Pre-Conference Events
Monday October 28, 2024
All rooms are at White Sands Resort and Conference Centre unless otherwise indicated
Room: Papa 1
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) from the UbuntuNet Alliance region of East and Southern Africa.
Tuesday October 29, 2024
All rooms are at White Sands Resort and Conference Centre unless otherwise indicated
Room: Papa 1
Closed Meeting. By Invitation Only
SEASCAPE HOTEL
Room: Artic
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 1
Closed Event. By Invitation Only
SEASCAPE HOTEL
Room: Artic
Closed Meeting: By Invitation Only
Room: Papa 2
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):
|
Room: Papa 5
Closed Meeting. By Invitation Only
Room: Kobe 2
Closed Meeting: By Invitation Only
Main Conference Programme
Thursday October 31, 2024
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)
Chair of the Board UbuntuNet Alliance (5 mins)
European Union Representative (5 mins)
Official Address and Conference Opening
Hon. Jerry William Silaa, Minister of Information, Communication and Information Technology (20mins)
AfricaConnect 3: Achievements Five Years on
Perspective from the ASREN Region, Yousef Tormen, CEO ASREN (10 mins)
Perspective from the WACREN Region, Boubaker Barry, CEO WACREN (10 mins)
Perspective from the UbuntuNet Alliance Region, Eliakim Okundi, Project Manager, UbuntuNet Alliance (10 mins)
Keynote Address
Erik Huizer, CEO GÉANT (20mins)
Take some time to visit the exhibitions and network.
Room: Papa 1
Session Chair:
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
Derrick Ssemanda, 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:
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:
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:
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:
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
Room: Papa 2
Session Chair:
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:
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:
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
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
All rooms are at White Sands Resort and Conference Centre unless otherwise indicated
Gilman Hall
Session Chair:
Keynote Address 1:
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:
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:
Enhancing eduroam Monitoring in Research and Education Networks with the ELK Stack
Claire Sharitah Nakakeeto, 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?
Guy Halse, TENET, SOUTH AFRICA
Room: Papa 2
Session Chair:
EUMETCast Terrestrial over GÈANT and NRENs using AMT
Mario Reale, GÉANT, NETHERLANDS.
Oriol Espanyol, EUMETSAT, Netherlands
A Segment Routing Approach to Traffic Engineering in Research and Education Networks
Wilson Wasswa, UbuntuNet Alliance, MALAWI
Optimizing Network Performance and Collaboration through Advanced Caching: The RENU Member Experience in 2024
Carolyn Namuddu, RENU, UGANDA
Gilman Hall
Session Chair:
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
A Multidimensional Perspective on Challenges and Solutions for Science Growth in Mozambique
Marangaze Munhepe Mulhanga, University of Minho, PORTUGAL
Take some time to visit the exhibitions and network.
Gilman Hall
Session Chair: Prof Madara Ogot, CEO UbuntuNet Alliance
Women Hackathon 2024: Lightening Talks and Awards
5 minute lightening talks from seven participating teams and awards (60 mins)
Keynote Address
Ana Alves, Chief Information Security Officer & Data Protection Officer GÉANT (30mins)
Launch and Signing Ceremony for Africa Connect 4 (15 mins)
TBC, European Commission
Announcement and Handover for UbuntuNet Connect 2025
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
Silver Sponsors
Bronze Sponsors
BERNET
