Organisers

Melissa Densmore is an Associate Professor in the Department of Computer Science at University of Cape Town, where she leads the Human Computer Interaction Lab and the Hasso Plattner Institute Research School at UCT. Her research in human computer interaction for development (HCI4D) uses qualitative methods and co-design to understand community-based digital innovation for maternal and child health, and in community wireless networks. Melissa completed her PhD at University of California, Berkeley in Information Management and Systems, has an MSc in Data Communications, Networks and Distributed Systems from University College London, and holds a BA in Computer Science from Cornell University.

Amnesty LeFevre PhD MHS Associate Professor, University of Cape Town, School of Public Health and Family Medicine; Associate, Johns Hopkins School of Public Health, Division of Global Disease Epidemiology and Control Areas of focus: Evaluations of digital health solutions and RMNCH programs 

Divine Fuh is associate professor of social anthropology at the University of Cape Town and Director of HUMA – Institute for Humanities in Africa, at the University of Cape Town (UCT). He was Director of Publications and Dissemination Programme at the Council for the Development of Social Science Research in Africa (CODESRIA) from 2017–2019. He joined UCT in 2012, from the University of Basel where he was a researcher in the Chair for Research and Methodology at the Institute for Sociology. He has taught at the Universities of Basel, Cape Town, Western Cape, Stellenbosch, and has been visiting lecturer at the Universities of Brasilia, Tokyo, and Gaston Berger. His research focuses on the politics of suffering and smiling, particularly on how urban youth seek ways of smiling in the midst of their suffering. He has researched Botswana, Cameroon, Senegal and South Africa. His current work focuses on the political economy of Pan-African knowledge production, and also on AI and the ethics of care in Africa. 

Hannah Hussey is the Director of C-SHARP (Cape Town Systematic Healthcare Action Research Project), a health and demographic surveillance system integrated into routine community oriented primary care services in Bishop Lavis and Nomzamo. Her research interests are in how socio-economic disparities drive health outcomes and how data can be leveraged in the community engagement space. Hannah received her MBChB from the University of Cape Town (UCT), and also holds an MSc in International Health from Charite University, Berlin. She recently completed her specialist training in public health at UCT (MMed, FCPHM[SA]).

Helen Alexander specialises in engaging users with health information and interventions on mobile platforms. Through Reach Digital Health, Helen has worked on large-scale projects such as MomConnect and B-Wise, as well as official platforms for governments and the World Health Organization. Her content expertise incorporates maternal and child health, sexual and reproductive health, and gender-based violence.

Kristina Kirsten is a research assistant at the Digital Health — Connected Healthcare Group at the Hasso Plattner Institute (HPI) in Germany. She is currently pursuing a PhD under the supervision of Prof. Bert Arnrich and is in the final stage of her dissertation. Her research focuses on human activity recognition, wearable sensors, and indoor localization techniques, with a particular interest in multi-modal data collection for mental health monitoring.

Livhuwani Muthelo  is an Associate Professor in the Department of Nursing  Science at University of Limpopo, Research interest: Women  and Occupational Health Livhuwani completed her PhD, Masters at the University of Limpopo. She has also studied at Tshwane  University of Technology and Stellebosh University.

Meke Kapepo is a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Information Systems at the University of Cape Town. She recently completed her PhD in Information Systems from the same university on Electronic patient referrals in the South African and Namibian Public health sector. Her research interests focus on ICT for Development (ICT4D) in health organizations, and the unintended or unsubscribed uses of digital health applications. Meke's research employs an interpretive paradigm to understand healthcare practitioners' workaround practices in the context of information systems usage.She  also holds a Master of Medical Science (Medical Informatics) from the University of Kwazulu-Natal.

Rachel is a first-year PhD student in the Department of Computer Science and the Hasso Plattner Institute Research (HPI) School at the University of Cape Town, under the supervision of Prof. Melissa Densmore. She is also a research assistant at the Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) Lab at the University of Cape Town. Her research focuses on Human-Computer Interaction for Development (HCI4D) and Information and Communication Technology for Development (ICT4D), applying co-design for community-tailored solutions, as well as exploring Artificial Intelligence and digital literacy. Rachel is also interested in digital health, particularly in the areas of maternal and child health.