CIRANO researcher since 2023, Sylvana Côté is a full professor at the Université de Montréal's School of Public Health and a researcher at CHU Ste-Justine. She directs the Groupe de Recherche sur l'Inadaptation Psychosociale chez l'Enfant (GRIP) and the Observatoire pour l'Éducation et la Santé des Enfant (OPES), and co-directs the Perinatal Determinants of Child Health Network, three multidisciplinary groups of researchers funded by the FRQ-Société et Culture and the FRQ-Santé. 

She has contributed to the continuation and scientific valorization of several longitudinal studies in Quebec (ELDEQ), Canada (ELNEJ) and Europe (England, France) through her publications and the funding of new data collection.

Holder of a PhD in Psychology from the Université de Montréal, she uses longitudinal and experimental data to study questions such as: How do individuals' life trajectories vary according to the family and social conditions in which they grow up? What are the commonalities (environmental or biological) between individuals who experience difficulties (mental health, academic) and those who experience success? And above all, to what extent can we modify the trajectory of vulnerable children by supporting them through prevention programs or adapted services?  She is particularly interested in the protective role of pre-school education services for children from disadvantaged families. 

She received national and international awards and distinctions, including a Senior Research Fellowship from the Fonds de recherche du Québec, a research chair in the Netherlands (Université Utretch, 2006) and in France (Chaire Idex, Université de Bordeaux 2016-2019. She won the ACFAS Adrien-Pouliot prize for scientific cooperation between France and Quebec, and was named one of the 21 Quebecers who will make a difference in 2021 by Le Devoir newspaper.