Researching Natural Language Processing with a focus on low-resource languages, semantic textual similarity, and multilingual deep learning. Building language tools that work for everyone.
Kambule Doctoral Award Runner-Up
Deep Learning Indaba 2023
I am an Assistant Professor of Computer Science at the School of Science and Engineering (SSE) at Al Akhawayn University in Ifrane, Morocco. My work sits at the intersection of deep learning, linguistics, and equity in AI.
My PhD research, completed at Hassan II University of Casablanca in 2022, focused on semantic textual similarity and cross-lingual plagiarism detection using deep learning — covering extrinsic, intrinsic, and cross-lingual forms beyond simple copy-paste.
I am passionate about NLP for low-resource and morphologically rich languages, including Arabic, Moroccan Darija, and African languages. I contribute to large multilingual benchmarks and shared tasks, including SemEval and AfriSenti, helping build the data infrastructure for fairer language technology.
I also served as a Research Assistant at UNDP and previously worked as a software engineer before fully committing to research. I care deeply about building language models and resources others can rely on.
I'm always happy to connect with researchers, collaborators, and students interested in NLP, low-resource languages, or AI for Africa and the Arab world. Feel free to reach out via any channel below.
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