Following the first General Meeting of the Association of McGill Professors of Science (AMPS) on April 15, 2026 the election of the Executive takes place from April 16, 2026, 6:00 pm to April 24, 2026, 11:59 pm. Below you find the list of candidates for each position and their statements. Association members have received an email with their unique personal link to cast their secret ballot. The results will be posted on April 25. The term for the newly elected Executive starts on June 1, 2026. The election is governed by the AMPS constitution. If you have question, please feel free to reach out to the Interim Standing Committee on Elections at elections@mcgillscience.ca.
Candidate statements
Louigi Addario-Berry, Professor in Math and Statistics, running for President
Over the past year, I have talked to academics from every unit and job category within the Faculty of Science. I understand the frustrations many of us have with the university’s current approach to governance. I also understand the challenge of identifying common priorities among academics with a wide range of working conditions and needs.
AMPS is a vehicle for identifying those commonalities and advocating for our shared aims at the university level. Some key themes that have emerged over my last year of conversations include: stemming the replacement of tenure-track jobs with more precarious, teaching-intensive positions; improvements to the pension plan, which is the worst in the U15; better job security for CAS; and raises that keep up with inflation, which they have not done in the past decade.
Finally, I’m so proud of everyone who worked collectively to create AMPS, and I am really excited to keep building it together!
I joined McGill as an assistant professor in 2009. I am currently a full professor+CRC in the Department of Mathematics and Statistics, and an associate member of the School of Computer Science. I have previously served as the Deputy Director for Scientific Programs at the Centre de Recherches Mathématiques, and as the Vice President (Québec) of the Canadian Mathematical Society.
Henri Darmon, Professor in Math and Statistics, running for President
With 35 of the best years of my life spent at McGill, both as student and professor in the Department of Mathematics and Statistics, I am passionate about this university and its success. I am running for president to improve our working conditions and promote a vibrant, free-thinking intellectual culture. I will engage constructively with administration on multiple fronts. Administrative bloat is a serious concern which must be confronted vigorously. Tasks unrelated to teaching and research must be drastically reduced, while salaries remain aligned with comparable Canadian universities. AMPS must champion academic freedom by defending our right to express unpopular ideas and engage with colleagues everywhere, remaining inclusive of all viewpoints and representative of all its members through a policy of strict political neutrality.
The well-being of our students is paramount: strikes will always be an absolute last resort. To address affordability, I am open to lowering union dues, if a majority of members support this after careful consultation. Our members have busy lives: under my leadership, union meetings will never last more than one hour. Key votes will be conducted through electronic balloting with ample advance notice to ensure maximum participation.
Renee Sieber, Associate Professor in Geography and Environment, running for Vice-President (internal)
I am a computational geographer, joint between the Department of Geography and School of Environment. I have over 10 years of experience on MAUT, as council member and on the executive committee so I have considerable experience interacting with various university committees and with the administration. While President, I wrangled with the administration over asbestos in Stewart Bio and I supported unionization of the Faculty of Law. I continually argued that collegiality best came from the bottom up, not top-down and that the administration needed to fix problems structurally instead of trying to address issues individual by individual as they’ve done historically. The inability of MAUT to improve our collective work environment is why I’ve been part the formation of AMPS since its beginning.
I also bring to this position, my knowledge as head of McGill Community Council, which is the association of all the associations and unions at McGill. MCC was formed in the wake of police pepper spraying students and faculty during the red square protests. Because of MCC, I have close relationships with faculty and non-faculty unions as we seek common cause to fix problems because we’re all working for the best university that we can imagine.
Rosalie Bélanger-Rioux, Senior Faculty Lecturer in Math and Statistics, running for Vice-President (external)
My name is Rosalie Bélanger-Rioux, I am an alumna (Honours Applied Math BSc, ’09), back at McGill as a Senior Faculty Lecturer in math and stats since 2019. My expertise lies in fast algorithms for solving differential equations (Applied Math PhD, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, ’14). I also have expertise in teaching and pedagogy, and also equity, diversity and inclusion, from my time as a Preceptor at Harvard (2014-19) and now here at McGill. I have worked on organising AMPS to improve our work conditions, and our students’ learning conditions. This has involved developing relationships with colleagues across science whom I had never met, important work for building our union.
I am running as VP external so I may continue growing relationships, but between us and the other unions on campus. This is so we may coordinate efforts, not impede each other, and have more strength as we face the challenges ahead. It’s also important we reach out to faculty unions at other universities to learn from their experiences and work with them on common goals. A new union requires careful planning and organisation, so does preserving McGill’s mission. I want to be part of that as VP external.
Jacob Errington, Faculty Lecturer in Computer Science, running for Secretary
I’m Jacob Errington, Faculty Lecturer in the School of Computer Science since 2022 and McGillian since 2014, having completed both by undergraduate and graduate studies here. The AMPS Secretary role would suit me well on account of both my intrinsic motivation and my competence in regards to the role’s responsibilities.
A major value of mine is community strength: a group’s strength, together, far exceeds the sum of its parts. For example, when our landlord served unfair and unjustified rent increase notices in our building this year, I organized with my neighbours to refuse the increase together. It is the high esteem in which I hold the strength of community that drives my interest in being secretary.
Next, I am meticulous about documentation and organization. For example, I developed a personal wiki-style database of every exam question I’ve ever written, to facilitate not only the development of new questions and question variants, but also the rapid construction of new tests. Also, following many meetings that I either lead or participate in, I circulate a summary of the notes I’ve taken. These are the essential skills required of a union secretary.
Finally and on a more personal note, I grew up in Montreal to think highly of McGill University. I’m hopeful that as AMPS Secretary, I can fight (albeit in a bureaucratic capacity) alongside you all towards keeping this institution one of which we’re all proud to be a part.
Bill Coish, Professor in Physics, running for Treasurer
I am a professor in Physics, where I have been working since 2010. I am currently the (unelected) interim Treasurer of AMPS. I was a member of the MAUT ad hoc committee on salaries and benefits in 2024-2025, resulting in a comprehensive report. In 2024-2025 I served as a member of the joint committee for academic staff compensation (CASC) and I currently (2025-2026) serve as an advisor to MAUT on that committee, helping to develop a sustainable salary policy proposal. I have volunteered to join the AMPS bargaining team to develop common and Science-specific aspects of a future collective agreement with McGill. I am especially concerned about the sustainability of McGill’s practices in hiring, salaries, and pensions. I have concrete ideas that can improve each of these areas while working within McGill’s limited budget.
If I am elected to the position of AMPS Treasurer, I intend to ensure that revenues generated from dues are spent effectively and efficiently. As interim Treasurer, I have begun the process of reviewing expenditures from other McGill academic staff unions to map out a spending plan for the coming years.