me

Vincent François-Lavet

Assistant Prof in machine learning at the VU Amsterdam


About me

Since 2020, I am an assistant professor at the VU Amsterdam. Previously, I did a post-doc in Montreal at McGill University/Mila. I obtained a PhD in machine learning at the University of Liege in 2017.

More information on my professional experience is available on my Linkedin profile.

Information on my research and my teaching activities are provided below.

My field of research is focused on deep learning and reinforcement learning. One main goal is to create agents that can learn how to perform sequential decision-making tasks while generalizing from limited data. My research focuses in particular on the role of representation learning and how it is possible to integrate model-free learning (direct inference from deep learning) with model-based learning (e.g. planning and "reasoning").

The full list of my publications can be found here.

I'm currently teaching "Projects on Reinforcement Learning" as well as co-teaching "Dynamic Programming and Reinforcement Learning" and "AI and health". I have supervised over 50 student theses (BSc, MSc). I am also the program director of the MSc AI at the VU Amsterdam since 2024.

I have (co-)organized internationals scientific events, such as the RL summer school in 2022 and BeNeRL in 2024.

In the past, I've taught for different courses:

Conferences

  • NeuriPS (Reviewer 2018-2023, Area Chair 2024)
  • ICLR (2018-)
  • ICML (Area chair 2025)
  • UAI
  • ECML

Journals

  • Journal of Machine Learning Research
  • Transactions on Machine Learning Research
  • IEEE Transactions on Neural Networks and Learning Systems