McGill Computational and Data Systems Institute

We're pleased to announce the 2026 recipients of the BMO Responsible AI Research Awards—the newest cohort of BMO Responsible AI Junior Scholars.

Congratulations to Zain Ahmed, Maya Hilke-Stolle, Denali Tran-Le, and Achyutha Surukanti (clockwise from top left)!

Powered by BMO and stewarded by the McGill Collaborative for AI and Society (McCAIS), the awards support interdisciplinary undergraduate research advancing ethical and socially responsible AI.

Read the full announcement: https://mcgill.ca/x/5ss

McGill researchers: our drop-in coding ateliers are back! If you’ve hit a frustrating bug in your code and can’t figure out what’s going wrong, our Data Science Solution Hub coding experts are are available to answer your research-related programming questions.

No appointment needed—join us on Tuesdays from 1 to 3 PM Burnside 1005!

Thank you to everyone who joined us last week for AI In Coding Today: Implications for Software Development! 💻🤖

Through a keynote, lightning talks, panel discussion, and interactive workshops, attendees explored practical applications of AI in coding and software development, shared perspectives from research and data science contexts, and discussed how to work with AI safely and reliably while maintaining strong development practices.

A heartfelt thank you to IVADO for their generous support in making this event possible, and to our speakers, facilitators, and participants for contributing thoughtful insights and helping make the day such a success. We look forward to continuing the conversation and further exploring the role of AI in coding and software development.

What happens when data, computation, and convergent research come together?

Read on to explore the research of Daniele Malomo, Skyler Wang, Ross Otto, and Yaoyao Fiona Zhao (clockwise from top left), whose projects—supported through CDSI’s Convergent Research Themes (CRT) Program—span disaster mitigation, human choice behaviour, AI in mental health care, and vocal disorder diagnosis: https://mcgill.ca/x/5Py

🧬 Ready to build your RNA-seq analysis skills?

From June 1–5, 2026, CDSI, in partnership with McGill initiative in Computational Medicine, D2R : DNA to RNA's HeDS Platform, the Canadian Centre for Computational Genomics (C3G), and L'Institut de recherche du CUSM - Research Institute of the MUHC, is hosting a five-module RNA-seq Bootcamp covering:
• UNIX & command-line fundamentals
• RNA-seq preprocessing workflows
• Differential gene expression analysis with DESeq2
• Functional enrichment methods (ORA & GSEA)
• Reproducible HPC workflows with Nextflow & GenPipes

Learn more and register here: https://mcgill.ca/x/5PH

Looking to build your skills this summer? Great news: CDSI's Summer Camps are now open for registration 🌞

Join us for free, week-long, in-person workshops on programming, machine learning, and mathematics at McGill’s downtown campus. Choose from Math, R, Intro to Python, or Machine Learning.

Whether you’re new to coding, preparing for graduate studies, or simply curious to learn, our camps are designed to support a range of experience levels and are open to the entire McGill community.

Participation is also recognized on the Student Experience Record (SER) via myFuture.

Learn more and register: https://mcgill.ca/x/5dk

On May 6, join CDSI, McCAIS and the School of Continuing Studies for the next edition Our Tech, AI & Society Dialogues, in conversation with Jonathan Boymal (Associate Professor, RMIT University).

Drawing on the science fiction novel The Memory Police by Yōko Ogawa, this session, “Memory and the Habit of Forgetting in the age of AI”, will explore how memory, loss, and forgetting shape our relationship with AI—and what we may already be losing without noticing. Register: https://mcgill.ca/x/5QZ

AI is rapidly changing how we write, test, and think about code. How can we maximize its potential in a safe and reliable way without losing the fundamentals of good coding practices?

Novice and experienced coders: join us on May 6 for AI In Coding Today: Implications for Software Development. Powered by IVADO, this full-day event focuses on how AI is shaping coding and software development.

Accessible to participants at all levels, this event is designed for both those new to AI and coding as well as those already integrating it into their development workflows, offering a space to learn, ask questions, and think critically about how to safely and reliably work with AI as a tool for your development practice.

Secure your spot: https://mcgill.ca/x/5MP

New: the Clinical Innovation Platform (CLIP) and the Computational and Data Systems Institute (CDSI) are pleased to announce the Medical Innovation Exploration (MedEx) Program is now accepting LOI submissions for 2026 funding, with a full application to follow.

Open to students, faculty, and staff, the Program will provide funding to transform ideas into innovative healthcare and medical technologies that tackle unmet clinical needs through computational and data-driven solutions.

Submit your LOI by April 14 to inform the review process and learn more here: https://mcgill.ca/x/5Y6

On March 19, join CDSI, McCAIS and the School of Continuing Studies for the next Our Tech, AI & Society Dialogues event. We will be joined by Dr. Nina Beguš (UC Berkeley) to discuss her book Artificial Humanities.

This event will invite participants to rethink AI beyond hype and fear, move past purely technical or dystopian narratives, and explore AI through language, narrative and human experience.

Register here: https://mcgill.ca/x/5No