Conveners
DIRISA
- Chair: Prof Nobert Jere ()
DIRISA
- Chair: Prof Nobert Jere ()
DIRISA
- Chair: Prof Nobert Jere ()
DIRISA: Update on Data Infrastructure for Research Data Management and Collaborations;
Dr More Manda.
The transition from raw research data to impactful national decisions relies fundamentally on robust, accessible, and strategically managed data and data infrastructure. This presentation provides a high-level overview of the foundations of open science and frames the urgency within the unique South African context. It addresses critical systemic challenges, including data fragmentation and...
The Altron AI Factory provides South Africa’s academic community with secure, locally hosted access to enterprise-grade AI infrastructure and services. Built in partnership with NVIDIA and hosted in Teraco’s AI-ready data centre, it offers GPU-as-a-Service and AI-as-a-Service to accelerate research without heavy infrastructure costs.
This presentation highlights how universities and research...
AI-Assisted Optimization of Large-Scale Climate Data Transfers in South African Research Infrastructure
CHPC Conference 2025, Cape Town
Abstract
Background and Motivation
The transfer of large-scale scientific datasets between South African research facilities represents a critical bottleneck in computational research workflows. Climate modeling datasets of the Global...
The rapid growth of Africa’s data-intensive research, artificial intelligence (AI), and high-performance computing (HPC) workloads is driving unprecedented demand for resilient and sustainable data infrastructure. Data centres are emerging as critical enablers of scientific discovery, cloud adoption, and digital innovation, yet the region continues to face significant barriers: limited local...
Hybrid Stacking and Embedded Regression with Multi-Phase Feature Selection for Explainable Crop Yield Prediction in Botswana
Abstract
In Sub-Saharan Africa's climate instability, inaccurate data, and lack of precision agricultural tools make it extremely difficult to predict crop yields with any degree of accuracy. These restrictions are especially critical in Botswana, where most...
The Sepitori language (also known as Pitori or Pretoria Sotho) is a dynamic and evolving creole language predominantly spoken in urban townships of Pretoria, South Africa. It blends Setswana, Sesotho, Afrikaans, and English, with frequent instances of code-switching and slang. Despite its widespread usage, Sepitori remains underrepresented in natural language processing (NLP) tasks,...
Computing processes typically require input data to perform actions
that generate output data. While input data can sometimes be generated
computationally, it often originates from external sources. In Natural
Language Processing and Digital Humanities, this input is typically
sourced from human activities, including spoken or written language
and music.
In the current era of Large...
South Africa’s rich linguistic diversity poses unique challenges for artificial intelligence systems, particularly in automatic speech recognition (ASR) where multilingual speakers frequently switch languages mid-conversation. This study proposes a robust ASR pipeline tailored for code-switched speech in health settings, addressing practical issues such as overlapping dialogue, background...
Sexually transmitted infections (STIs) remain a significant public health challenge in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), particularly among key populations such as men who have sex with men (MSM) and transgender individuals. This study aimed to assess the level of STI literacy within this population, identify its demographic, behavioral, and structural predictors, and explore its influence on...
Cybersecurity continues to be a threat to many sectors and individuals within Africa. As a result, Small, Medium, and Micro Enterprises (SMMEs) are also affected. SMMEs face numerous challenges related to data security, particularly as they increasingly rely on digital tools and platforms for their operations. The situation is worse for SMMEs, particularly those in rural or underserved areas....
Acoustic telemetry data plays a vital role in understanding the be-
haviour and movement of aquatic animals. However, these datasets,
which can often consist of millions of individual data points, often
contain anomalous detections that can pose challenges in data analysis
and interpretation. Anomalies in acoustic telemetry data can occur due
to various biological and environmental...
As data-driven research accelerates across all scientific domains, robust national data infrastructure and services have become essential pillars for enabling high-impact innovation. This presentation examines the evolving role of data infrastructure within South Africa’s National Integrated Cyberinfrastructure System (NICIS), with a focus on DIRISA’s efforts to advance FAIR-aligned data...
Introduction: The Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR) is trending because of the major transformations it has brought to human life. Artificial intelligence including machine learning are 4IR technologies that can generate intelligent machines that can be used for the diagnosis and management of HIV and associated sexually transmitted infections. Key populations are disproportionately affected...
Crafting Open Data for Open Science: Technical Innovation and Data
Management in Environmental Research — The SAEON Open Data Platform
The South African Environmental Observation Network (SAEON) is one of the National
Research Foundation (NRF)’s Research Infrastructure Platforms and serves as a sustained, coordinated, responsive and comprehensive South African earth observation network....
As part of the global drive for cyberinfrastructure providers to continue enabling, enhancing and empowering research data management through collaborative frameworks, the Data Intensive Research Initiative of South Africa (DIRISA), as a national research data initiative, provides an integrated suite of free tools and services designed to optimize research data workflows, ultimately amplifying...
Background
The growing volume and complexity of data, particularly in health and social research, present significant challenges, particularly in terms of data security and access to secure datasets. These issues are compounded when working with vulnerable populations, exposing data to potential cybersecurity risks. AI-powered tools like Chisquares are addressing these challenges by embedding...
Grace Temilolu Ikenna, CLN,
Doctoral Candidate
Department of Library, Archival and Information Studies, Faculty of Education
University of Ibadan, Nigeria
Email: gracetemilolu@gmail.com
and
Dr Bilkis Adefunke Babarinde
Lecturer
Department of Library, Archival and Information Studies, Faculty of Education
University of Ibadan, Nigeria
Email:...
We live in an increasingly data-driven world, and as academics, researchers and professionals, we need the ability to manage, analyze, and interpret data efficiently. We also need to know how to source data and get around the various red-tape systems that are even more prevalent in resource-limited contexts, such as in Africa. This presentation reflects on over a decade of research and...
Abstract
High-Performance Computing (HPC) systems play a pivotal role in modern scientific research, enabling complex simulations, data analysis, and large-scale modelling across disciplines such as climate science, genomics, physics, and engineering. As these systems grow in scale and sophistication, the efficient scheduling and allocation of computational resources become crucial for...
The South African Weather Service (SAWS) is a key part of the country's weather system. SAWS runs a complex system of tools to observe weather. This includes manual weather stations, automatic rain measuring stations, automatic weather stations, weather radars, a network that measures sunlight, and a system to detect lightning. These systems give important information right away for predicting...
The Data Intensive Research Initiative of South Africa (DIRISA) Services;
Mr Elias Sepuru.
Determining a word's accurate meaning in each context is known as Word Sense Disambiguation (WSD)[1], and it is one of the most significant problems in Natural Language Processing (NLP)[2]. This undertaking is particularly challenging for low-resource languages like Sesotho sa Leboa since there are few annotated corpora and linguistic resources available for them. This study explores the...
