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Welcome messages

It is my pleasure to invite you to attend the 82nd annual Acfas conference, which our university will host May 12 to 16, 2014. This opportunity to host the largest multidisciplinary research gathering in the Francophonie demonstrates Concordia’s deep roots in Montreal and Quebec.

The theme of this year’s event, Convergence and Creativity, is so appropriate for multidisciplinary Concordia — the Acfas meeting brings together thousands of academics from across Canada and some 30 countries. 

The conference is a wonderful opportunity to showcase the creativity and work of Concordia researchers, professors and students. I encourage you to use the event as a platform to share knowledge and broaden your collaborative networks across disciplines.

I thank the organizing committees, including those at Concordia, for their hard work to make this conference a reality. 

I wish everyone involved with the conference great success. 

Alan Shepard
President
Concordia University

It is a great pleasure to act as the President of Acfas’ 82nd Congress. For the first time in Concordia’s 40 year history we will be hosting this prestigious event that brings together academics from across the francophone world.

Although Concordia is an English-language institution in the world’s second largest francophone city, this collaboration is a natural fit. Not only do we have a significant portion of students whose first language is French – around 20 per cent of our student body - but equally important, Concordia shares Acfas’ mission to create spaces where researchers from across academic disciplines and backgrounds can exchange ideas and evidence-based research on important issues facing society.

Montreal has one of the richest university cultures in all of North America. It is a hub of convergence and creativity. Like Montreal, Concordia promotes diversity and innovation and is committed to exploring and engaging with the big ideas that confront our world.

Our partnership with Acfas will give Concordia’s graduate and research communities unique opportunities to reach a primarily francophone audience, and to learn and benefit from the quality of scientific and creative activity for which Acfas is known. The conference will also allow for francophone scholars to discover the energy and impact of research at Concordia.

We look forward to welcoming more than 5,000 delegates to our campus and hope that they will join us in making this 82ndannual congress the most successful and memorable in the impressive history of Acfas.

Graham Carr
President of the 82e Congrès de l’Acfas
Vice President, Research and Graduate Studies – Concordia University

Concordia University is hosting the Acfas Congress, but this is by no means the first time I will be setting foot in the university. Having spent five years as VP Research & Graduate Studies, I understand the strengths of the institution and I know the extent to which the organization can provide the scientific community with an environment of openness and convergence.

Concordia is recognized foremost for its creativity, as much for the quality of its research as for the manner it which it is conducted. Today’s scientific community needs to explore new avenues and find innovative ways to collaborate, especially when resources are scarce.

As well, Concordia is very open to the diversity of languages and cultures, much like Montreal. It requires a great deal of openness for an Anglophone institution to host the Acfas Congress which makes this collaboration all the more important in our eyes.

For all these reasons, Concordia is a valuable partner and is an ideal location for this not-to-be-missed event focusing on francophone research.

Louise Dandurand
President - Acfas

The Scientific Committee of the 2014 Acfas Congress invites you to join us for this grand celebration of French-language research. The 82nd edition will be held at Concordia University for the first time, in May 2014.

This annual meeting provides the opportunity for university and college-level researchers working in hundreds of different areas and disciplines to come together. Research: Zones of Creativity and Convergence is the theme for the next congress. The congress itself is a venue for the convergence of ideas, approaches and discoveries between the various areas of research. As well, it shines a spotlight on creativity in all its dimensions, the kind of creativity that has been one of Concordia’s real strengths over the years. 

The scientific program will revolve around colloquia and general session papers in the health sciences, the natural sciences, mathematics and engineering, arts and literature, the social sciences and education. There will also be colloquia relating to Research Challenges as well as to multi-disciplinary issues, all complemented by activities geared to the public at large.  

As Co-Presidents of the Scientific Committee, we will play an important role in mobilizing the resources of our scientific communities in order to develop a scientific program for the conference that will ensure its success. We are committed to putting together a scientific program that will appeal to specialists in the social sciences as well as in the pure and applied sciences. We thank you in advance for your support and we urge you to encourage your colleagues and your students to participate in large numbers.

See you next May!

Yves Gelinas and Sophie Marcotte

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