The School honours the remarkable research work of 2023

Theophile Demazure’s PhD thesis is entitled: “Dual Perspective on Mental State Inferences in Human-Computer Interaction: A three-essay thesis proposal”.

It explores various methodologies for assessing mental state constructs of Information Systems users during Human-Machine Interaction (HMI).

Several challenges related to estimating these mental states were identified, by adopting the NeuroIS approach. This in-depth research proposes two distinct approaches for addressing them: the first one utilizes a data-driven methodology, employing advanced machine learning techniques for mental state decoding, and the second one takes a more hypothetico-deductive perspective and draws on the current understanding of multisensory integration and its interplay with attention.

By adopting both these methodologies, this thesis contributes to advancing the field of NeuroIS and the measure of mental state during IS use.

Consult Théophile Demazure’s thesis

From left to right: Pierre-Majorique Léger, Théophile Demazure, Camille Grange and Guy Paré

Mehran Poursoltani’s thesis is entitled “Regret Minimization in Multistage Decision Problems” and explores the concept of regret minimization from a computational perspective for multistage decision contexts.

Through this research work, the author was able to develop novel modeling paradigms, advance solution methods and identify an interesting phenomenon in the contexts of inventory, routing, and financial portfolio management.

Despite computational challenges, this thesis proposes algorithmic approaches based on robust optimization to address these problems and apply them to various practical areas like inventory management, portfolio selection and the shortest path problem.

Consult Mehran Poursoltani’s thesis

From left to right: Erick Delage, Mehran Poursoltani and Guy Paré

Mireille Mercier-Roy’s thesis is entitled “L’organisation des relations multiespèces au temps de l’Anthropocène – Une approche compositionniste”.

Consisting of two scientific articles, this research work focuses on the organizational challenges linked to the involvement of other species, particularly animal species, which are conducive to the complexification of management efforts.

The author critiques the anthropocentric nature of conceptual frameworks in organizational studies. As a result, she relies on the work of philosophers Donna Haraway and Vinciane Despret to formulate a research approach that better accounts for the presence and participation of other species, particularly animal species, in organizational processes.

She thus develops a perspective that she calls “compositionist”. This considers organizations as multispecies communities and shifts the focus away from humans and their doings, thus offering an alternative for understanding and managing interactions between different living entities.

The author illustrates this approach by reconceptualizing grand challenges as processes of arbitration between modes of existence and by analyzing a controversy over the management of an urban park to highlight the political work and organizational dynamics and define the modalities of inclusion and exclusion of species in the shared space.

Consult Mireille Mercier-Roy’s thesis

From left to right: Chantale Mailhot, Mireille Mercier-Roy, Jean-François Soublière and Guy Paré

Laurie-Anne St-Pierre’s Master’s thesis is entitled “L’effet du quartier; une analyse de la microgéographie des processus d’échange de connaissances”.

This research deals with the role of microgeography in knowledge exchanges, focusing on two Montréal neighbourhoods, Mile-End and Chabanel. The comparative study seeks to understand the role of the neighbourhood and geographical proximity in bringing together different stakeholders and promoting exchanges. Its purpose is also to explore how third places in neighbourhoods promote knowledge exchanges between actors from different industries.

Consult Laurie-Anne St-Pierre’s Master’s thesis

From left to right: David Doloreux, Laurie-Anne St-Pierre, Charlotte Cloutier and Sihem Taboubi

The paper, which is co-authored by Xin Wang and Professors Erick Delage and Okan Arslan, is entitled “Crowdkeeping in Last-mile Delivery”. It was published in Transportation Science.

In order to improve the efficiency of the last-mile delivery system when customers are possibly absent for deliveries, the research team advocates the idea of employing the crowd to work as keepers and to provide storage services for their neighbours. Crowdkeepers provide extra flexibility, more availability, and lower costs than fixed storages such as automated lockers and improve the overall efficiency of the delivery system. A bi-level program is proposed to optimize the assignment, routing, and pricing decisions, while considering customer preferences, keeper behaviors, and operational efficiency.

Results based on a real-world dataset from Amazon show that the crowdkeeping delivery system has the potential to generate higher profits due to its ability to consolidate deliveries and to eliminate failed deliveries.

Consult Xin Wang’s article

From left to right: Erick Delage, Xin Wang and Guy Paré