Hila Gonen

I am an Assistant Professot of Computer Science at the University of Biritish Columbia.

My research interests lie at the intersection of Natural Language Processing, Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence. My long-term vision is transforming LLMs into responsible, reliable and trustworthy systems, which are available and fair across languages and different socio-demographic groups. In my research, I focus on three main threads: (1) Control and interpretation of models: understanding model behavior and controlling model generation; (2) Reliability, safety and fairness: making models more consistent and safe, and mitigating biases and risks; (3) Multilinguality: creating NLP tools that equitably serve speakers of as many languages as possible, as well as understanding the emergent property of cross-linguality in models. Additionally, I have recently developed an interest in employing NLP tools and methodologies in the health domain.

Before joining UBC, I was a postdoctoral researcher at the Paul G. Allen School of Computer Science & Engineering at the University of Washington, at Meta AI and at Amazon. Prior to that I did my Ph.D in Computer Science at the NLP lab at Bar Ilan University. I obtained my Ms.C. in Coputer Science from the Hebrew University.

Note for prospective students: I will be recruiting graduate students this coming cycle for the fall of 2026. The deadline is December 15 2025, and you should apply directly to the department. Please do not email me directly. If you are interested in working with me, simply mention my name in your application.

Recent Updates

August 2025 - Joined UBC as an Assistant Professor.

August 2025 - Our papers have been accepted at EMNLP (Omniguard) and Findings of EMNLP (Dementia Through Different Eyes).

Decemner 2024 - Participated as a panelist in The Future of NLP workshop at UBC

December 2024 - I have accepted an offer from CS UBC and will be joining as an Assitant Professor starting August 2025.

November 2024 - Keynote at The 4th Multilingual Representation Learning workshop, EMNLP

October 2024 - Moderating a panel about Safety in AI at The Paul G. Allen School’s 2024 Annual Research Showcase and Open House event