Ann-Louise Davidson Ph.D. is the Director of Concordia University's Innovation Lab and is the Innovation Strategic Advisor for the Faculty of Arts and Science. She is also Associate Director of the Milieux Institute for Art, Culture and Technology, where she directs #MilieuxMake, the institute's makerspace. She is also a Full Professor in the Department of Education and she teaches in interdisciplinary programs. From 2017 to 2024, Dr. Davidson held the Concordia University Research Chair in Maker Culture. During that time, she created the Education Makers research group, which brings together a community of educators, students, and community members working together to push the boundaries of knowledge of the maker movement in education. Dr. Davidson is recognized internationally for her groundbreaking work in integrating innovation across various fields, including artificial intelligence, global issues, health, sustainability, and motivation among young people. As a researcher, she is engaged in co-designing learning experiences and workshop concepts that draw inspiration from these crucial themes, driving forward disruptive pedagogies with emerging technologies. Her contributions to innovation span disciplines, shaping the future of higher education and beyond.
Education
Postdoctoral fellowship, Carleton University (funded by SSHRC), June 2008
PhD Psychopédagogie, Ottawa University (funded by SSHRC), June 2007
MA Education Administration and Foundations, August 2003
BEd Ottawa University, April 1996
BA Littérature française et arts visuels, April 1995
Professional experience
Assistant professor –Educational Technology Program, Department of Education, Concordia University
Graduate Program Director –Educational Technology Programs, Department of Education, Concordia University
Lecturer –Department of Sociology and Anthropology, Faculty of Social Sciences, Carleton University
Lecturer –Women Studies, Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Ottawa
Lecturer –Faculty of Education, University of Ottawa
Social Analysis Systems certified instructor.
Courses taught
Innovation Models and Concepts (INTE 298)
Qualitative Methods (EDUC 807)
Fundamentals of Human Performance Technology (ETEC651)
Fundamentals of Instructional Design (ETEC 650)
Fundamental Methods of Inquiry (ETEC 548/648)
Human Performance Technology (ETEC 512/712)
Educational Computing (ETEC 560/660)
Social Computing (ETEC 560/562)
Research Interests
I am an experienced environmental analytical scientist with a strong background in statistical treatment of data. I have significant field experience in developing and deploying analytical instrumentation in the High Arctic.
My current research at Concordia University in Montreal, Canada focuses on long-term observations of urban pollutants in major Canadian cities and includes statistical analysis of current and past (10 year) pollution data. I am interested in statistical analysis of medium sized data sets, including multivariate data analysis of partially dichotomous data. I am very much interested interpreting measurement data for the application and validation of atmospheric chemistry models. My main statistical tools for data analysis are python and R.
I develop field deployable sensors to track urban air pollution, with a focus on critical air pollutants and organics. The goal is to determine local pollution sources and transport and accurately measure actual exposure levels in real-time. I am part of the Decolonizing Light project that develops and deploys a citizen-science low-cost sensor air quality monitoring network in collaboration with the community of Kahnawake.
Previously, I was chapter lead and main author of the (peer-reviewed) Canadian Mercury Science Assessment, responsible for the Emissions Chapter. I took on this project as a result of a previous collaboration with Environment and Climate Change Canada, focusing on modelling of mercury transport in the atmosphere and validation with observations from AMNet stations.
I was a collaborator on the (now completed) EU funded FP7 MYCOSPEC project, where I performed multivariate modelling of mid-infrared data for classification of contaminated agricultural commodities. This included non-parametric machine learning algorithms such as bagged decision trees. Current collaborations that emerged from this work include the statistical analysis of mycotoxin concentrations from a global survey and a meta--analysis of occurrence data provided by the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA).
I also investigated the exchange of volatile organic compounds between snow and air. I employed GC-FID and GC-MS for field and lab based measurements and successfully deployed a GC-FID system in Alert, NU in 2006. Another field trip to Barrow, AK followed in 2009, where I participated in an IPY OASIS initiative. I now continue this work in an urban setting in a greater effort to trace local pollution levels.
My experience as a Manager for Analytics at Sixtron Advanced Materials in Dorval, Quebec in 2009 and 2010 included analytical development & process monitoring using GC-TCD/FID/MS. I performed and coordinated validation and data analysis from TGA, DSC, XRF, particle size measurements. I also was project manager for equipment deployment at a prospective Chinese customer.
