11TH
DSA 2023
University of Rwanda, Kigali, Rwanda
THEME
Harnessing Data Science for Africa’s Socio-Economic Development
DATE
8th - 12th May 2023
2023 Team
The last few years have witnessed an explosion in the quantity and variety of data available in Africa, produced either as a by-product of digital services, from sensors or measuring devices, satellites and from many other sources. A number of practical fields have been transformed by the ability to collect large volumes of data: for example, bioinformatics with the development of high throughput sequencing technology capable of measuring gene expression in cells, or agriculture with the widespread availability of high quality remote sensing data. For other data sources – such as mobile phone usage records from telecoms operators, which can be used to measure population movement and economic activity – we are just beginning to understand the practical possibilities.
Prof. Charles Ruranga
General Chair
Dr. Moses Thiga
Program Chair
Dr. Yaé Ulrich Gaba
Co Program Chair
Prof. Ciira Maina
Sponsorships
Data Science Africa 2023 Kigali - Schedule
Date: 12th - 16th December 2023
Location: Kigali, Rwanda
Tuesday, 12th December 2023: Tutorials & Workshops (Pre-Conference)
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09:00 - 17:00: Full-day parallel workshops and tutorials.
Wednesday, 13th December 2023: Main Conference - Day 1
08:30 - 09:00: Arrival and Registration
09:00 - 09:30: Opening Session
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Welcome and Introduction to DSA
09:30 - 10:30: Keynote Talk 1
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Vukosi Marivate: "Data Science and Artificial Intelligence for Public Good in the African Context"
10:30 - 11:00: Tea/Coffee Break
11:00 - 12:30: Session 1: NLP & Applications
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Contributed talks and presentations.
12:30 - 14:00: Lunch Break
14:00 - 15:30: Session 2: Health 1
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Contributed talks and presentations on health applications.
15:30 - 16:00: Tea/Coffee Break
16:00 - 17:30: Session 3: Agriculture & Environment
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Contributed talks and presentations.
18:30 - 21:00: Welcome Reception
Thursday, 14th December 2023: Main Conference - Day 2
09:00 - 10:00: Keynote Talk 2
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Ciira Maina: "Machine Learning for Conservation and Agriculture in Africa"
10:00 - 10:30: Tea/Coffee Break
10:30 - 12:00: Session 4: Computer Vision
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Contributed talks and presentations.
12:00 - 13:30: Lunch Break
13:30 - 15:00: Session 5: Theory & Methods
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Contributed talks and presentations on methodological advances.
15:00 - 15:30: Tea/Coffee Break
15:30 - 17:00: Session 6: Health 2
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Contributed talks and presentations on health applications.
17:00 - 18:00: Poster Session 1 & Demos
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Presentations and demonstrations of selected work.
Friday, 15th December 2023: Main Conference - Day 3
09:00 - 10:00: Keynote Talk 3
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Joyce Nakatumba-Nabende: "Building Applied AI Research Capacity in Africa"
10:00 - 10:30: Tea/Coffee Break
10:30 - 12:00: Session 7: Applications
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Contributed talks and presentations on various applications.
12:00 - 13:30: Lunch Break
13:30 - 15:00: Session 8: LLMs & Generative AI
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Contributed talks and presentations on Large Language Models and Generative AI.
15:00 - 15:30: Tea/Coffee Break
15:30 - 17:00: Session 9: NLP for African Languages
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Contributed talks and presentations.
17:00 - 18:00: Poster Session 2 & Demos
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Presentations and demonstrations of selected work.
19:00 - 22:00: Conference Dinner
Saturday, 16th December 2023: Tutorials & Workshops (Post-Conference)
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09:00 - 17:00: Full-day parallel workshops and tutorials.
Overview
There is need to not only develop data science capacity in Africa but to also harness that capacity to address African Challenges. In this regard DSA is proposing to run a 6 month hackathon to provide the Summer School and Workshop participants with an opportunity to put their skills into practice as well as to establish collaborations across different African countries for Data Science projects. In summary the hackathon is about; African Problems being solved by African Data Scientists using African Data
The Process
Participants will be expected to do the following
- Identify a problem facing an African country or community
- Form teams of max 5 members from different African countries
- Collect existing or new data on the African continent
Step 1 - DSA 2023
- The data science process
- Team formation
- Problem identification
Step 2 - Post DSA: June – November 2023
- Data Collection
- Solution Development
- Two checkpoints – July & September 2023
- Final Presentations – November 2023
Motivation
- African problems solved by African Data Scientists with African Data
- Top 5 teams automatically selected to attend DSA 2024 … travel grants will be considered
FAQ
- Is there funding for these projects? … Teams are encouraged to also find ways of financing the solution development from grants etc.
- Can team members be persons who are not at DSA 2023? … Yes, as long as one team member has attended DSA 2023
- What if we run out of options for team members from other countries? … Be creative, the point is to collaborate across borders and institutions
Highlights
TinyML is a cutting-edge field that brings the transformative power of machine learning (ML) to the performance- and power-constrained domain of tiny devices and embedded systems. Successful deployment in this field requires intimate knowledge of applications, algorithms, hardware, and software.
In the tradition of previous Data Science Africa events, a summer school on machine learning and data science will be held prior to the main workshop. This summer school will target graduate students, researchers, and professionals working with huge amounts of data or unique datasets.
The workshop will be organized around paper presentations and interactive panel discussions. The theme for the workshop is Data, Technology, and Community. We want to highlight the work of the community in Data Science in Africa. We strongly encourage the participation of researchers and data science...
