Written by Ferris Belkhiria
Tell us about yourself
My name is Ferris Belkhiria, and I’m currently a PhD candidate in Marketing at McGill University. I began my journey in Tunisia where my plans were to become an airline pilot. However, when I discovered business studies, I was captivated by the field and decided to pursue it seriously, eventually moving to Canada for my Master’s degree. The education and work experience I had trained me to focus on profit maximization for shareholders and ensuring full satisfaction of customer needs. This approach served me well, but my perspective shifted when I encountered the inspiring work of Professor Laurette Dubé—now my thesis supervisor. Her research on precision convergence broadened my view, allowing me to continue addressing core business and marketing issues while also incorporating how these intersect with crucial societal concerns like consumer vulnerability, food systems, and sustainable development.
Why SMART?
My path to SMART was quite unique compared to most trainees. I first encountered SMART while working as a Research Associate with Laurette, at the McGill Centre for the Convergence of Health and Economics, where I contributed substantively to drafting the proposal—particularly for its retail and management components. This experience allowed me to delve into the work of all the investigators involved in SMART, each bringing expertise from different domains. I was especially drawn to SMART’s vision of blending implementation science with interdisciplinary knowledge to tackle complex issues in urban environments, such as food access, mobility, and health. Seeing the potential of this approach to create real-world impact inspired me to commit to SMART’s mission fully.
Where are you now?
I am working on a few research projects all of which are interdisciplinary in nature. My current research explores how individuals form food purchase habits, and those habits modify their responsiveness to healthy eating nudges. Together with other SMART co-investigator Dr. Jian-Yu Nie and former trainee Dr. Tianyu Zhu, Dr. Dube and I are working on developing a healthy food recommender system that leverages big data to recommend food choices aligned with each consumer’s preferences and health needs. This system is part of a larger synthetic ecosystem model we are building, designed to simulate and understand the multiple factors influencing consumer decisions around food.
The SMART Training Platform has been instrumental in shaping my approach to this work. SMART’s emphasis on interdisciplinary approach to real-world problems has also connected me with experts across fields—from nutrition and urban planning to data science—who have enriched my understanding of the complexity of these challenges. It’s become clear that addressing these issues requires solutions that match the complexity of the problems themselves.
Ferris presenting at the SOBDR Conference on Habit Formation and Consumers’ Response to Health Eating Nudges.
“Embrace interdisciplinary collaboration and actively leverage the network of researchers and practitioners within SMART. Their insights and constructive feedback can truly elevate your research and help you achieve remarkable outcomes.”
-Fares’ advice to current trainees