Short Bio:

Hamza Abdelhedi is a Computer Science student with specialization of Artificial Intelligence at the Computer Science Department of Université de Montréal. He holds a telecommunications engineering diploma from the Higher School of Communication of Tunis (SUPCOM) and has a strong background in mathematics from his pre-engineering studies. Currently, he is supervized by Dr. Karim Jerbi and Dr. Shahab Bakhtiari and working on exploring the representational alignment of artificial and biological neural networks during the face recognition task. This research involves utilizing deep learning techniques and Magnetoencephalography (MEG) to contribute to our understanding of the complexities of the brain. Additionally, he is investigating the impact of scaling the data and the model on the representational similarity of ANNs and primate visual cortex. Hamza's research interests encompass cognitive computational neuroscience, decision-making, dynamical biological and artificial systems, as well as deep learning.

Hamza has received significant support from prestigious research centers, such as the Cerebrum Neuro-AI Scholarship, the UNIQUE Excellence Scholarship (MSc level), and The CIRCA Master Excellence Scholarship to help conduct his research and finish his studies.

Beyond research and studies, Hamza actively engages in extracurricular initiatives. Currently, he serves as a member of the Student Activities Committee at UNIQUE Research Center, acting as the liaison with the UNIQUE Scientific Committee. As part of his tasks he organized several events such as MAIN, USS. He was also a part of the CuttingEEG Montreal Garden team. Notably, Hamza served as the Chairman at the IEEE SUPCOM Student Branch during his engineering studies. He successfully organized the inaugural edition of the Deep Learning IndabaX in Tunisia, which stands as the largest AI event in Africa, held in 2018. In 2020, Hamza earned the third prize in the SUPCOM entrepreneurship challenge and was honored with the title of the best IEEE Region 8 (EMEA) Entrepreneurship Initiative Ambassador. Additionally, he was awarded travel grants to participate in the 2020 edition of the Smart Green Island makeathon in Spain.