Centre for High Performance Computing 2025 National Conference

from Sunday, 30 November 2025 (08:00) to Wednesday, 3 December 2025 (22:20)
Century City Conference Centre

        : Sessions
    /     : Talks
        : Breaks
30 Nov 2025
1 Dec 2025
2 Dec 2025
3 Dec 2025
AM
08:00 --- Registration ---
09:00
SADC Cyber-Infrastructure Meeting (until 10:30) (1/1-11 - Room 11)
09:00 SADC Cyber-Infrastructure Meeting — Session 1   (1/1-11 - Room 11)
09:00
Workshop (until 10:30) (1/1-2 - Room 2)
09:00 How custom chatbot works and how to build a RAG (Retrieval-Augmented-Generation) system from scratch - Walter Riviera (walterbot.ai)   (1/1-2 - Room 2)
09:00
Workshop (until 10:30) (1/1-10 - Room 10)
09:00 From Energetics to Rates: A Hands-on Workshop on Microkinetic Modelling with ML Potentials - Thobani Gambu (University of Cape Town) Kyle Abrahams (University of Cape Town)   (1/1-10 - Room 10)
09:00
Workshop (until 10:30) (1/1-2 - Room 2)
10:30 --- Break ---
11:00
SADC Cyber-Infrastructure Meeting (until 12:30) (1/1-11 - Room 11)
11:00 SADC Cyber-Infrastructure Meeting — Session 2   (1/1-11 - Room 11)
11:00
Workshop (until 12:30) (1/1-2 - Room 2)
11:00 AI: Custom chatbot to build a RAG part 2   (1/1-2 - Room 2)
11:00
Workshop (until 12:30) (1/1-10 - Room 10)
11:00 Microkinetic Modelling with ML Potentials   (1/1-10 - Room 10)
11:00
Workshop (until 12:30) (1/1-2 - Room 2)
08:00 --- Registration ---
09:00
Keynote - Chair: Mr Mervyn Christoffels (CHPC) (until 10:30) (1/0-AB - Hall A+B)
09:00 Welcome - Chair: Mr Mervyn Christoffels (CHPC)   (1/0-AB - Hall A+B)
09:05 CSIR Welcome - Dr Sandile Malinga (Group Executive)   (1/0-AB - Hall A+B)
09:15 DSTI Opening - Dr Mlungisi Cele   (1/0-AB - Hall A+B)
09:25 NICIS Welcome - Dr Happy Sithole (CHPC)   (1/0-AB - Hall A+B)
09:45 Using Acceleration as a Service: Rethinking HPC Infrastructure in the AI Era - Prof. Thomas Schulthess (ETH Zurich / CSCS)   (1/0-AB - Hall A+B)
10:30 --- Refreshment Break ---
11:00
HPC Applications - Chair: Prof Catharine Esterhuysen (until 12:30) (1/1-11 - Room 11)
11:00 Entangled Worlds: Engineering, Physics, Applied Mathematics, and the Future of High-Performance Computing. - Prof. Muaaz Bhamjee* (University of Pretoria)   (1/1-11 - Room 11)
11:20 Is it Time to Switch to Machine Learnt Potentials? - Prof. Scott Woodley (University College London)   (1/1-11 - Room 11)
11:40 Active-learning driven chemical space exploration and relative binding affinity estimation of SARS-CoV-2 PLpro inhibitors using FEP+ - Dr Njabulo Gumede (Walter Sisulu University)   (1/1-11 - Room 11)
12:00 Reference Genome Assembly, Pangenome Construction, and Population Analysis of the Spotted Hyena (Crocuta Crocuta) from the Kruger National Park - Dr Ansia van Coller (South African Medical Research Council)   (1/1-11 - Room 11)
12:20 Q&A - Q&A   (1/1-11 - Room 11)
11:00
HPC Technology - Chair: Prof Birali Runesha (until 12:30) (1/1-8+9 - Room 8+9)
11:00 ® Building the Future: Morocco's High-Performance Computing Infrastructure - Prof. Imad Kissami (Mohammed VI Polytechnic University)   (1/1-8+9 - Room 8+9)
11:20 Exploring the Skies like Never Before, with SKAO | Opportunities for Africa in the Data-Intensive World - Mr Roufurd Julie*   (1/1-8+9 - Room 8+9)
11:40 AASTU HPC-BDA Center: Advancing Cyber-Infrastructure for Data-to-Decision Transformation in Africa - Adugna Woldesemayat (UNISA; Addis Ababa Sci. & Tech. U.)   ()
12:00 TBA   (1/1-8+9 - Room 8+9)
12:20 Q & A - Q & A   (1/1-8+9 - Room 8+9)
11:00
ISSA - Chair: Jan Eloff (University of Pretoria) (until 12:50) (1/1-10 - Room 10)
11:00 CerebRAN: A Dynamic Behavioural Dataset for Ransomware Detection - Moses Moyo Stones Chindipha (Rhodes University) Emmanuel Musiiwa (Rhodes University)   (1/1-10 - Room 10)
11:30 A Trust Framework for Peer-to-Peer Energy Markets - Lehlogonolo Ledwaba Marijke Coetzee (North-West University) Boitumelo Leotlela   (1/1-10 - Room 10)
12:00 Personal Information Disclosure on Facebook: An Exploratory Study of Demographic differences of first-year IT students at Nelson Mandela University - Reinhardt Botha (Noroff University College & Nelson Mandela University) Kerry-Lynn Thomson (Nelson Mandela University) Asavela Ndzondzo   (1/1-10 - Room 10)
12:30 Engaging with International Cyber Forums - Brett van Niekerk Trishana Ramluckan   (1/1-10 - Room 10)
11:00
Special - Chair: Dr Samuel Mabakane (until 12:30) (1/1-7 - Room 7)
11:00 Quantum Reservoir Computing and Principal Component Analysis for Sustainable High-Performance Search: A New Paradigm for Digital Energy Efficiency - Biswas Kapasule (Aeon Mobility)   (1/1-7 - Room 7)
11:20 Converting complex unitary matrices to quantum circuits using game trees - Mr Sean Macmillan (University of Pretoria)   (1/1-7 - Room 7)
11:40 COMPARISON OF QUANTUM ALGORITHMS FOR QUADRATIC OPTIMIZATION - Ms Helarie Rose Medie Fah (UKZN)   (1/1-7 - Room 7)
12:00 Ghost Image Reconstruction with Classical and Quantum Convolutional Neural Networks - Shawal Kassim (Student)   (1/1-7 - Room 7)
12:20 Q&A   (1/1-7 - Room 7)
08:00 --- Registration ---
09:00
Keynote - Chair: Mr Sabelo Dlamini (until 10:30) (1/0-AB - Hall A+B)
09:00 Leveraging undersea cables and optical fibre for high-volume science workflows - Dr Rosalind Thomas (Collaborating Company -SAEx International Management Ltd)   (1/0-AB - Hall A+B)
09:45 Bridging Sectors And Empowering Progress | Integrating Compute, Data, and Community for Innovation - Dr Mischa Kim (MathWorks)   (1/0-AB - Hall A+B)
10:30 --- Break ---
10:55
HPC Applications - Chair: Dr Quinn Reynolds (until 12:30) (1/1-11 - Room 11)
11:00 (AI) and machine learning (ML) for materials discovery while speeding up the process beyond conventional trial-and-error techniques. - Prof. Malik Maaza (University of South Africa & iThemba LABS/National Research Foundation of South Africa)   (1/1-11 - Room 11)
11:20 VCo2O4 (001) surface properties in zinc-air batteries - Prof. Khomotso Maenetja (Materials Modelling Centre)   (1/1-11 - Room 11)
11:40 A use case for integration of Earth Observations and AI in NWP modelling - Ms Patience Tlangelani Mulovhedzi (Council for Scientific and Industrial Research)   (1/1-11 - Room 11)
12:00 Uncertainty Quantification in Patient-Specific Cardiovascular CFD: A Global Sensitivity Study on the Lengau Cluster - Mr Vincent Punabantu (University of Cape Town)   (1/1-11 - Room 11)
12:20 Q & A - Q & A   (1/1-11 - Room 11)
11:00
HPC Technology - Chair: Ms Dorah Thobye (until 12:30) (1/1-8+9 - Room 8+9)
11:00 Curbing Non-Revenue Water Through A Dynamic Hydraulic Modeling & Smart Water Network Management System - Mr Lwando Ngcama* (CSIR Staff)   (1/1-8+9 - Room 8+9)
11:20 Cloud based urban planning decision support - Ms Carike Karsten* (CSIR)   (1/1-8+9 - Room 8+9)
11:40 The National Policy Data Observatory (NPDO) - Mr Sifiso Mgaga* (CSIR)   (1/1-8+9 - Room 8+9)
12:00 Value-driven Artificial Intelligence, Data and Natural Language Processing solutions built on the CHPC sovereign cloud infrastructure - Mr Avi Moodley* (CSIR)   (1/1-8+9 - Room 8+9)
12:20 Q & A - Q & A   (1/1-8+9 - Room 8+9)
11:00
ISSA - Chair: Brett van Niekerk (until 12:30) (1/1-10 - Room 10)
11:00 Ethical Boundaries of Plagiarism Detection in the Age of AI - Rowen Robinson Bobby Tait (University of South Africa)   (1/1-10 - Room 10)
11:30 Ethical principles and social implications of generative AI - Marijke Coetzee (North-West University) Clarissa Weyer Hennie Kruger (North-West University)   (1/1-10 - Room 10)
12:00 A conceptual model of factors to improve cybercrime investigation. - Reinhardt Botha (Noroff University College & Nelson Mandela University) Aluta Vusisiziwe Dyasi Bertram Haskins   (1/1-10 - Room 10)
11:00
SA NREN - Chair: Siyabonga Peter (CSIR) (until 12:30) (1/1-7 - Room 7)
11:00 Strategic infrastructure investments and partnerships and how to maximise private sector investments - Stein Mkandawire (Zambia Research and Education Network (ZAMREN))   (1/1-7 - Room 7)
11:20 Strategic Infrastructure and Partnerships for the Challenges of Petabyte/Exa-Scale Data and High-Speed Transfers in the SADC Region and Beyond - Mr Sicelo Nkambule (RSTP) Mthunzi Shabangu (Royal Science and Technology Park)   (1/1-7 - Room 7)
11:40 Empowering Research Communities - Data Sovereignty and Skills Development for Managing Data - Miriam CHAHURUVA (Zimbabwe Research and Education Network)   (1/1-7 - Room 7)
12:00 Strategic Infrastructure Investments and Partnerships, and How to Maximise on Private Sector Investments - DR FRANK SETH   (1/1-7 - Room 7)
12:20 Q & A - Q & A   (1/1-7 - Room 7)
11:00
Special (until 12:30) (1/1-2 - Room 2)
11:00 Emergent Leadership in Digital Public Infrastructure: A Practice Nexus Approach to Sociotechnical Transformation in South Africa - Mr Mervyn Christoffels (CHPC)   (1/1-2 - Room 2)
11:20 Transforming Health Logistics through Digital Leadership: Rwanda’s Drone Delivery flagship project. - Prof. Peter Weimann   (1/1-2 - Room 2)
11:40 Creating a Sovereign Cloud Platform for South Africa - Mr David Macleod (CHPC)   (1/1-2 - Room 2)
12:00 Digital Leadership in the Age of AI: Reframing Human Agency and Institutional Foresight in High-Performance Computing Futures - Dr Wouter Grove (UWC)   (1/1-2 - Room 2)
12:20 Q & A - Q & A   (1/1-2 - Room 2)
08:00 --- Registration ---
09:00
Keynote - Chair: Dr More Manda (until 10:30) (1/0-AB - Hall A+B)
09:00 Agentic AI and the Future of Discovery - Dr Ian Foster (University of Chicago & Argonne National Laboratory)   (1/0-AB - Hall A+B)
09:45 The South African 110K Human Genome Program: Enabling a Big Data in Health Environment for African Personalised Medicine - Dr Rizwana Mia (South African Medical Research Council)   (1/0-AB - Hall A+B)
10:30 --- Break ---
11:00
DIRISA - Chair: Prof Nobert Jere (until 12:50) (1/1-7 - Room 7)
11:00 Advancing South Africa’s Research Data Ecosystem: Infrastructure, Innovation, and Collaboration. - Dr More Manda (CSIR)   (1/1-7 - Room 7)
11:20 Leveraging Cyber-infrastructure for Open Science: DIRISA's Contribution to Data-Driven Decision-Making in South Africa. - Dr Phoshoko Katlego (NICIS DIRISA)   (1/1-7 - Room 7)
11:40 Empowering South African Research through the Altron AI Factory - Dr Bongani Andy Mabaso (ALTRON)   (1/1-7 - Room 7)
12:00 AI-Assisted Optimization of Large-Scale Climate Data Transfers in South African Research Infrastructure - Mr Jonathan Padavatan (University of the Wiitwatersrand)   (1/1-7 - Room 7)
12:20 Q&A   (1/1-7 - Room 7)
11:00
HPC Applications - Chair: Prof George Amolo (until 12:30) (1/1-11 - Room 11)
11:00 Harnessing CHPC Resources for Large-Scale Geophysical Modelling and Mineral Prospectivity Analysis in Southern Africa - Dr David Khoza* (Integrated Geoscience Solutions)   (1/1-11 - Room 11)
11:20 Ocean Modelling at the CHPC: Advancing Southern Ocean and Climate Research - Dr Nicolette Chang (CSIR)   (1/1-11 - Room 11)
11:40 Tailoring structural design of spinel LiMn2O4 cathode material through high entropy doping - Prof. Raesibe Sylvia Ledwaba (University of Limpopo)   (1/1-11 - Room 11)
12:00 A first principle study of thermoelectric properties of some chalcogenides materials - Dr Moshibudi Ramoshaba (university of Limpopo)   (1/1-11 - Room 11)
12:20 Q & A - Q & A   (1/1-11 - Room 11)
11:00
HPC Technology -Dr Jay Lofstead (IO500.org) (until 12:40) (1/1-8+9 - Room 8+9)
11:00 The Dell AI Factory-What it is and why it matters - Mr Ryan Rautenbach (Dell)   (1/1-8+9 - Room 8+9)
11:20 The Convergence of HPC and AI - Mr Rick Koopman (Lenovo)   (1/1-8+9 - Room 8+9)
11:40 Vendor Presentation (TBC) - Vendor Speaker (TBC)   (1/1-8+9 - Room 8+9)
12:00 Vendor Presentation - Vendor Speaker (TBC)   (1/1-8+9 - Room 8+9)
12:20 Q & A - Q & A   (1/1-8+9 - Room 8+9)
11:00
Special - Chair: Ms Anelda Van der Walt (Talarify) (until 12:30) (1/0-AB - Hall A+B)
11:00 Sustainable Research Software and Infrastructure for HPC: Practices, Challenges, and Community - Anelda Van der Walt (Talarify/UCT eResearch)   (1/0-AB - Hall A+B)
PM
12:30 --- Lunch ---
13:30
SADC Cyber-Infrastructure Meeting (until 15:00) (1/1-11 - Room 11)
13:30 SADC Cyber-Infrastructure Meeting — Session 3   (1/1-11 - Room 11)
13:30
Workshop (until 15:00) (1/1-10 - Room 10)
13:30 Materials Modelling Workshop using Density Functional Theory (DFT) - Kingsley Obodo (University of South Africa)   (1/1-10 - Room 10)
13:30
Workshop (until 15:00) (1/1-2 - Room 2)
13:30 Openstack part 1   (1/1-2 - Room 2)
13:30
Workshop (until 15:00) (1/1-7 - Room 7)
13:30 Quantum Machine Learning for Africa (QML4Africa) - Stephanie Muller (IBM Research)   (1/1-7 - Room 7)
15:00 --- Break ---
15:30
SADC Cyber-Infrastructure Meeting (until 17:00) (1/1-11 - Room 11)
15:30 SADC Cyber-Infrastructure Meeting — Session 4   (1/1-11 - Room 11)
15:30
Workshop (until 17:00) (1/1-10 - Room 10)
15:30 Materials Modelling using DFT   (1/1-10 - Room 10)
15:30
Workshop (until 17:00) (1/1-2 - Room 2)
15:30 Openstack part 2   (1/1-2 - Room 2)
15:30
Workshop (until 17:00) (1/1-7 - Room 7)
15:30 Quantum Machine Learning for Africa part 2   (1/1-7 - Room 7)
17:00 --- Intermission ---
17:30
Workshop (until 19:30) (1/1-7 - Room 7)
17:30 Quantum Machine Learning for Africa part 3   (1/1-7 - Room 7)
12:30 --- Lunch ---
13:30
HPC Applications - Chair: Prof Muaaz Bhamjee (until 15:20) (1/1-11 - Room 11)
13:30 Computational chemistry methods to understand the role of intermolecular interactions in the properties of materials - Prof. Catharine Esterhuysen* (Department of Chemistry and Poymer Science, University of Stellenbosch)   (1/1-11 - Room 11)
13:50 CCAM Heavy Rainfall Simulations: Sensitivity to Initialization Datasets - Mr Tshifhiwa Rambuwani (South African Weather Service)   (1/1-11 - Room 11)
14:10 Recommendations for Running Bioinformatics Applications on CHPC - Ms Thandeka Mavundla (University of Cape Town)   (1/1-11 - Room 11)
14:30 Holes, Hops and Haven Ratios—Molecular Dynamics of Ion Transport and Transference in MFSI/[C₄C₁pyr][FSI] electrolytes (M = Li, Na, K) - Dr Gerhard Venter (University of Cape Town)   (1/1-11 - Room 11)
14:50 Q&A - Q&A   (1/1-11 - Room 11)
13:30
HPC Technology - Chair: Dr Oz Parchment (until 15:00) (1/1-8+9 - Room 8+9)
13:30 Intel Xeon 6: Powering AI Inference from Edge to Cloud for Modern Business - Dr Jean-Laurent Philippe (Intel)   (1/1-8+9 - Room 8+9)
13:50 Secure HPC and AI Inference Workloads - Dr Tim Dykes   (1/1-8+9 - Room 8+9)
14:10 Optimization and Placement Patterns for training and inference workloads - Dr Lerato Mohapi (Eclipse Holdings)   (1/1-8+9 - Room 8+9)
14:30 Beyond Performance: Building a Multi-Tenant HPC Centre of Excellence with VAST - Mr Kim Ormiston (Sponsor)   (1/1-8+9 - Room 8+9)
14:50 Q & A - Q & A   (1/1-8+9 - Room 8+9)
13:30
ISSA - Chair: Reinhardt Botha (Noroff University College & Nelson Mandela University) (until 15:10) (1/1-10 - Room 10)
13:30 Assessing Students’ Knowledge of Cybersecurity at a Public South African University - Errol Baloyi Kerry-Lynn Thomson (Nelson Mandela University) Bertram Haskins   (1/1-10 - Room 10)
14:00 Aligning cybersecurity education with industry needs: Bridging South Africa’s skills development - Marijke Coetzee Michael De Jager (Unit for Data Science and Computing, North-West University) Hennie Kruger (North-West University) Lynette Drevin (NWU | North-West University)   (1/1-10 - Room 10)
14:30 A Holistic Cyber Security Readiness Assessment Tool for Organisations in Developing Countries - Steven Furnell (University of Nottingham) Raymond Agyemang Tim Muller   (1/1-10 - Room 10)
13:30
Special - Chair: Dr Samuel Mabakane (until 15:00) (1/1-7 - Room 7)
13:30 Classical and Quantum Computational Complexity of the Ramsey Number Problem - Brendan Griffiths (University of the Witwatersrand)   (1/1-7 - Room 7)
13:50 Quantum Optimisation Algorithms on Calculating Ramsey Numbers - Shawal Kassim (Wits)   (1/1-7 - Room 7)
14:10 Identification of Quantum Hardware based on Noise Fingerprint Using Machine Learning - Ms Jenna Epstein (Wits) Mr Rameez Abdool (Wits)   (1/1-7 - Room 7)
14:30 Password Security Quantum Readiness Framework for IT Professionals - Anele Siwela (CSIR)   (1/1-7 - Room 7)
14:50 Q&A   (1/1-7 - Room 7)
13:30
Special - Chair: Mr Maxmillian Höb (until 15:00) (1/1-2 - Room 2)
13:30 Supercomputing for Sustainability: Balancing Performance and Energy - Prof. Dieter Kranzlmüller (Leibniz Supercomputing Centre) Maximilian Höb (Leibniz Supercomputing Centre) Prof. Ewa Deelman (University of Southern California) Dr Dan Stanzione (Texas Advanced Computing Center)   (1/1-2 - Room 2)
15:00 --- Break ---
15:30
Keynote - Facilitator: Mr Dan Olds (OrionX) (until 17:00) (1/0-AB - Hall A+B)
15:30 Is AI Killing HPC? No, it isn’t, and it’s a stupid question - Mr Dan Olds (Olds Research)   (1/0-AB - Hall A+B)
15:50 Industry Crossfire - Mr Dan Olds (Olds Research)   (1/0-AB - Hall A+B)
17:00
Keynote - Chair: Dr Lulama Wakaba (until 17:45) (1/0-AB - Hall A+B)
17:00 How Intel and HPE team up to solve challenges in Agentic AI, such as IO pressure, security, system heterogeneity and TCO. - Dr Jean-Laurent Philippe (Intel) Dr Utz-Uwe Haus (HPE HPC/AI EMEA Research Lab (ERL))   (1/0-AB - Hall A+B)
17:45
Keynote - Chair: Dr Lulama Wakaba (until 17:50) (1/0-AB - Hall A+B)
17:45 NSTF Awards: Recognising Research Software and the People Who Build It - Ms Anelda Van der Walt (Talarify)   (1/0-AB - Hall A+B)
17:50 --- Intermission ---
18:00 --- Conference Dinner ---
12:30 --- Lunch ---
13:30
HPC Applications - Chair: Prof Scott Woodley (until 15:00) (1/1-11 - Room 11)
13:30 From Punch Cards to AI-Powered HPC: A 40-Year Journey in Computational Chemistry Infrastructure - Prof. Krishna Govender (University of Johannesburg) Hendrick Kruger (UKZN)   (1/1-11 - Room 11)
13:50 The African Bioinformatics Institute: Building Data Infrastructure for Genomics in Africa - Prof. Nicola Mulder (University of Cape Town)   (1/1-11 - Room 11)
14:10 Exploring new ways to decarbonize metal production with multiphysics modelling and high-performance computing - Dr Quinn Reynolds (Mintek)   (1/1-11 - Room 11)
14:30 From Idea to Impact: Scalable AI Workflows with MATLAB & HPC - Bridging AI Challenges with Scalable, Reliable, and Explainable Solutions - Dr Marco Rossi (MathWorks Academia Team)   (1/1-11 - Room 11)
14:50 Q & A - Q & A   (1/1-11 - Room 11)
13:30
HPC Technology - Chair: Mr Bryan Johnston (until 15:00) (1/1-8+9 - Room 8+9)
13:30 BoF: HPC Education - Coordinator: Mr Bryan Johnston (CHPC)   (1/1-8+9 - Room 8+9)
13:30
ISSA - Chair: Marijke Coetzee (North-West University) (until 15:00) (1/1-10 - Room 10)
13:30 Unpacking the effects of Cyber Fraud on Financial Aid students in South Africa - Salah Kabanda (University of Cape Town) Gershon Hutchinson   (1/1-10 - Room 10)
14:00 Optimising Synthetic Data Generation for Cybersecurity Datasets - Jan Eloff (University of Pretoria) Christian K. Devraj   (1/1-10 - Room 10)
14:30 The Effect of Cybersecurity Fatigue on Employees’ Compliance with Cybersecurity Measures - Wallace Chigona (University of Cape Town) Luyanda Mtombeni (NRF:SARAO) Teofelus Tuyeni (University of Cape Town)   (1/1-10 - Room 10)
13:30
SA NREN - Chair: Ndzalama Ngobeni (until 15:00) (1/1-7 - Room 7)
13:30 Scalable Network Observability - Gerrit Avenant (Dendrite Cyber)   (1/1-7 - Room 7)
13:50 SANReN Connect Proof of Concept (POC) - Kasandra Pillay (SANReN)   (1/1-7 - Room 7)
14:10 Scalability and Future-Proofing SANReN Network Infrastructure: Road to 400/800Gbps and AI-Driven Network Intelligence - Yabin Zhang   (1/1-7 - Room 7)
14:30 Scalability and Future-Proofing SANReN Network Infrastructure: Road to 400/800Gbps and AI-Driven Network Intelligence - Lebogo Kekana   (1/1-7 - Room 7)
14:50 Q & A - Q & A   (1/1-7 - Room 7)
15:00 --- Break ---
15:30
HPC Applications - Chair: Dr Werner Janse van Rensburg (until 17:00) (1/1-11 - Room 11)
15:30 BoF: CHPC Users - Dr Werner Janse Van Rensburg (CHPC)   (1/1-11 - Room 11)
15:30
HPC Technology - Chair: Dr Jay Lofstead Lofstead (until 17:00) (1/1-8+9 - Room 8+9)
15:30 Challenges With Implementing FAIR Data Standards - Dr Jay Lofstead* (IO500 Foundation)   (1/1-8+9 - Room 8+9)
15:50 ® Object storage for High Performance I/O - Prof. Adrian Jackson* (EPCC)   (1/1-8+9 - Room 8+9)
16:10 ®Training ML algorithms on resource-constrained devices — a memory/storage perspective - Prof. Jalil Boukhobza (ENSTA, Institut Polytechnique de Paris)   (1/1-8+9 - Room 8+9)
16:30 ® Scalable Data Management Techniques for AI workloads - Dr Bogdan Nicolae (Argonne National Laboratory)   (1/1-8+9 - Room 8+9)
15:30
ISSA - Chair: Lynette Drevin (NWU | North-West University) (until 17:00) (1/1-10 - Room 10)
15:30 A Qualitative Review of Zero-Knowledge Proofs and Biometrics in Decentralized Identity Systems - Kedimotse Baruni Sthembile Ntshangase (Researcher)   (1/1-10 - Room 10)
16:00 Adaptive-Delta ADWIN for Real-Time Intrusion Detection in Evolving Network Streams - Rodney Buang Sebopelo   (1/1-10 - Room 10)
16:30 Correlating Memory, Persistent, and Runtime Evidence in Redis - Dr Mary O. Adedayo (Applied Computer Science, The University of Winnipeg) Muhammad Abdul Moiz Zia   (1/1-10 - Room 10)
15:30
SA NREN - Chair: Ntuthuko Sambo (SANReN) (until 17:00) (1/1-7 - Room 7)
15:30 Building Trust for Research: Federations, and the Blueprint Architecture. - Donald Coetzee (TENET)   (1/1-7 - Room 7)
15:50 TENET Update - Abdullah Shariff (TENET)   (1/1-7 - Room 7)
16:10 The State of SA NREN in 2025 - Ajay Makan (SANReN) Renier van Heerden (SANReN, CSIR)   (1/1-7 - Room 7)
16:50 Q & A - Q & A   (1/1-7 - Room 7)
17:00
Poster (until 19:00) (1/0-0 - Foyer)
12:30 --- Lunch ---
13:30
DIRISA - Chair: Prof Nobert Jere (until 15:00) (1/1-7 - Room 7)
13:30 Catalysing Data Centre Investment for Africa’s High-Performance Computing and Climate Action through the Digital Investment Facility (DIF) - Mr Mulalo Mphidi (GIZ)   (1/1-7 - Room 7)
13:30
HPC Applications - Chair: Prof Sylvia Ledwaba (until 15:00) (1/1-11 - Room 11)
13:30 Investigations of Selected Properties of Material under Dynamical High Pressure and Temperature - Prof. George Amolo   (1/1-11 - Room 11)
13:50 ChemShell: defects in energy materials by hybrid QM/MM approach - Mr Liam Morgan (UCL)   (1/1-11 - Room 11)
14:10 The Dynamic Control of Head Stabilisation in Cheetahs: A Computer Vision and Optimisation Approach - Ms Kamryn Norton (African Robotics Unit, University of Cape Town)   (1/1-11 - Room 11)
14:30 High-Performance Computing for Multiphase Flow Modelling of Oxygen Lancing in Pyrometallurgical Tap-Holes - Dr Markus Erwee   (1/1-11 - Room 11)
14:50 Q & A - Q & A   (1/1-11 - Room 11)
13:30
HPC Technology - Chair: Mr Bryan Johnston (until 15:00) (1/1-8+9 - Room 8+9)
13:30 BoF: HPC Ecosystems Project - Mr Coordinator: Mr Bryan Johnston (CHPC)   (1/1-8+9 - Room 8+9)
15:00 --- Break ---
15:30
DIRISA - Chair: Prof Nobert Jere (until 17:15) (1/1-7 - Room 7)
15:35 Hybrid Stacking and Embedded Regression with Multi-Phase Feature Selection for Explainable Crop Yield Prediction in Botswana - Dr Audrey Masizana (University of Botswana) Mr Kalu Ubi Kalu (University of Botswana) Dr George Anderson (Co-Author)   (1/1-7 - Room 7)
15:50 Computational Model for Identifying Sepitori in Multilingual Texts - Dr Dan Masethe (Tshwane University of Technology)   (1/1-7 - Room 7)
16:05 SADiLaR's repository as a cyber-infrastructure: Improving data accessibility for South African languages - Prof. Menno van Zaanen (South African Centre for Digital Language Resources)   (1/1-7 - Room 7)
16:20 Recognising South African Voices: A Multilingual ASR Pipeline - Ms Mahlatse Mbooi (CSIR)   (1/1-7 - Room 7)
16:35 Factors associated with sexually transmitted infection literacy among men who have sex with men and transgender people in Soweto: A machine learning approach - Dr Claris Siyamayambo (University of Johannesburg)   (1/1-7 - Room 7)
16:50 Q & A - Q & A   (1/1-7 - Room 7)
15:30
HPC Applications - Chair: Prof Khomotso Maenetja (until 17:00) (1/1-11 - Room 11)
15:30 BoF: Women in HPC “Advancement through the professional staircase” - Prof. Khomotso Maenetja (Materials Modelling Centre)   (1/1-11 - Room 11)
15:30
HPC Technology - Chair: Dr Jay Lofstead (until 17:00) (1/1-8+9 - Room 8+9)
15:30 Co-design and federation of computing services for AI and simulation - Prof. Mark Wilkinson (STFC DiRAC HPC Facility / University of Leicester)   (1/1-8+9 - Room 8+9)
15:50 GPU/LLM as a Service Platform - Mr Pramod Venkatesh   (1/1-8+9 - Room 8+9)
16:10 Federated Computing for Health Data Science in Africa - Mr Takudzwa Nyasha Musarurwa (University of Cape Town - eLwazi ODSP)   (1/1-8+9 - Room 8+9)
16:30 Integrating High-Performance Computing and Deep Learning for Big Data-Driven Cyberinfrastructure: A Framework for Scalable AI Research in African Research Institutions - Dr Olalekan Samuel Ogunleye (University of Mpumalanga)   (1/1-8+9 - Room 8+9)
16:50 Q&A   (1/1-8+9 - Room 8+9)
17:00 --- Canapés & Cocktails Networking Session ---
18:00
Keynote - Chair: Dr Happy Sithole (CHPC) (until 18:45) (1/0-AB - Hall A+B)
18:00 The Evolving Coexistence of HPC and AI — The US Leadership Class Computing Facility and Other Developments. - Dr Dan Stanzione (Texas Advanced Computing Center)   (1/0-AB - Hall A+B)
18:45
Keynote (until 19:00) (1/0-AB - Hall A+B)
18:45 Active Memory Architecture, Early Design - Prof. Thomas Sterling (TACC)   (1/0-AB - Hall A+B)
19:00 --- Awards ---