Data Science Africa Regional Conference 2016

(Kampala, Uganda) UN Global Pulse, Makerere University and partners from academia and private sector, are hosting the second edition of the Data Science for Africa conference, from 27 June 2016 to 1 July 2016. The theme for this year’s conference is: ‘The role of data science in the global goals for sustainable development.’ 

The event, which hopes to gather participants from across Africa, includes a three-day Summer School (27-29 June) hosted in the College of Computing and Information Science at Makerere University and a two-day workshop (30 June-1 July) hosted at Pulse Lab Kampala.

For more information and to register, visit: http://www.datascienceafrica.org/dsa2016/

Agenda

Day 1: June 30, 2016

09:00 – 09:30 Workshop opening

• Remarks by UN Resident Country Coordinator Ms. Rosa Malango

09:30 – 10:00 Introduction Presentation

• Pulse Lab Kampala data science team on current projects

10:20 – 11:00 Keynote: Current data science work at IBM Research Africa, including Cognitive Companions in Healthcare and Education

• Oliver Bent and Simone Fobi – IBM Research Africa

11:00 – 13:00 Data Science for Agriculture

• Evan Girvetz – International Center for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT)
• ?Ernest Mwebaze – Makerere University/Pulse Lab Kampala?
• Richard Ssekibuule – Kudu?
• Gladness Mwanga – Nelson Mandela African Institute of Science and Technology ?
• Piet van Asten – International Institute of Tropical Agriculture?
• Andrew Kiggundu – National Agricultural Research Organisation (NARO), Uganda

14:00 – 15:30 Data Science for Sustainable Cities

• Bernard Wright – Geo Gecko?
• Joseph Kaizi – Thin Void?
• Michael Smith – University of Sheffield
• ?Daniel Emaasit – University of Nevada Las Vegas?
• Gilbert Akol – National Water and Sewerage Company

16:00 – 16:30 Data Collection and Curation

• Prestone Adie – Kenya Open Data Initiative
• ?Jamie Arkin – Human Network International

16:30 – 17:00 Keynote: Extremely Supervised Learning

• Moustapha Cisse – Facebook

Day 2: July 1, 2016

09:00 – 09:30 Keynote: The Kenya Bioacoustics Project

• Ciira wa Maina – Dedan Kimathi University of Technology, Nyeri, Kenya

09:30 – 10:00 Keynote : New Directions in Data Science

• Neil Lawrence – University of Sheffield

10:30 – 12:00 Data Science for Health

• Ricardo Andrade – University of California San Francisco?
• Kerry Holden – Queen Mary University of London?
• Rose Nakasi – Makerere University?
• Martin Mubangizi – Pulse Lab Kampala

13:00 – 14:30 Data Science Training and Mentorship in Africa

• Paula Hidalgo Sanchis – Pulse Lab Kampala?
• Eric Williams – Omada Health?
• Dina Machuve – Nelson Mandela African Institution of Science and Technology?
• Engineer Bainomugisha – Makerere University

14:30 – 15:30 Data Science for Planning and the Environment

• Fred Kiwanuka – UNICEF?
• Anthony Gidudu – Geomatics and Land Management, Makerere University?
• Fred Kitoogo – National Information Technology Authority