by the right data and data governance approaches,” she said. “I believe in intercommunication, finding synergies and working together to solve complex issues and problems for a better tomorrow for us and generations to come such as the sustainability issues facing our planet.”

Micheline holds a PhD in Plant Breeding and a Master of Science in Agronomy, both from McGill University. She sits on the board of several science organizations including the Canadian Agri-Food Automation & Intelligence Network and BioMass Canada.