Catherine Garbay is Research Director at C.N.R.S. unit TIMS (Techniques de l'Imagerie, de la Modélisation et de la Cognition) Her work concerns the design of agent-based systems, and more precisely the development of their focussing, adaptation and cooperation abilities. She is Associate Director of the Department on Science and Technology of Information and Communication at the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique in France (C.N.R.S.)for the domain of research: Human interactions and cognition.