Hassan Safouhi, recipient of an award for his outstanding commitment to promoting and enhancing relations between Morocco and Canada.

Professor Hassan Safouhi, Vice-Dean of the Faculté Saint-Jean

On March 13, during the 5th Iftar of the Moroccan Cultural Center (CMM) Dar Al Maghrib, Professor Hassan Safouhi, vice-dean of Faculté Saint-Jean, the University of Alberta's francophone faculty, was honored.

The evening brought together diplomatic representatives, elected officials from the federal, provincial and municipal governments, leaders from the academic, economic and cultural spheres, as well as committed members of the Moroccan community in Canada.

Her Excellency Mrs. Souriya Otmani, Moroccan Ambassador to Canada, Mrs. Houda Zemmouri, Director of the Moroccan Cultural Center Dar Al Maghrib in Montreal, Her Excellency Mrs. Isabelle Valois, Canadian Ambassador to Morocco, the Honorable Senator Danièle Henkel and Mr. Monsef Derraji, Member of Parliament for Nelligan, were present at the award ceremony and celebration in honor of Professor Safouhi. This award recognizes his “exceptional commitment to promoting and enhancing relations between Morocco and Canada, strengthening the bonds of friendship, cooperation and exchange between the two nations”.

For nearly two years, the University of Alberta's francophone faculty, Faculté Saint-Jean, has forged numerous links with Morocco, notably through partnerships with Mohammed VI Polytechnic University (UM6P), a Moroccan semi-public institution of higher education focused on applied research and innovation, and with Sultan Moulay Slimane University, which serves rural regions.

Professor Safouhi, in particular, has participated in numerous conferences and seminars at several universities in Morocco, aimed at promoting research topics in modern applied and computational mathematics.

In particular, in 2023 he initiated and led the creation of two research teams made up of researchers from Moroccan universities, who developed two projects in mathematical modeling of infectious diseases. Hassan hopes to obtain funding totaling $880,000 for the two projects, through organizations that support the development of research in the Global South. This funding would go directly to the two teams in Morocco.

Professor Safouhi has also initiated numerous collaborations with young researchers and PhD students from Moroccan institutions, leading to publications in prestigious international journals, thus encouraging research in Morocco. Always available to help young people develop research programs, he has organized stays in Canada for young Moroccan researchers and PhD students. As a result of these efforts, four members of the student body, including two women (in master's and doctoral programs) from UM6P, are currently spending six months at the University of Alberta, which has made it possible to obtain funding of more than $12,700 per person.

As vice-dean, Professor Safouhi has signed an agreement with UM6P involving the Faculté Saint-Jean, the Faculty of Medicine, the Faculty of Engineering and the Faculty of Agricultural, Life and Environmental Sciences. An agreement on student exchanges will be signed shortly. Another agreement will be signed with Sultan Moulay Slimane University in the very near future.

Thanks to these two agreements, the Faculté Saint-Jean has managed to obtain funding of $524,000 to finance 8-month research stays for 24 master's and doctoral students, including at least 14 women, starting in May 2025.

Professor Safouhi has recently been working with Her Excellency Mrs. Souriya Otmani, Moroccan Ambassador to Canada, on the creation of the Regroupement de Professeurs Universitaires Marocains au Canada (RPUMC). This ambitious project aims to create a space for collaboration, support and outreach for the Moroccan academic community. The first meeting of the RPUMC is scheduled for next May.