Frédéric Guay obtained a Ph.D. in Social Psychology from Université du Québec à Montréal in 1997. His doctoral studies were funded by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC). He then pursued postdoctoral studies in the School of Psychology at Université Laval, where he again received a grant from the SSHRC. His doctoral and postdoctoral research focused on the relationships between academic motivation, social factors and academic success.

Mr. Guay has been a professor in the Département des fondements et pratiques en éducation at Université Laval since December 1998. He teaches a course at the Master’s level on academic and professional orientation and supervises graduate students who are working on the issue of academic motivation and academic success.

The SSHRC and the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) are currently funding his research studies, which aim to better understand academic persistence and academic success among children and adolescents based on contextual factors (parents, teachers and peers) and motivational factors.

Mr. Guay has been chairholder of the Canada Research Chair on Motivation and Academic Success since October 2003. The Chair is working to identify the motivational, familial, social and academic factors, among others, associated with academic success and to develop interventions aimed at improving the academic success of students by fostering academic learning and persistence right up until they obtain their diplomas.

Lastly, Professor Guay has been a full member of the Research unit on children's psychosocial maladjustment (GRIP) since May 2000. GRIP is an inter-university research centre (Laval, Université de Montréal, McGill) which is formally recognized by Université Laval and the FQRSC. Its main aim is to study the development and prevention of adjustment problems among children and adolescents from a bio-psychosocial perspective. GRIP has been formally recognized and financially supported by Université Laval since 1995.