Vancouver · British Columbia

Building Vancouver's AI safety ecosystem.

Vancouver AI Safety Hub (VASH) identifies and connects high-potential AI safety talent across Metro Vancouver, supporting those well-positioned to advance concrete, high-impact work.

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Why Vancouver

The ingredients are already here.

Vancouver has the foundations for a strong AI ecosystem and a culture that can support genuine interdisciplinary collaboration.

Close to major North American AI hubs
Gateway to the Asia-Pacific
Strong AI talent base
Policy and governance talent
University AI safety networks
World-class research capacity
Our approach

Five principles that shape how we work.

01

High-agency

Designed for people who want to build, test, organize, write, analyze, or implement.

02

Action-oriented

Prioritizing work that becomes useful outputs, relationships, and follow-on projects.

03

Interdisciplinary

Connecting technical, governance, policy, operational, and sector-specific expertise.

04

Locally rooted

Attentive to Vancouver and British Columbia's specific strengths and needs.

05

Globally connected

Aligned with AI safety and governance efforts across Canada and internationally.

What we do

From interest to contribution: a clear path.

01

Identify & connect local talent

We bring people working in or well-positioned for high-impact AI safety work in Metro Vancouver together.

02

Build collaboration pathways

We create structured pathways for collaboration through events, working groups, project matching, mentorship, and applied sprints.

03

Prioritize grounded, high-impact projects

We focus on projects that are concrete, decision-relevant, and connected to real-world needs.

04

Strengthen Vancouver's role

We mobilize high-impact AI safety talent and connect them to AI safety networks across Canada and beyond.

Focus areas

Three streams, one ecosystem.

Technical Safety

Alignment Research Technical Governance

Governance

Legal & Policy Industry Standards

Field Building

Comms & Advocacy Community Events
AI Safety
Programs

Where the work begins.

JULY 2026 IN PERSON

VASH Coworking Session

A coworking session for people actively working on AI safety. Come make progress on your work and connect with others in Vancouver!

AUGUST 2026 IN PERSON

Strategy Round Table

Our first roundtable event brings potential partners together for a focused roundtable discussion on strategy and direction.

JULY 2026 VIRTUAL

Project Spotlight

A short online gathering featuring lightning talks from people working on AI safety, with time to exchange ideas and meet others in the community.

More to be announced

Working groups, applied sprints, and project-matching sessions are taking shape. Partner with us to help define them.

Get involved →
Team

The people building VASH.

Portrait of Krystal Pan

Krystal Pan, M.Sc.

Co-Founder

Krystal completed her Master's at Mila, the Quebec AI Institute, in 2025 with a Google DeepMind Fellowship, where her research focused on NeuroAI and large-scale neural data foundation models. Her academic work was recognized as an ICLR 2025 Spotlight paper, in the top 5% of 7,000+ submissions. Beyond research, she has worked across operations, events, communications, and field-building, including roles as a lab operations lead, lab representative, and founder of a technical AI education initiative.

Portrait of Sana Shams

Sana Shams

Co-Founder

Sana has been working in AI safety through governance research and field building in Vancouver for the past 2 years. She has been helping lead UBC AI Safety since 2024 and, in that role, has convened AI safety researchers and professionals throughout Vancouver. Additionally, she is involved with AI Governance and Safety Canada as a Vancouver chapter organizer and has recently completed research operations work at the Vector Institute. She is now working on AI x democracy research at the Center for the Studies of Democratic Institutions.

Portrait of Dr. Ibrahim El-Chami

Dr. Ibrahim El-Chami

Co-Founder

Ibrahim is a researcher and technology entrepreneur with a PhD in sensors microfabrication for IoT and edge AI. He advises governments on responsible AI governance, with a focus on agentic and embodied AI, and has developed AI governance frameworks and curricula internationally.

See yourself as part of this vision?

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