Research in focus: Victoria Lemieux

Name:

Victoria Lemieux

My pronouns:

She/her

Title:

Professor Emeritus

Faculty/Department/Unit:

Institute for Computing, Information and Cognitive Systems

Location:

Vancouver

Year I started working at UBC:

2008

Provide an overview of your research in 75 words or less:

As archives turn to artificial intelligence to manage growing volumes of digital records, privacy risks inherent in current AI data practices raise critical concerns about data sovereignty and ethical accountability. I am exploring how privacy-enhancing technologies (PETs) and Web3 architectures can support archives to preserve control over sensitive content while still being able to make it available for access by researchers. As one outcome of my research, I have developed Clio-X. See more here. 

What first motivated you (or motivates you) to conduct your research?

Within archives, the use of AI and AI systems has been growing. While AI-enabled archival practice promises to reduce the burden of archival work, there is growing concern about the practices associated with the use of AI. Some of the issues surrounding AI practices include: the reinforcement of bias and discrimination in models, potential copyright violations, negative environmental impact, job precarity and privacy violations. Such concerns threaten to derail the benefits of AI for archives unless addressed.

What do you hope will change as a result of this research?

Through Clio-X, I hope to empower archives to maintain control of their digital assets, defend against problematic AI data practices, and build a sustainable, community-driven model for ethical application of AI in Archives.

Are there any research collaborators you'd like to acknowledge and why?

Yes, Clio-X is the result of research collaboration I have built with Drs Roberto Garcia and Rosa Gil at the University of Lleida, Spain and Dr. Luis de la Torre, UNED, Spain. The research is an outcome of both my NSERC-funded Discovery Grant on preventing the "Data Double Spend" and the project I lead as part of the InterPARES Trust AI SSHRC-funded research partnership (Co-PIs: Professor Emeritus Luciana Duranti and Associate Professor Mohmmad Abdul-Mageed). 

I would also like to thank the Zug Institute for Blockchain Research for providing me with a research fellowship between January-June, 2026 that enabled me to advance my research on Web3 technologies, AI safety and ethical AI use. Finally, I would like to acknowledge Dr. Jacab Taylor and Jonathan Sawa from First Nations University, Robin Billy from the Adams Lake Indian Band, Ethan Clark from Tsen'awt.io and Kristin Wilson, Former Executive Director of The University of British Columbia's Indian Residential School History and Dialogue Centre and doctoral student in Library and Information Science at the UBC iSchool - my research collaborators on a current research grant from CIFAR on addressing AI-safety through Indigenous community-based governance.

Describe any interesting research milestones you are approaching

Clio-X went live on the Pontus-X network during International Archives Week in June 2025. Since then, we have held a Blockathon for Social Good (a Web3-focused hackathon), July 17-19, 2025, to introduce new data analysis capabilities into Clio-X as part of Blockchain@UBC's 2025 Summer Institute. We have also conducted a successful pilot of Clio-X with the National Archives of the Government of Cameroon. The results of this research will be presented at the upcoming Data for Policy conference in Barcelona to be held Sept. 8-10, 2026.