Team

Umair has expertise in Sports for Development and Peace (SDP) and Violent Extremism prevention. He is a social activist and the founder of Kafka Welfare Organization Pakistan. Currently, he is a Ph.D. student at UQAM University Canada. He is exploring SDP and Violent Extremism prevention. He works as a research assistant for Project Someone, an initiative that raises awareness, creates spaces for pluralistic dialogues, and combats discrimination and online hate. He has been affiliated with the United Nations and Women Deliver Young Leaders programs. In addition, he has contributed to the Youth Expert group of the United Nations High-Level Meeting 2020 on Sports and PVE. Lastly, he is a board member of the UNESCO Task Force on Youth and Sport, a member of the UNESCO Chair in Curriculum Development at UQAM Canada, and a former faculty member of GC University Lahore, Pakistan. He is very passionate about changing the lives of young people through sports.

With a dual background in sociology and economics, as well as professional experience in communications and political strategy, Sylvain Bédard is scientific coordinator of the UNESCO-PREV Chair. A doctoral candidate in Practical Philosophy at the Université de Sherbrooke, in the Ethics and Applied Politics program, his research focuses on the resilience of informal online deliberation in the face of hateful and misleading discourse, particularly in the context of debates on climate change. He also teaches as a lecturer in the Communication and Applied Politics departments at the Université de Sherbrooke.

After finishing his studies in History at the CÉGEP du Vieux Montréal, Paul Bellemare goes on with his academic trajectory at l’Université de Sherbrooke in applied political studies, with a specialization in international relations. His interest are the sociological factors which pushes someone to radicalization, or even turn to violence, and the importance of education in preventing radicalization. Working with the Chaire UNESCO-PREV, he hopes to deepen his interest in security issues and to develop his analytical skills.

Amal Ben Ismaïl is a PhD candidate in discourse analysis at the Université du Québec à Trois-Rivières (UQTR) and will join the Université de Sherbrooke as a postdoctoral fellow in January 2027. Her doctoral research examines public discourses surrounding the commemorations of the 2017 attack on the Grand Mosque of Quebec, approached as a site of “contested memory.” Her work, at the intersection of language studies and social issues, focuses on polarization, hate speech, and Islamophobia. Drawing on a socio-discursive perspective that foregrounds the argumentative and emotional dimensions of discourse, she is particularly interested in identity tensions, debates over secularism and racism, and questions of social cohesion and inclusion in Quebec.

Karine Bolduc is currently Executive Secretary for the UNESCO-PREV Chair and for the School of Applied Politics of the Faculty of Arts and Humanities of the University of Sherbrooke. She was a member of the Board of Directors at Baseball Sherbrooke as Director of Events & Communications for several years. She was able to bring her contributions in terms of leadership, organization and a great capacity for coordination within her team. Her association was even host of the 2017 provincial games and her event was nominated for the Mérite sportif de l’Estrie. She has won the Volunteer of the Year award several times, for Baseball Sherbrooke and Baseball Estrie, as well as at the provincial level. Ms. Bolduc was coordinator for the University of Sherbrooke’s 2012 Centraide campaign and raised an unprecedented amount of nearly $170,000 in funding. This dedication enabled her to win the volunteer award with Centraide twice. Very involved at the community level, Ms. Bolduc is above all a person of challenge and action.

Alessandra Bonci is a PhD candidate in political science at Laval University, under the supervision of Professor Francesco Cavatorta. She is currently preparing a thesis on the political engagement of radical pious women activists in Tunisia since 2011. She is interested in gender studies and politics in Tunisia and the MENA region. Alessandra has also worked on the secular-Islamist divide in Tunisia and the role of the Tunisian diaspora in France and Italy in the 2011 revolution. Among her works, she recently published a chapter of the book “Global Political Demography in the Maghreb Region” with Francesco Cavatorta. Alessandra also published the book chapter “The secular/Islamist divide in Tunisia: myth or reality?” entitled “The Arab Spring: microdynamics of activism and revolt between change and continuity”. In 2019, Alessandra published the review article “Salafi fuel for ISIS’ tanks? The ideological relationship between Salafism and the Islamic State” on the peer-reviewed journal Mediterranean Politics.

Josie-Ann Bonneau is the coordinator of the UNESCO Chair in Cultural Transmission among First Peoples as a Dynamic of Well-Being and Empowerment. She holds a bachelor’s degree in sociology and anthropology and a master’s degree in regional studies and interventions. During her studies, Josie-Ann adopted an intersectional approach to exploring issues related to the integration practices of Latin American women in Saguenay-Lac-Saint-Jean. Professionally, she has also worked on the decolonization of relations between Indigenous and non-Indigenous organizations, as well as on bringing Indigenous and non-Indigenous people closer together through the promotion of Indigenous languages and cultures.

Originally from France, Grégoire Bouley has lived in Quebec since 2021, where he is pursuing studies in political science at the Sherbrooke University. He recently completed a parliamentary assistant internship at the European Parliament, an experience that deepened his interest in international security issues and international relations.
Religious extremism is of particular interest to him, notably dynamics of radicalization and religious extremism, with a strong interest in radical Christianity as well as forms of violent extremism present in Europe and North America. It is in this spirit that he joins the UNESCO-PREV Chair, seeking to deepen his understanding of the mechanisms for preventing radicalization and violent extremism.

Rémi Brosseau-Fortier is a student in applied political studies with a major in international relations at the Université de Sherbrooke. Throughout his academic journey, which includes an undergraduate research internship and a tutoring research project on the intersection between health and international security, he has developed a strong interest in security issues. His participation in the 2025 summer school on the analysis of geopolitical and cross-cutting risks, organized by the Interdisciplinary Laboratory on Risks and Crises (LIRIC), reinforced his abilities in risk analysis. He plans to continue his studies at the graduate level by pursuing a research-based master’s degree.

Léa Clermont-Dion is a filmmaker and postdoctoral student at Concordia University. She has a PhD in political science from Laval University. Her research focuses on cyberviolences against women, feminist empowerment on social media, violence against women, etc. She has received the Vanier scholarship, one of the most prestigious doctoral scholarships in Canada. She is interested in online antifeminist radicalization and sexist hate speech. She is the director of three documentaries: T’as juste à porter plainte (Noovo), Backlash: Online Misogyny in The Digital Age (Radio-Canada and Documentary Channel) and Janette et filles (Télé-Québec). She is also the author of three books La revanche des moches (2014), Les Superbes (2016) and Crève avec moi (2019).