LSR11 KEYNOTES
Ellen M. Kaufman, M.A., is a doctoral researcher in Informatics at Indiana University and a Graduate Research Assistant at the Kinsey Institute. Her research focuses broadly on emerging sextech and its implications for erotic labor and interpersonal relationships. Her current work explores how intimacy is “engineered” in technology-mediated contexts with both human and artificial or virtual partners.
Charlotte Poitras is a Montreal-based Canadian actress, writer, and multidisciplinary artist whose work spans film, television, and experimental media. She has appeared in productions such as *The Voyeurs* and *X-Men: Apocalypse*, building a presence across both French- and English-language projects.Beyond traditional acting, Poitras explores themes of intimacy, identity, and sexuality through her broader artistic practice. Her work often blurs the boundaries between reality and fiction, engaging with desire, embodiment, and the politics of representation. With a body of work that includes performance, writing, and audiovisual projects, she brings a provocative and introspective lens to contemporary storytelling.
​Valerie A. Lapointe is a PhD candidate in psychology at the Université du Québec à Montréal. Their recent work examines how generative AI is reshaping sexuality and intimate relationships. Specifically, Valerie focuses on platform affordances and governance challenges surrounding AI-generated pornography, the forms of erotic content produced using AI, as well as the risks and possibilities these technologies present for human sexuality and emotional (dis)connection.