Second AXEL Day – Innovating Together in Digital Mental Health

On October 27, the AXEL Centre held its second AXEL Day, a special opportunity to demystify, explore, and test digital innovations in mental health within a practical, collaborative, and welcoming setting.

These interactive sessions, offered in a hybrid format (in-person and remote), allow research, clinical, and student teams to discover firsthand how virtual reality, artificial intelligence, and other digital tools can accelerate research and support mental health interventions.

For this second edition, we were pleased to welcome:

• Marc Lanovaz, Ph.D., digital solutions advisor at the AXEL Centre and expert in artificial intelligence applied to mental health;
• Usef Faghihi, Ph.D., professor in the Department of Mathematics and Computer Science at UQTR, specialist in causal reasoning and artificial intelligence, participating virtually in the morning session;
• Thierry Harris, manager responsible for strategic ecosystem partnerships at the AXEL Centre, producer and host specializing in entrepreneurship and research, co-founder of Cartouche Média and the Savoir innover platform, which fosters connections between research, clinical practice, and civil society.

This AXEL Day gave rise to rich discussions and hands-on experiments, allowing participants to explore innovative digital tools and collectively reflect on their applications in the field of mental health.

A big thank you to all participants for their curiosity, their discussions, and their contributions throughout the day—especially Kathy Dahl, Samir Taga, and Eugénie Samson Daoust.

One participant also highlighted how inspiring it was to discover the digital tools available at the AXEL Centre and to gain a concrete understanding of their role, particularly by identifying potential connections with other clinical services not directly affiliated with a research centre.

The next AXEL Day will take place on December 4—it is already fully booked.

Additional dates will be announced shortly. If you have a project requiring support or guidance, please don’t hesitate to contact us.