Team

A professional in international economic development and dispute prevention and resolution, Philippe Lafrance has worked in public policy analysis and crisis management in numerous private, community, and public ecosystems, notably as a policy advisor to various levels of government. His areas of expertise include strengthening democratic resilience, political polarization, far-right ecosystems, disinformation, and survey and interview analysis methodologies. These topics are central to Mr. Lafrance’s doctoral studies in applied ethics and politics at the University of Sherbrooke.

Currently a master’s student in political science at the Université de Montréal, Zachary Lemyre is conducting research on the role of U.S.-based social media platforms in ideological radicalization and violent extremism in Canada. He completed his bachelor’s degree at the Université de Montréal in April 2026, combining a major in political science with a minor in philosophy. He is also a member of the Network for Strategic Analysis, where he collaborates with several experts on research projects related to national defense issues.

Marie-Soleil Mantha is a third-year undergraduate student majoring in applied politics at the University of Sherbrooke. Her academic background has led her to take an interest in security issues, particularly radicalization and foreign interference. She hopes to develop new knowledge and skills through her internship at the UNESCO-PREV Chair.

Carl Marchand is a Doctor of Business Administration (DBA) candidate in strategic management at the Université de Sherbrooke’s School of Management. His research addresses strategic and anticipatory risk management, and how generative and agentic artificial intelligence can strengthen organizations’ capacity to sense, understand and project signals of change before they turn into crises in a VUCA-BANI environment. At the UNESCO-PREV Chair, he is developing a pilot agentic-AI-assisted intelligence monitoring project designed to support a team of intelligence analysts in preventing radicalization and violent extremism; he is also a collaborator with the Interdisciplinary Laboratory on Risks and Crises (LIRIC). He teaches collection and analysis methods in competitive and strategic intelligence at the M.Sc. level; his master’s thesis examines the analytical orientations and capabilities of Quebec SMEs. A founding member and director of the Canadian Intelligence Network (CIN) — whose mission is to promote intelligence scholarship and to develop a collaborative system of professional development for the current and future Canadian intelligence workforce, across all sectors and at all levels in Canada — he is also the official Quebec liaison for the Centre of Excellence in Economic Intelligence of the Strategic Consortium of Intelligence Professionals (SCIP).

Marie-Ève Martel is a professional journalist and lecturer in journalism at the University of Montreal. She is also the author of several essays on journalism. She served as an administrator for the Fédération professionnelle des journalistes du Québec (FPJQ) between 2015 and 2022, and was its vice president for two years. She is currently pursuing a master’s degree in communication at the University of Sherbrooke, where she is interested in the ethical uses of artificial intelligence in journalism. She is supervised by Professor Marie-Eve Carignan.

Elise Mazaloubaud is an applied political studies student in the international relations program at the Université de Sherbrooke. Her areas of interest are security, masculinism and religious and political extremism. She plans to continue her studies at graduate level with a master’s degree in security and crisis management.

Alexandre Ménard is a bachelor’s student in applied politics – public policy path – at the University of Sherbrooke and acts as an intern for the UNESCO-PREV Chair. Very early in his bachelor’s degree in applied politics, he developed an interest in all questions concerning violence in politics as well as those concerning radicalization, particularly those within the university environment. Within the UNESCO-PREV Chair, he wishes to acquire and develop new skills in research in order to continue his graduate studies at the 2nd cycle and to be able to use all of his acquirements in research mainly affecting his fields of interest.

After a bachelor’s and master’s degree in anthropology (ULaval, 2011 and 2013), Frédérick Nadeau completed a doctorate in urban studies at INRS (2020). He then pursued his work through postdoctoral internships, first at the Centre d’expertise et de formation sur les intégrismes religieux, les idéologies politiques et la radicalisation (2020-2022), then at the Chaire de recherche France-Québec sur les enjeux contemporains de la liberté d’expression (2023-2024). He is now a research professional with the UNESCO Chair in the Prevention of Violent Radicalization. Dr. Nadeau specializes in political ideologies and social movements, particularly those labelled “radical”. More specifically, he is interested in emerging forms of political ideology and activism in a context where the institutions of liberal democracy are being challenged. Among other things, he carried out a four-year ethnographic survey during which he infiltrated Quebec’s extreme right to share the daily lives of activists and understand their paths of commitment. His work earned him the Relève Étoile Paul-Gérin-Lajoie prize from the Fonds de recherche du Québec (June 2020). He has published in various French- and English-language journals (Bulletin d’histoire politique, Anthropologica, Canadian Ethnic Studies, Recherches sociographiques), and his expertise is frequently sought by local, national and international media (Radio-Canada/CBC, Le Devoir, La Presse, RTS-Radio Télévision Suisse, Le Monde, El País, TVA, Montreal Gazette).

Sabrina Paillé works as a research professional on the PREV-IMPACT Canada project. She holds a bachelor’s and master’s degree in sociology from the Université du Québec à Montréal and pursued her doctoral studies in sociology at York University. In her research, she has shown a particular interest in the sociology of nationalism, reactions to immigration and gender issues, as well as radical right-wing and populist movements in Germany and Europe. Sabrina has several years of experience as a teaching assistant and research assistant. She has been part of the training team at the RPC-PREV since 2021.

Fakhreddine Riahi is a student in applied politics – public policy path – at the Université de Sherbrooke. He plans to pursue a master’s degree. Throughout his academic journey, he has nurtured an interest in issues concerning the governance of data, artificial intelligence and disruptive technologies. He is also interested in the effects of social networks and search engines on political attitudes. He aims to develop his knowledge and research expertise within the UNESCO-PREV Chair.