Rafik Hadfi 

Rafik Hadfi

About

I am an Associate Professor in the Graduate School of Informatics at Kyoto University in Japan.

Sporadically working on

  • Multiagent systems applied to online deliberation, voting, simulations, urban planning, and distributed ledgers.
  • Automated decision-making, preference elicitation, and automated negotiation.
  • Enactive AI, 4E cognition, autonomy, agency, consciousness, and constructivist epistemology.
  • Artificial general intelligence (AGI) and formal models of intelligence.

Job Vacancies I am hiring Research Assistants and one Postdoctoral Researcher. Don't hesitate to contact me!

News

Publications

Projects

Employment

February 2023 - Present

Associate Professor, Department of Social Informatics, Graduate School of Informatics, Kyoto University, Kyoto, Japan

December 2020 - January 2023

Assistant Professor, Department of Social Informatics, Graduate School of Informatics, Kyoto University, Kyoto, Japan

September 2019 - December 2020

Adjunct Assistant Professor, Nagoya Institute of Technology
Department of Computer Science and Engineering
—
Building conversational agents for persuasive discussions using Natural Language Processing/Generation (LSTM, GAN), Sentiment Analysis, and Formal Argumentation.
Productionalizing and deploying NLP models using AWS (EC2, ECS, Lambda, S3, CloudWatch).

April 2017 - February 2019

Research Fellow, Monash University
School of Psychological Sciences. Faculty of Medicine, Nursing & Health Sciences
Philosophy Department. School of Philosophical, Historical & International Studies
—
Study of the evolution of fitness and integrated information in artificial agents.
Study of consciousness in bacterium-like artificial agents.
Artificial General Intelligence using Category Theory.
Agent-based modelling of 4E Cognition in unknown environments.
Boundary exploration in enactive artificial agents.
Active inference in simulated environments.

April 2015 - March 2017

Postdoctoral Researcher, Nagoya Institute of Technology
Department of Computer Science and Engineering
—
Large-scale multiagent simulation of road traffic.
Behavioural and microeconomic modelling of drivers and vehicles.
Traffic prediction using Hidden Markov Models (HMM).
Stochastic-cell-transmission traffic simulation.

October 2014 - March 2015

Research Assistant, Nagoya Institute of Technology
Department of Computer Science and Engineering
—
Developing a cloud-based architecture for road traffic management.
Routing application using Android, Google App Engine, and Google Maps APIs.
Mobility generation using driving behavioural models.

September 2007 - February 2009

Software Engineer
Sagem Communications, Embedded systems, Set-top box (STB) division
—
CPE WAN Management Protocol (CWMP) implementation and deployment for VoIP and IGD protocols.
Auto-configuration server for smart home devices.
EPGs on NetFront and other TNT, SAT, IPTV products.

Education

April 2012 - March 2015

D.Eng., Nagoya Institute of Technology, Japan
Department of Computer Science and Engineering
Thesis: "Utility Hyper-graphs for Complex Decision-Making"

April 2010 - March 2012

M.Eng., Nagoya Institute of Technology, Japan
Department of Techno-Business Administration
Thesis: "Preferences Elicitation under Uncertainty"

April 2009 - March 2010

Research Student, Nagoya Institute of Technology, Japan
Department of Techno-Business Administration
Intensive Japanese Courses for International Research Students
Japanese Government (Monbukagakusho) Scholarship Student (2009-2015)

September 2003 - June 2007

B.Eng., Université de Carthage, Tunisia
Major: Computer Science, specialisation in Information Systems engineering
Thesis: "Automated Search Engine Optimization"

Teaching

The courses that I taught at Kyoto University

From 01 Apr. 2025, To 31 Mar. 2026 Practice of Information Systems 3221, Spring, Graduate School of Informatics, 2
From 01 Apr. 2025, To 31 Mar. 2026 Basic Informatics-E2 T051, Spring, Institute for Liberal Arts and Sciences, 2
From 01 Apr. 2025, To 31 Mar. 2026 Information and Society-E2 T018, Spring, Institute for Liberal Arts and Sciences, 2
From 01 Apr. 2025, To 31 Mar. 2026 Perspective in Informatics 5 8045, Fall, Graduate School of Informatics, 2
From 01 Apr. 2025, To 31 Mar. 2026 Information and Society-E2 T018, Fall, Institute for Liberal Arts and Sciences, 2
From 01 Apr. 2025, To 31 Mar. 2026 Practice of Basic Informatics-E2 T056, Fall, Institute for Liberal Arts and Sciences, 2
From 01 Apr. 2024, To 31 Mar. 2025 Practice of Information Systems 3221, Spring, Graduate School of Informatics, 2
From 01 Apr. 2024, To 31 Mar. 2025 Basic Informatics-E2 T051, Spring, Institute for Liberal Arts and Sciences, 2
From 01 Apr. 2024, To 31 Mar. 2025 Information and Society-E2 T018, Spring, Institute for Liberal Arts and Sciences, 2
From 01 Apr. 2024, To 31 Mar. 2025 Perspective in Informatics 5 8045, Fall, Graduate School of Informatics, 2
From 01 Apr. 2024, To 31 Mar. 2025 Information and Society-E2 T018, Fall, Institute for Liberal Arts and Sciences, 2
From 01 Apr. 2024, To 31 Mar. 2025 Practice of Basic Informatics-E2 T056, Fall, Institute for Liberal Arts and Sciences, 2
From 01 Apr. 2023, To 31 Mar. 2024 Practice of Information Systems 3221, Spring, Graduate School of Informatics, 2
From 01 Apr. 2023, To 31 Mar. 2024 Basic Informatics-E2 T051, Spring, Institute for Liberal Arts and Sciences, 2
From 01 Apr. 2023, To 31 Mar. 2024 Information and Society-E2 T018, Spring, Institute for Liberal Arts and Sciences, 2
From 01 Apr. 2023, To 31 Mar. 2024 Perspective in Informatics 5 8045, Fall, Graduate School of Informatics, 2
From 01 Apr. 2023, To 31 Mar. 2024 Information and Society-E2 T018, Fall, Institute for Liberal Arts and Sciences, 2
From 01 Apr. 2023, To 31 Mar. 2024 Practice of Basic Informatics-E2 T056, Fall, Institute for Liberal Arts and Sciences, 2
From 01 Apr. 2022, To 31 Mar. 2023 Practice of Information Systems 3221, Spring, Graduate School of Informatics, 2
From Apr. 2021, To Mar. 2022 Practice of Information Systems (Jp) Spring, 情報学研究科
From Apr. 2021, To Mar. 2022 Practice of Information Systems (En) Spring, 情報学研究科

Invited lectures

Oct 2018 (Week 10) Psy 3280 What is consciousness, and could machines have it? Monash University, Clayton Campus, Australia
Oct 2018 (Week 10) Psy 3280 Evolution of animats and Integrated Information Monash University, Clayton Campus, Australia
Oct 2018 (Week 10) Psy 3280 Natural Scene Perception Monash University, Clayton Campus, Australia

Presentations in seminars, etc.

18 July 2018 Solving Tree Problems using Category Theory Monash University, Clayton Campus, Australia
3 May 2017 Cell groups and the structure of stimulus space Monash University, Clayton Campus, Australia
23 May 2018 Integrated Information as a Metric for Group Interaction Monash University, Clayton Campus, Australia
18 May 2017 Active Inference: A Process Theory Monash University, Clayton Campus, Australia
7 Sep 2010 Dependence Theory via Game Theory Nagoya Institute of Technology, Japan
Feb 2014 Utility Theory: Foundation and Usage in Decision Making Nagoya Institute of Technology, Japan

Talks

  • — “Using Large Language Models to Structure and Analyze Political Debates” — The 9th Consensus Study Group. Japan Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (JAIST).
  • — “Structural Metrics for Consensus Readability” — Consen Symposium. Kyoto University Clock Tower Centennial Hall. Kyoto University, Japan.
  • — “Rethinking Democratic Governance Through Generative AI” — Research Semester Programme on AI’s Impact on Society, Media, and Democracy at Centrum Wiskunde & Informatica (CWI). Amsterdam, The Netherland.
  • — “Rethinking Agency and Autonomy in AI: An Enactive Perspective” — CHAIN Philosophy Workshop “Frontiers of Enactivism in East Asia”. Hokkaido University, Japan.
  • — “Leveraging Conversational AI to Support Gender Equity” — Rethinking the Ethics of AI' Symposium at Doshisha University, Japan.
  • — “Conversational Agents for Digital Inclusion” — Citizen-Centric AI Systems Seminars on AI. University of Southampton, UK.
  • — “Conversational Agents for Digital Inclusion” — Internet Governance Forum (IGF) 2023. Session: International Cooperation for AI & Digital Governance.
  • — “New Perspectives on Algocratic Governance” — Kyoto University Blockchain Study Group. Kyoto, Japan.
  • — “Deconstructing Individual and Collective Selves” — International Workshop “Toward a Better WE”. Kyoto University Rakuyu Kaikan (Day 1) and Oku-Biwako Makino Grand Park Hotel (Day 2).
  • — “The Enactive Pathway to AI” — Meet Your KU Community, Kyoto University, Kyoto.
  • — “Governance by Simulation” — The 1st International Workshop on Democracy and AI (DemocrAI 2022).
  • — “Society 5.0: Challenges, Implementations, and Implications” — Mie University, Japan.
  • — “Theories and Practices of Multiagent Social Simulations” — The International Institute of Applied Informatics (IIAI) 2022. Japan.
  • — “New Trends of Polarization Detection Techniques in Online Discussions” — International Conference on Knowledge, Information and Creativity Support Systems (KICSS). Bangkok, Thailand.
  • — “Conversational Agents in Polarized Online Discussions” — SMASH20 Summer Symposium, Japan.
  • — “Active Inference: From Biological Organisms to Artificial Intelligence” — Frontier Research Institute for Information Science. Special Seminar on Demand.
  • — “Boundary Exploration in Enactive Artificial Agents” — Consciousness Club, Araya, Inc., Tokyo.
  • — “New Paradigms in Complex Systems Simulation” — NIT International Symposium on Future Informatics. Nagoya Institute of Technology, Japan.
  • — “From a constructivist epistemology to a physical theory of consciousness” — Consciousness Club, RCAST, University of Tokyo, Japan.

Awards

  • Gregory Kersten GDN Journal Best Paper Award ($3000) on “An Agent that Facilitates Crowd Discussion”, by Ito, Hadfi, and Suzuki, Group Decision and Negotiation, Vol. 31, No. 3, pp. 621-647, 2022.
  • Best Paper Award. The 17th International Conference on Knowledge, Information and Creativity Support Systems (2022)
  • Supply Chain Management League Competition Award (3rd, 200€), ANAC-IJCAI. The 13th International Joint Conference on AI (2021)
  • IBM Award of Scientific Excellence. The 18th International Conference on Practical Applications of Agents and Multi-Agent Systems (2020)
  • Best Paper Award. The 15th International Conference on Knowledge, Information and Creativity Support Systems (2020)
  • Outstanding Student Paper Award. The 15th International Conference on Knowledge, Information and Creativity Support Systems (2020)
  • JSAI Annual Conference Award. The Japanese Society for Artificial Intelligence (2020)
  • Best Paper Award. Information Processing Society of Japan (IPSJ) National Convention (2016)
  • Young Researcher Award. IEEE Computer Society Japan Chapter JAWS (2014)
  • Student Scholarship Award. The Association for the Advancement of Artificial Intelligence (2014)
  • Best Presentation Award. The International Workshop on Agent Complex Automated Negotiations (2011)
  • The Japanese Government Monbukagakusho (MEXT) Scholarship (2009–2015)

Services

Steering Committees

  • Blockchain Kaigi 2025 (BCK 2025)
  • Pacific Rim International Conferences on Artificial Intelligence (PRICAI)
  • IEEE International Conference on Agents (ICA)

Scientific Societies

  • Association for Computing Machinery (ACM)
  • Association for the Advancement of Artificial Intelligence (AAAI)
  • The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE)
  • The Japanese Society for Artificial Intelligence (JSAI)
  • Information Processing Society of Japan (IPSJ)

Positions in International Conferences

  • Area Chair — The 25th International Conference on Autonomous Agents and Multi-Agent Systems (AAMAS 2026)
  • Advisory Committee — IEEE International Conference on Agentic AI (IEEE ICA 2025)
  • Organizer — The 7th International Workshop on Democracy and AI (PRICAI‑DemocrAI 2025) at PRICAI 2025, Wellington, New Zealand. Nov 17–21, 2025
  • Organizer — The 6th International Workshop on Democracy and AI (IJCAI‑DemocrAI 2025) at IJCAI 2025, Montreal. Aug 16–22, 2025
  • Organizer — The 2nd Computational Social Choice Competition (COMPSOC 2024) @IJCAI 2024. Aug 3–9, 2024. Jeju, South Korea
  • Organization Chair — The 4th International Workshop on Democracy and AI (DemocrAI 2024) @IJCAI 2024. Aug 3–9, 2024. Jeju, South Korea
  • General Chair — The 8th IEEE International Conference on Agents (IEEE ICA 2024)
  • Program Chair — The 21st Pacific Rim International Conference on Artificial Intelligence (PRICAI 2024)
  • Organizer — The 1st Computational Social Choice Competition (COMPSOC 2023) @IJCAI 2023. Aug 20, 2023. Macao, S.A.R
  • Program Chair — The 7th IEEE International Conference on Agents (IEEE ICA 2023)
  • Organization Chair — The 2nd International Workshop on Democracy and AI (DemocrAI 2023) @IJCAI 2023. Aug 19–25, 2023. Macao, S.A.R
  • Session Chair — The 1st International Workshop on Democracy and AI (DemocrAI 2022). Nov 10, 2022
  • Tutorial Chair — The 19th Pacific Rim International Conference on Artificial Intelligence (PRICAI 2022)
  • Organization Chair — The 13th International Workshop on Agent‑based Complex Automated Negotiations (ACAN 2022)
  • Program Chair — The 6th IEEE International Conference on Agents (IEEE ICA 2022)
  • Organization Chair — The 36th Japanese Society for Artificial Intelligence National Convention (JSAI 2022)
  • Publication Chair — The 5th IEEE International Conference on Agents (IEEE ICA 2021)
  • Volunteer Chair and Web Chair — IJCAI‑PRICAI 2020
  • Session Chair: Machine learning, Conversation and Emotions — JSAI 2020, Kumamoto, Japan. Jun 9–12, 2020
  • Workshop and Tutorial Chair — PRIMA 2020

Program Committee Membership

  • The 3rd International Workshop on Citizen‑Centric Multiagent Systems (C‑MAS 2025) @AAMAS 2025
  • Blockchain Kaigi 2024 (BCK 2024)
  • The 33rd International Joint Conference on Artificial Intelligence (IJCAI‑24)
  • The 38th AAAI Conference on Artificial Intelligence (AAAI 2024)
  • The 6th International Workshop on EXplainable and TRAnsparent AI and Multiagent Systems (EXTRAAMAS 2024)
  • The 9th International Conference on Robot Ethics and Standards (ICRES 2024)
  • The ACM Collective Intelligence Conference 2023 (CI 2023)
  • The 5th International Workshop on EXplainable & TRAnsparent AI and Multi‑Agent Systems (EXTRAAMAS 2023)
  • The 22nd International Conference on Autonomous Agents and Multiagent Systems (AAMAS 2023)
  • The 37th AAAI Conference on Artificial Intelligence (AAAI 2023)
  • The 22nd IEEE/WIC International Conference on Web Intelligence and Intelligent Agent Technology (WI‑IAT)
  • The 24th International Conference on Principles and Practice of Multi‑Agent Systems (PRIMA 2022)
  • The 24th ACIS International Winter Conference on Software Engineering, Artificial Intelligence, Networking and Parallel/Distributed Computing (SNPD 2022‑Winter)
  • The 1st ACIS International Symposium on Emotional Artificial Intelligence & Metaverse (EAIM 2022)
  • The 7th IEEE/ACIS International Conference on Big Data, Cloud Computing, and Data Science Engineering (BCD 2022)
  • The 21st International Symposium on Knowledge and Systems Sciences (KSS 2022)
  • The 17th International Conference on Knowledge, Information and Creativity Support Systems (KICSS 2022)
  • The 23rd IEEE/ACIS International Summer Conference on Software Engineering, Artificial Intelligence, Networking and Parallel/Distributed Computing (SNPD 2022)
  • The 22nd IEEE/ACIS International Fall Conference on Computer and Information Science (ICIS 2022)
  • The 30th International Joint Conference on Artificial Intelligence (IJCAI 2021)
  • The International Conference on Intelligent Data Science Technologies and Applications (IDSTA 2021)
  • The 8th International Conference on Computational Science/Intelligence & Applied Informatics (CSII 2021)
  • The IEEE/ACIS 21st International Fall Conference on Computer and Information Science (ICIS 2021‑Fall)
  • The IEEE/ACIS 20th International Summer Conference on Computer and Information Science (ICIS 2021‑Summer)
  • The 18th International Conference on Information Systems for Crisis Response and Management (ISCRAM 2021)
  • The 21st ACIS International Winter Conference on Software Engineering, Artificial Intelligence, Networking and Parallel, Distributed Computing (SNPD 2021)
  • The 6th IEEE/ACIS International Conference on Big Data, Cloud Computing, and Data Science Eng. (BCD 2021)
  • The 2nd International Workshop on Agent‑based Crowd Decision‑making (AgentCrowd 2020) @AAMAS 2020
  • The International Conference on Intelligent Data Science Technologies and Applications (IDSTA 2020)
  • The 17th ACS/IEEE International Conference on Computer Systems and Applications (AICCSA 2020)
  • The 15th International Conference on Knowledge, Information and Creativity Support Systems (KICSS 2020)
  • The IEEE/ACIS International Conference on Software Engineering, Artificial Intelligence, Networking and Parallel, Distributed Computing (SNPD 2020)
  • The International Conference on Information Systems for Crisis Response and Management (ISCRAM 2020)
  • The International Conference on Agents (ICA 2020)
  • The IEEE/ACIS International Conference on Software Engineering, Artificial Intelligence, Networking and Parallel, Distributed Computing (SNPD 2019)
  • The International Conference on Information Systems for Crisis Response and Management (ISCRAM 2019)
  • The International Joint Conference on Artificial Intelligence (IJCAI 2019)
  • The International Conference on Autonomous Agents and Multiagent Systems (AAMAS 2019)
  • The International Conference on Agents (ICA 2019)
  • The International Conference on Autonomous Agents and Multiagent Systems (AAMAS 2018)
  • The 27th International Joint Conference on Artificial Intelligence (IJCAI) and the 23rd European Conference on Artificial Intelligence (ECAI) 2018
  • The First International Workshop on Deep and Transfer Learning (DTL 2018)
  • International Conference on Computer Systems and Applications 2018
  • International Workshop on Agent-based Complex Automated Negotiations 2018
  • International Conference on Software Engineering, Artificial Intelligence, Networking and Parallel/Distributed Computing 2018
  • International Conference on Agents 2018
  • International Workshop on Agent-based Complex Automated Negotiations 2017
  • International Conference on Agents 2017
  • International Conference on Agents 2016
  • ICIS 2016
  • International Workshop on Agent-based Complex Automated Negotiations 2016
  • International Workshop on Agent-based Complex Automated Negotiations 2015
  • ICIS 2015
  • IJAWS 2015

International Journal Reviewer

  • Autonomous Agents and Multi‑Agent Systems
  • Artificial Intelligence Review
  • Neural Computation
  • Applied Artificial Intelligence
  • Group Decision and Negotiation
  • Journal of Advanced Computational Intelligence and Intelligent Informatics
  • International Journal of Networked and Distributed Computing
  • Annals of Mathematics and Artificial Intelligence
  • ACM Transactions on Interactive Intelligent Systems
  • IEICE Transactions

Society

  • Science For Society (SciFoS) JST Program from August 2021 to March 2022. Interviews with Dr. Takeshi Mizumoto (Co‑Founder & President, Hylable Inc.); Dr. Ryuichiro Higashinaka (Professor, NTT & Graduate School of Informatics, Nagoya University); and Dr. Akiko Horiba (Senior Program Officer, Asia Peace Initiatives Department, Sasakawa Peace Foundation)

Grant Reviews

  • UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) Funding Service (UK)
  • Grant‑in‑Aid for Scientific Research (KAKENHI), Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS)

Academic Committee Membership at Kyoto University

  • Entrance Exam Committee in the Department of Social Informatics
  • Apr 2024 – Mar 2025 Computer Subcommittee
  • Apr 2024 – Mar 2025 Information Security Working Committee
  • Apr 2023 – Mar 2023 System Operation Working Group
  • Apr 2023 – Mar 2024 Information Security Working Group

Contact

Get in touch

rafik#hadfi$gmail#com

Find me online