Pre-Conference Events
Monday October 28, 2024
All rooms are at White Sands Resort and Conference Centre unless otherwise indicated
Room: Papa 2
The UbuntuNet Alliance Women’s Hackathon 2024 seeks to addresses the gap in innovations supporting research and education, and the gender gap in software development on the Africa. The hackathon shall bring together 21 passionate young women developers (organised in teams of three) selected through a highly competitive process, from the UbuntuNet Alliance region of East and Southern Africa. The teams and their project titles:
Fundisa – Olivia Watungwa, Vimbai Majaha, Natalie Masvikeni, ZIMBABWE
Smart educational platform for analysising study materials and enhancing student performance – Harriet Mulonda, Nanetu E Mushongoma, Chitalu Londa, ZAMBIA
Innovateedu Hub: A Research-to-Classroom Integration and Collaboration Platform – Jedidah John, Joan Otieno, Diana Mboya, KENYA
Mwalimu Kwa Walimu – Abonyo Nina Mitchell, Muwanguzi Mercy, Nakiguli Elizabeth Gloria, UGANDA
ResearchConnect – Nyaraih Banda, Doreen Providence Abel and Chifuniro Nthunzi, MALAWI
RelySearch – Nomsa Natasha Goba, Thando Mashego, Shamain Bhengesa, SOUTH AFRICA
Ioteach System – Sabina Andrew Kidiku, Juliana Sarya, Asya Haji – TANZANIA
Tuesday October 29, 2024
All rooms are at White Sands Resort and Conference Centre unless otherwise indicated
Room: Papa 2
Closed Meeting. By Invitation Only
SEASCAPE HOTEL
Room: Baltic
Closed Meeting: By Invitation Only
The Security Bootcamp, facilitated by GÉANT, shall enable attending NRENs to establish their cybersecurity level based on GÉANT’s Security Maturity Model for NRENs, https://security.geant.org/baseline/.
Room: Papa 5
Closed Meeting. By Invitation Only
Wednesday October 30, 2024
All rooms are at White Sands Resort and Conference Centre unless otherwise indicated
Room: Papa 2
Closed Event. By Invitation Only
SEASCAPE HOTEL
Room: Baltic
Closed Meeting: By Invitation Only
Room: Papa 1
Closed Event. By Invitation Only
Open Science Training Workshop
The workshop covers relevant aspects of Open Access and Open Data with a hands-on exercise on how to make institutional repositories Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, and Reusable.
| Session | Topic |
| Session I | Introducing Open Science:
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| Session II | Key components of research repositories:
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| Session III | Hands-on Practical (Please bring a laptop):
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Room: Papa 5
Closed Meeting. By Invitation Only
Main Conference Programme
Thursday October 31, 2024
Name tag collection and check-in starts at 7AM
All rooms are at White Sands Resort and Conference Centre unless otherwise indicated
Gilman Hall
Session Chair: Prof Madara Ogot, CEO UbuntuNet Alliance
Opening Remarks
Dr Frank Seth, CEO TERNET (5 mins)
Chair of the Board TERNET (5 mins)
Prof Helicy Ngambi, Chair of the Board UbuntuNet Alliance (5 mins)
Marc Stalmans, Head of Cooperation for the EU in Tanzania, (5 mins)
Official Address and Conference Opening
Hon. Jerry William Silaa, Minister of Information, Communication and Information Technology (20mins)
Tribute to Boubakar Barry, WACREN
Keynote Address
Why Research and Education Networks are Necessary, Erik Huizer, CEO GÉANT (20mins)
Take some time to visit the exhibitions and network.
Room: Papa 1
Session Chair: Stein Mkandawire, CEO ZAMREN, ZAMBIA
Addressing HPC Accessibility in Kenya: The KENET GPU Clusterʼs Role in Advancing Scientific Research and Collaboration
Jotuya Otuya, KENET, KENYA
Empowering African NRENs Using A Cost-Effective Cloud Solution
Brenda Namuli, RENU, UGANDA
Navigating New Data Hosting Policies: Solutions for NREN Communities in East and Southern Africa
Revelation Nyirongo, UbuntuNet Alliance, MALAWI
Room: Papa 2
Session Chair: Solomon Dindi, CEO MAREN, MALAWI
Empowering Faculty, Enabling All: KENET’s Capacity-Building Initiatives for Inclusive eLearning
Zeinab Mzungu KENET, KENYA
The Role of eduroam Awareness Campaigns in Promoting Digital Inclusion and Accessibility in Education and Research
Joel Omiat, RENU, UGANDA
The role of academic libraries in improving digital inclusion among students with disabilities: A comparative study of the International University of Management and the University of Zimbabwe
Hamilton Sikwana, International University of Management, NAMIBIA
Gilman Hall
Session Chair: Abigail Essel, Project Manager WACREN, GHANA
Simplification Of Aflatoxin Contamination Knowledge Access Through Artificial Intelligence Chatbot: AflaChat
Pamela Chogo, Nelson Mandela African Institute of Science and Technology, TANZANIA
Darubini: A social media hate speech detector
Malanga Kennedy Ndenga, Kirinyaga University, KENYA
An efficient Application of the equal cost multipath on software defined network to address transmission failures
Siyabonga Peter, CSIR, SOUTH AFRICA
Ruaha Hall
Session Chair: Leila Dekkar, GÉANT, NETHERLANDS
An investigation of student’s and academic knowledge and use of artificial intelligence in Higher education institutions: A case study of selected universities in Namibia
Anna Leonard, University of Namibia, NAMIBIA
Mapping the future of Artificial Intelligence-Large Language Models in light of academic integrity at Chinhoyi University of Technology: Addressing concerns and safeguarding educational ethics
Shakemore Chinofunga, Chinhoyi University of Technology, ZIMBABWE
Shaping the Future: Responsible Artificial Intelligence Use by Learners in Higher Education Institutions
Takudzwa Rusike, Harare Institute of Technology, ZIMBABWE
Take some time to visit the exhibitions and network.
Room: Papa 1
Session Chair: Nicholas Mbonimpa, CEO RENU, UGANDA
Experience from WiFiMon Users
Elisantila Gaci, RASH, ALBANIA
AmLight – Maximizing Technological Advancements in Research and Education; Network Connectivity for Open Science between South Africa, the US, and South America
Vasilka Chergarova, Florida International University, USA
Building a Highly Available Mobile Broadband Last Mile
Walid Kyazze, RENU, UGANDA
R&E NOC as a Service (NaaS) Tools: What’s Out There? What’s the Value? How Can These Tools Benefit the African REN Community?
Erik Kikkenborg, NorduNET, DENMARK
Room: Papa 2
Session Chair: Eliakim Okundi, Project Manager UbuntuNet Alliance, MALAWI
Immersion Cooling of servers in Data centers
Ben Kakeeto, NIH ICER, UGANDA
High-Performance Computing Cyber-infrastructure in Resource Constrained Environments, Challenges and Lessons Learned: A case of ACE Uganda and ACE Mali.
Rodgers Kimera, African Center of Excellence in Bioinformatics and Data Intensive Sciences, UGANDA
Revisiting African Citation Index – Practically Maximizing Information Technology Advancements for Research Accountability in Africa
Williams E. Nwagwu, University of Ibadan, NIGERIA
Using RENU Identity Federation to access High-Performance Computing resources at the African Centre of Excellence in Bioinformatics, Uganda
Ssentongo Lloyd, Research Data and Communication Technologies (RDCT)
Ruaha Hall
Session Chair: Jo Havemann, CEO Access 2 Perspectives, GERMANY
Maximizing Technological Advancements in Open Science: The Case of Somali Research and Education Repository
Hussein Sabrie, SomaliREN, SOMALIA
Digital Tools and Bioinformatics in Academic Libraries: Transforming Research Support at Makerere University
Onan Mulumba, Makerere University, UGANDA
Innovative Learning: Revolutionizing Healthcare Education and Medical Training Using Virtual and Augmented Reality
Ian Khonje, MALAWI
Scholarly Publishing in Africa: Overcoming Barriers and Creating Opportunities. Dr. Baraka Manjale Ngussa, Gitoya Centre for Academic Research and Dissemination, TANZANIA, Johanssen Obanda, Crossref Community Engagement Manager, KENYA.
Gilman Hall
Session Chair: Harold Bowa, Business Development Officer, UbuntuNet Alliance, MALAWI
Design and implementation of an AI-enabled IoT-based smart aquaculture system for water quality management in Kalumbila Mine’s surface plant areas
Chimanga Kashale, Copperbelt University, ZAMBIA
Maximizing Technological Advancements in Surgical Research: The Impact of the mHealth App, Recovery@Home, on Postoperative Care in Rural Uganda
Nuwahereza Ambrose, Global Surgical Initiatives, Inc, Uganda
Smart Helmet for Miners Using IoT
Kwanele Ruth Ndhlovu, Sciency Makerlabs, ZIMBABWE
Towards A Federated African Networking and Distributed Systems Research Testbed
Alex Mwotil, Makerere University, UGANDA and Innocent Obi Jr, University of Washington, USA
Take some time to visit the exhibitions and network.
The Conference Dinner, Break Point. Buses leave from White Sands promptly at 18:00 hrs.
Friday November 1, 2024
Name tag collection and check-in starts at 7AM
All rooms are at White Sands Resort and Conference Centre unless otherwise indicated
Gilman Hall
Session Chair: Eliakim Okundi, Project Manager, UbuntuNet Alliance, MALAWI
Keynote Address 1: Dataverse for Data Sharing and Management
Sonia Barbosa, Associate Director of Dataverse Support, Data Curation, and the Murray Archive, The Dataverse Project, Data Science
Harvard University (30 mins)
Keynote 2: Role of Research and Education in Artificial Intelligence Projects’ Success
Dr Elizabeth Sylvester Mkoba, Senior Lecturer and Researcher, School of Computational and Communication Science and Engineering, Nelson Mandela African Institution of Science and Technology (NM-AIST), Tanzania (30 mins)
Keynote Address 3: Transforming Education through Artificial Intelligence
Antonio Carrozzo, EMEA Education – OCRE Lead Amazon Web Services
Robin Njiru, Regional Lead, Public Sector-Sub-Saharan Africa of Amazon Web Services (40 mins)
Take some time to visit the exhibitions and network.
Ruaha Hall
Session Chair: Mary Nsabagwa, Makerere University, UGANDA
PANEL SESSION
Technologies for Intelligent pollinator and Fruit Fly Monitoring
Julianne Sansa-Otim, Mary Nsabagwa, Agatha Turyagyenda, Ephrance Namugenyi, Khemis Ben Samuel, and Safari Yonasi, Makerere University, UGANDA and Florence Lello, The Nelson Mandela African Institution of Science and Technology, TANZANIA
Room: Papa 1
Session Chair: Martha Chikuni, Content Management Officer UbuntuNet Alliance, MALAWI
Enhancing eduroam Monitoring in Research and Education Networks with the ELK Stack
Lubuulwa Joshua E. , RENU, UGANDA
The Future of eduroam with a Cross-Border eSIM Solution for Seamless Scholarly Connectivity
Micheal Nasasira, RENU, UGANDA
Will we still be doing eduroam in ten years?
Donald Coetzee, TENET, SOUTH AFRICA
Room: Papa 2
Session Chair: Prof Madara Ogot, CEO UbuntuNet Alliance, MALAWI
EUMETCast Terrestrial over GÈANT and NRENs using AMT
Mario Reale, GÉANT, Oriol Espanyol, EUMETSAT, NETHERLANDS
Optimizing Network Performance and Collaboration through Advanced Caching: The RENU Member Experience in 2024
Carolyn Namuddu, RENU, UGANDA
Bandwidth Cloud Services. Winston Nyabera, BCS, Kenya
Gilman Hall
Session Chair: Miriam Chahuruva, CEO ZIMREN, ZIMBABWE
Curriculum content for digital scholarship in Library and Information Science schools in South Africa
Philangani Sibiya, Unisa, SOUTH AFRICA
Libraries at the crossroads: Tackling Ethical Considerations in Technology Integration in selected academic libraries in Zimbabwe
Collence Takaingenhamo Chisita, SOUTH AFRICA
Shaping the Future of Education and Research: The Role of ICT Policy Frameworks in Higher Learning Institutions
Ben G. Ruhinda, Senior Systems Officer, IUCEA, UGANDA
Take some time to visit the exhibitions and network.
Gilman Hall
Session Chair: Prof Madara Ogot, CEO UbuntuNet Alliance, MALAWI
Women Hackathon 2024: Lightening Talks and Awards
5 minute lightening talks from seven participating teams and awards (60 mins)
Keynote Address 1
Ana Alves, Chief Information Security Officer & Data Protection Officer GÉANT (30mins)
Keynote Address 2:
NREN-Government Synergies: A Key to Advancing Research and Education in East Africa. Prof Idris A. Rai, Deputy Executive Secretary, Inter-University Council of East Africa
Closing
Prof Helicy Ngambi, Chair of the Board of Trustees, UbuntuNet Alliance
Take some time to visit the exhibitions and network.
Who Should Attend/Why should you attend?
- College and University ICT Directors (or equivalent) and Librarians – Opportunity to present on the extent of digitalisation in your institution, learn from others as well as gather information and hold discussions on challenges faced, potential digital solutions, and opportunities for collaboration.
- Researchers, academics, students – Share how you are using digital technologies and the UbuntuNet Alliance/NREN research and education network to support your research, teaching and learning as well as on future directions. Provides opportunities to learn and form new collaborations across the continent.
- Government officers (related to ICT and Education) – Expound on your government’s current and future policies, actions, and plans in stimulating the redesign of digitalised African universities. Gives you an opportunity to learn from what is happening in other countries.
- Private/Industry – Present case studies on the emerging digital technologies in support of the digitalised African University. You have the opportunity to learn and discuss about the challenges universities face, present solutions, seek potential business.
- NREN Community – opportunity to listen to the voice of the customer and learn areas where the services offered by NRENs can be catalyst of and anchor of the redesigned digital college and university.
Co-Funded by
Diamond Sponsors
Gold Sponsors
Silver Sponsors
Bronze Sponsors
BERNET
