Lala Aïcha SARR, PhD student at IMT Mines Albi, is studying artificial intelligence for business process modeling at the University of Vienna thanks to the EULiST program.

Lala Aïcha SARR, winner of the call for applications for ITM doctoral student mobility

Institut Mines-Télécom (IMT), through EULiST (European Universities Linking Society and Technology), has launched a call for applications for PhD student mobility in 2024 as part of its initiative to strengthen research and innovation collaboration with its European partners. This call for applications aims to foster research and innovation collaboration between EULiST partners by offering mobility opportunities to ITM doctoral students.

Lala Aïcha SARR, a doctoral student at the Industrial Engineering Center of IMT Mines Albi, is the winner of this call for applications. Her research topic: the study of the integration of artificial intelligence mechanisms to support the modeling and orchestration of business processes in a social network context.

Hello Lala, can you introduce yourself in a few words?

My name is Lala Aïcha SARR. I'm currently in my 2nd year of a PhD in computer science and industrial engineering. Before that, I did a “classe préparatoire aux grandes écoles” (MPSI option). At the end of this, I did an engineering cycle in applied mathematics and scientific calculation at the Institut Sup Galilée of the Sorbonne Paris Nord University. My final year was spent on exchange with Centrale Marseille, where I followed a course in mathematics and modeling for climate, earth and humans.

This last year enabled me to discover the world of models, data science and artificial intelligence. Wanting to learn more and develop my skills in this field, I decided to do a thesis. My subject is: the study of the integration of artificial intelligence mechanisms to support the modeling and orchestration of business processes in a social network context.

Why did you choose to do your thesis with the Industrial Engineering Center at IMT Mines Albi?

Until the end of the 1st semester of my final year, I wasn't thinking of doing a thesis at all, as I didn't think I was cut out for research. It was my end-of-studies internship at EDF Lab that opened the door to research. I realized that, depending on the subject, research could be just the thing for me. What's more, I wanted to develop my knowledge of data science and artificial intelligence, so I decided to do a thesis.

So I applied for several thesis offers, and had different opportunities in computer science/data science, but applied to different fields. I chose my current subject because it appealed to me the most. What's more, it's the one that's most consistent with the direction I want to take in my career.

How did you find out about the call for applications for these stays in partnership with EULiST?

My thesis supervisor, Frédérick BENABEN, professor at the Industrial Engineering Center at IMT Mines Albi, told me about it, and I was immediately interested, as it could have a huge impact on my thesis.

What was your motivation for applying?

This exchange forces me out of my comfort zone, allowing me to see other things, discover other cultures, other environments and other working methods. What's more, it enables me to broaden my field of knowledge and develop skills that are both useful and necessary for my thesis.

Why Austria, and more specifically the University of Vienna?

The focus wasn't so much on Austria, but rather on management in Austria. I work here with Dominik BORK, who is assistant professor of business systems engineering at TU Wien Informatics. His research focuses on information systems and business modeling. His expertise in conceptual modeling, modeling languages and enterprise architecture methods aligns perfectly with the project's objective. The combination of his expertise and that of my supervisors at IMT Mines Albi (Frédérick BENABEN and Anne-Marie BARTHE-DELANOE) makes a valuable contribution to the modeling of the target platform. In addition, Dominik BORK has already worked with IMT Mines Albi to supervise the PhD thesis of Mehran MAJIDIAN EIDGAHI, who defined the fundamental steps of the agility framework on which my current work is based.

What are your missions during this stay? What are your research objectives?

The missions during this stay remain essentially the same as at IMT Mines Albi, i.e. to work on my thesis subject; only the environment changes. The research objectives focus on understanding the details and subtleties of the structure of executable processes in order to represent them (using BPMN for example). This knowledge is essential to ensure that social interactions within our envisaged platform can be appropriately translated into process models.
 

What are you looking forward to in the next 6 months?

At the end of my exchange, I hope to have a solid cartography and acquire new skills that I can apply throughout my thesis, guaranteeing optimal results at the end.