CV

Education

• Ph.D. in Urban Planning, McGill University, Montréal, QC, 2028 (expected)
  • Supervisor: David Wachsmuth
• M.Sc. in Urban Studies, Montréal, QC, 2022–2024
  • Primary supervisor: Nick Revington
  • Co-supervisor: Cédric Brunelle
• B.B.A. (Bachelor of Business Administration), Institut Supérieur des Études Technologiques, Sfax, Tunisia, 2017–2020

Work experience

• Mar 2025 – Present: Data Lead, Curbcut, Montréal, QC
  • Structured housing databases and automated data pipelines for integration into multiple platforms (including Curbcut), with complete documentation for transparency, traceability, and maintainability
  • Managed the full data lifecycle from raw ingestion to analytics/visualization outputs, documenting sources, transformations, and update frequencies
  • Translated end-user needs (including public-sector decision makers) into data structures and presentation formats aligned with real use cases
  • Collaborated with technical and research teams to continuously improve platforms through use-case experimentation and data-architecture optimization
• Mar 2024 – Feb 2025: Research Officer, City of Montréal, Montréal, QC
  • Updated the data and methodology of the Living Environment Equity Index
  • Produced interactive, universally accessible borough-level reports across five themes (poverty, children, youth, older adults, activity limitations) using R Markdown
  • Conducted in-depth analyses aligned with service priorities and Montréal social issues through an intersectional (GBA+/ADS+) lens for internal programs
  • Developed Python workflows to automate data extraction from PDFs/images and generate standardized result tables and reports
• Apr 2023 – Present: Research Assistant, Université Laval, Montréal, QC
  • Structured municipal-level census data for Québec (1981–2021)
  • Built a database of major public investments (highways, hospitals, schools, etc.), 1971–2021
  • Developed a growth-model framework to estimate the impacts of public investments on Québec’s economic development
• Apr 2023 – Apr 2024: Research Assistant, Université du Québec à Montréal (UQAM), Montréal, QC
  • Conducted a literature review on gentrification and urban transformations
  • Structured and cleaned large longitudinal datasets on business dynamics in U.S. cities
  • Produced reports using descriptive statistics and causal regression models to assess how business movements shape urban dynamics
• 2022 – 2024: Research Assistant, INRS – Spatial Statistics and Urban Development Lab, Montréal, QC
  • ARTM project: Structured and cleaned multi-period census data for longitudinal analysis; developed a spatial interpolation method to adapt census data to transportation planning zones; designed and implemented spatial panel regression models to analyze employment with spatial and temporal dimensions
  • Teaching support: Migrated a GIS course from ArcMap to ArcGIS Pro, including updates to datasets and teaching materials

Skills

• Data engineering & reproducible pipelines
  • Automated ETL workflows; structured data products; versioned documentation for transparency and maintenance
• Statistical analysis & causal inference
  • Panel models; difference-in-differences and event-study designs; regression-based causal analysis
• Spatial data science (GIS)
  • Spatial interpolation; spatial weights / spillovers; census-tract and municipal geographies; ArcGIS Pro workflow
• Programming & tools
  • R (tidyverse, R Markdown), Python (automation scripts), Git/GitHub
• Data communication
  • Interactive, accessible reporting; stakeholder-oriented outputs for public-sector users

Publications

Exploring the Local Impacts of Universities on Socioeconomic Characteristics and Housing Markets in Canadian Urban Regions, 1981–2016: A Spatial Panel Modelling Approach

Trabelsi, O., Revington, N., & Brunelle, C. (2025). "Exploring the local impacts of universities on socioeconomic characteristics and housing markets in Canadian urban regions, 1981–2016: A spatial panel modelling approach." Journal of Urban Affairs. https://doi.org/10.1080/07352166.2025.2587142

Talks and presentations

How Do Public Spending and Infrastructure Shape Local Development?

November 13, 2024

Conference presentation at 71st North American Meetings of the Regional Science Association International (RSAI), New Orleans, LA, USA

Exploring the Relationship Between Geographic Proximity to Universities and Neighbourhood Transformation in Canadian Urban Areas, 1981–2016

May 05, 2024

Conference presentation at Canadian Society of Economic Science, Montréal, QC, Canada

Exploring the Relationship Between Geographic Proximity to Universities and Neighbourhood Transformation in Canadian Urban Areas, 1981–2016

October 19, 2023

Conference presentation at Association of Collegiate Schools of Planning (ACSP), Chicago, IL, USA

Spatial Panel Modelling Approach

October 05, 2023

Workshop talk at Social Statistics Study Group (SSSG) – GESS (Atelier-midi quantitatif), Montréal, QC, Canada

Exploring the Impacts of Universities on Socioeconomic and Housing Markets in Canadian Urban Areas, 1981–2016: A Spatial Panel Approach

June 01, 2023

Talk at Villes Régions Monde (VRM), Montréal, QC, Canada

Exploring the Impacts of Universities on Socioeconomic and Housing Markets in Canadian Urban Areas, 1981–2016: A Spatial Panel Approach

May 01, 2023

Conference presentation at INRS–UQAM Student Conference, Montréal, QC, Canada

Urban Transformations of University Neighbourhoods in Canadian Cities, 1981–2016

November 01, 2022

Conference presentation at Regroupement des géographes du Québec (RGQ), Montréal, QC, Canada

Ongoing research projects

Universities and Neighbourhood Change across the Canadian Urban System, 1981–2016

How Public Spending and Infrastructure Shape Local Development