My name is Philippe Preux. I am Professor in Computer Science at the Université de Lille, in France. I belong to the Centre de Recherche en Informatique, Signal et Automatique de Lille (CRIStAL) (UMR CNRS 9189) and the Inria, Lille research center.
Very brief vita.
I head a research group named Scool (Inria, CRIStAL, CNRS, Université de Lille). Scool is the follow-up of SequeL since Nov. 1st 2020.

Research activities

My research concerns machine learning, in particular sequential decision making under uncertainty (reinforcement learning, bandits).
More generally, I am interested in data science, algorithmics and data structures in settings where things evolve along time.

In reinforcement learning, I am particularly interested in investigating problems involving some combinatorial aspects, and how RL based on statistics and continuous maths can be combined with symbolic AI. In short, RL at the frontier between discrete methods and continuous methods.
For a while now, I have been putting a big effort in investigating how reinforcement learning may contribute to a better world. I focus on some types of applications, like those related to health, or to small scale agriculture in developing countries, and sustainable development more generally. There are great fundamental and applied research questions to study and I am convinced that RL can contribute to a better, sustainable world. If you are interested in, please consider the open positions I mention below and feel free to get in touch.

Open positions

I am looking for many people to work with me and my collaborators:

Beyond the advertized positions listed below, I regularly look for people to hire to work with me: Ph.D. students, engineers, post-docs, permanent researchers: do not hesitate to reach out, just in case! Please note that I receive a huge amount of requests. If I do not reply to your email, don't feel bad, I do my best.

To apply: send me an email with: a CV + motivation for the particular position, any other relevant document.
Without all these elements, I will not take your email in consideration. (I receive much too much.)
Warning: it is extremly painful for me to point out that non-Schengen or non North-American citizens have almost 0 chance to be hired due to French regulations.

Some news

Teaching

From September 2016 to August 2023, I almost did not teach (I had a secondment at Inria).
Usually, I teach machine learning and artificial intelligence, and related topics like data mining and data science.
I also teach regular CS topics, like algorithmics, programming languages, data structures, ...

Address

Centre de Recherche INRIA Lille
Équipe-Projet Scool
Parc Scientifique de la haute Borne
40, Avenue Halley
59650 Villeneuve d'Ascq
France
firstname.lastname@univ-lille.frfirstname.lastname@inria.fr

Some pictures of myself.