Valentin Lacombe

Hi, I am Valentin

Valentin

AI Research Engineer at INRIA

AI Research Engineer at INRIA specializing in Large Language Models (LLMs), reinforcement learning, and causal reasoning. Building on a background in applied mathematics, I co-develop open-source procedural data generation tools and supervise undergraduate research projects. Highly motivated to leverage this expertise for a PhD position focused on Agentic AI and Kantian evolutionary game theory.

Mathematics
Research
Programming
Problem Solving
Agriculture
Sports
French (Native)
English (Advanced)
Italian (Intermediate)

Skills

Experience

1
INRIA

Jan 2025 - Present

Lille, France

Research Engineer

Jan 2025 - Present

Responsibilities:
  • Open-Source Development: Co-author and primary developer of reasoning_core, an open-source library that generates synthetic procedural data for LLM training purposes (SFT + RLVR).
  • Causal Reasoning: Implemented structural causal models within reasoning_core — observational, interventional, and counterfactual queries based on Judea Pearl’s Ladder of Causation.
  • Academic Supervision: Supervised third-year (L3) Informatics students for their projets de stage, managing project launches, defining technical scopes, and providing ongoing methodological guidance.

Lycée Louis Pasteur

Jan 2024 - Jul 2024

Le Blanc, France

Physics and Mathematics Teacher

Jan 2024 - Jul 2024

Responsibilities:
  • Full-time replacement teacher, teaching mathematics and physics to high school students.
  • Prepared students for the French Baccalauréat.
2

3

Milano, Italy

Research Intern — Master Thesis

2022 - 2023

Responsibilities:
  • Thesis titled ‘Kantian Evolutionary Game Theory’, in collaboration with my Game Theory professor, which led to a published paper.
Research Intern — Hospital Projects

2022 - 2023

Responsibilities:
  • Computer Vision applied to pulmonary disease detection.
  • Categorization and evaluation of different therapies for heart failure.
  • Developed a report on the evolution of tobacco consumption in OECD countries using non-parametric statistical methods.

LORIA Laboratory

2019 - 2020

Nancy, France

Research Intern

2019 - 2020

Responsibilities:
  • Internship with two computer science researchers, involving the optimization of a cryptographic protocol verification algorithm.
4

5

Nancy, France

Research Intern

2020 - 2020

Responsibilities:
  • Research on stochastic processes with a specialist in the field.

Education

M.Sc. in Statistical Learning
Mention: 105/110 out of 110
Taken Courses:
  • Statistics/Probability (Applied, Bayesian, Non-Parametric, Stochastic Processes/Calculus)
  • Deep Learning (Computer Vision, NLP, Reinforcement Learning)
  • Software Engineering (C++, Python)
  • Machine Learning
  • Game Theory
  • Economics and Climate Change Simulation
French graduate school of Engineering
Mention: 3.6/4 out of 4
Taken Courses:
  • Advance Mathematics
  • Advance Physics
  • Computer Science
  • Quantitative Finance
  • Economics
  • Management and Accounting
Classes Préparatoires aux Grandes Écoles (Mathematics and Physics track)

Projects

reasoning_core
Co-author & Lead Developer 2025 - Present

An open-source Python library for generating synthetic procedural data for LLM training (SFT + RLVR). Implements structural causal models supporting observational, interventional, and counterfactual queries based on Judea Pearl’s Ladder of Causation.

Reasoning Core — Interactive Demo
Author 2025 - Present

A live Streamlit playground for reasoning_core: pick one of its 40 procedural task families (logic, sets, graphs, code execution, planning…), choose a difficulty level, then try to solve the generated problem yourself and get scored instantly. Source on GitHub.

Kantian Evolutionary Game Theory
Researcher 2022 - 2023

Master thesis exploring the integration of Kant’s categorical imperative into evolutionary game theory. Developed a population dynamics model combining selfish gain with moral cooperation. Led to a published paper in the International Game Theory Review.

Medical AI Research — Lombardy Hospitals
Researcher 2022 - 2023

Three research projects conducted at Politecnico di Milano: Computer Vision for pulmonary disease detection, categorization of heart failure therapies, and a non-parametric statistical study on tobacco consumption trends across OECD countries.

Publications

Kant’s categorical imperative states: “Act only according to that maxim whereby you can at the same time will that it should become a universal law.” Game Theory has recently borrowed this idea from moral philosophy to introduce a new driver in strategic decisions — a motivation that adds cooperation to selfish reasoning. This paper presents a model describing the dynamics of a population whose strategies evolve not only from selfish gain, as in the replicator dynamics, but also from a moral inclination toward cooperation. We apply our model to well-known game-theoretic problems.

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