Dr Hlaudi Daniel Masethe research spans across areas such as natural language processing (NLP), word sense disambiguation (WSD) especially in low-resource and morphologically rich languages as well as health informatics/data mining in biomedical contexts. Research profile shows citations and contributions in NLP, AI, data science and big data analytics.

Fefelethu Motlhoiwa is a linguist, language educator, with a strong commitment to language development, cultural preservation, and digitalisation of African languages. She holds an Honours degree in Language Education, specialising in Setswana, which she completed cum laude, and has consistently demonstrated academic excellence throughout her studies.

She currently works at the North-West University (NWU) Language Directorate, where she contributes to promoting multilingualism, language access, and inclusive communication. As a member of the Golden Key International Honour Society and an active student leader, Fefelethu has served in various leadership and community engagement roles. 

Happy Kelebogile Sathekge is a research assistant for the Data Science for Social Impact Research Lab.

Hunadi Ramvubela is a Setswana language practitioner, terminologist, and postgraduate researcher at the North-West University. Her work focuses on multilingualism and the development and promotion of Setswana. She has contributed to various student-centred language initiatives as an interpreter, translator, terminologist, and facilitator, including her involvement in the NWU Multilingualism Awareness Training Programme. Hunadi is currently pursuing a Master’s degree in Setswana, where her research examines the use of Machine Translation for English-to-Setswana translation and its implications for linguistic accuracy and language development.

Johannes Sibeko is a senior lecturer and researcher in Digital Humanities at Nelson Mandela University and an associate editor for the Journal of Southern African Linguistics and Applied Language Studies. He serves as Vice President of the Digital Humanities Association of Southern Africa and sits on the Sesotho National Language Board of the PanSALB as well as the Eastern Cape Provincial Language Committee of the PanSALB. His research focuses on corpus linguistics and the development of low-resource languages, with particular emphasis on Sesotho. Beyond his research, he contributes to curriculum development, digital research initiatives, and the mentorship of emerging scholars in the Humanities. 

Dr Keobaka Seshoka is a linguist and researcher by profession, possessing extensive knowledge in African Languages studies. She holds a Bachelor of Arts in Information Science specialising in Publishing (UP), Bachelor of Arts with Honours (Rhodes University); Master of Arts in African Languages cum laude (Rhodes University); Master of Business Leadership (MBL), Doctor of Philosophy in African Languages (Rhodes University); Neuro-Linguistic Programming certificate (Action Factory), and a certificate in Executive Voice and Pronunciation Programme (The Voice Clinic).

She is a dynamic linguist, speaker, academic, researcher, editor, and publisher. She has extensive experience in African languages, language policy and planning, translation, and interpreting services. She is a member of the Setswana National Language Body (NLB) and the Regional Coordinator of the African Language Association of Southern Africa (ALASA); a member of the task team for the Linguistic Society of South Africa (LSSA), and Treasurer of the Association for Translation Studies in Africa (ATSA). Additionally, she is the founder of Women of Africa Arise (WOAA), which empowers young women in academics, business, and life coaching. She hosts empowerment and life skills sessions for disadvantaged girls from rural areas.

Dr Seshoka is a Director of the Language Directorate at North-West University (NWU). This is a support unit for all language-related matters for the NWU. She is also a recipient of the Transformational and Advocacy Agency Award at NWU and a Change Agent Recognition from Sunday World. She is also a research coach and editor in the scientific committee of the Global Centre for Academic Research. She is also the recipient of the Top African Women Leaders award and has been ranked at number 7.

She was also nominated as an emerging leader at HERSA. She hosts empowerment and life skills sessions for disadvantaged girls from rural areas. She has been a keynote speaker at various language-related events in Spain, including at the University of Salamanca, the University of Pretoria, and UFS. She believes that our languages are essential resources that require a collaborative effort to thrive and flourish. 

Dr Koketso Ntshabele received his PhD in computer science from North-West University's Mafikeng Campus in Mafikeng, North-West, in 2025. He served as a student researcher from 2016 to 2023, publishing several papers under the FRC and partially through the Department of Computer Science at NWU-Mafikeng and CSIR, South Africa. Cognitive Radios, data security in LPWAN, CR-LPWAN, and energy efficiency in LoRaWAN, IoT l, Artificial Intelligence, and Machine Learning are just a few of his research interests. He is currently a lecturer in the Department of Computer Science. He is also a member of the IEEE and SAICSIT

Mpho Primus is a computational linguist and AI researcher specialising in African Natural Language Processing, with a focus on modelling tone, morphology, and low-resource linguistic structures. She is Co-Director of the Institute for Artificial Intelligent Systems at the University of Johannesburg. Mpho’s current work seeks to integrate linguistic theory, computational modelling, and responsible AI to build systems that better capture African language complexity and variation.

Neo Putini is a Project Manager at Language Inc and a Linguistics Masters candidate at the University of KwaZulu Natal. Her research interests include Corpus Linguistics, Digital Humanities, and developing under-resourced South African Languages.

Nosipho Dladlu Mntuwaphi obtained her B.Sc. (Hons.) at the University of Fort Hare and her M.Sc. degree in Computer Science from the North-West University, Mafikeng, South Africa. Currently, she is a Lecturer in the Department of Computer Sciences and a Faculty member of FNAS, North-West University, Mafikeng Campus. Her research interests include Cloud Computing, Robotics education, Mobile Computing, Networks, and HCI.

Reorapetse Molose is a Lecturer in Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning at North-West University, where he contributes to teaching and research in computer science. He holds a Master’s degree in Computer Science, which has provided a strong foundation in intelligent systems, data-driven modeling, SDN-IIoT and applied machine learning. He is currently pursuing a PhD in Computer Science, with research interests centered on advanced AI methodologies, intelligent decision-support systems, and secure, scalable computational frameworks. Through his academic and research activities, he is committed to advancing innovative, practical AI solutions while fostering critical thinking and technical excellence among students.

Ms. Seani Rananga is a skilled Computer Scientist and Data Scientist specializing in machine learning, natural language processing (NLP), and misinformation detection. She is a lecturer in the Department of Computer Science at the University of Pretoria, South Africa, and an active senior member of the Data Science for Social Impact (DSFSI) research group at the university.

Seani is currently pursuing her Ph.D. in Computer Science, focusing on NLP and misinformation detection in low-resource African languages, particularly South African languages. Her research explores the impact of misinformation on social media and other digital platforms, aiming to develop solutions that can accurately detect and mitigate the spread of false information. She works on improving machine learning models, especially in the context of multilingual NLP, to identify misleading content, fake news, and agenda-driven narratives. Seani's work on misinformation detection spans various media, including text, video, and images. She has published several research articles on these topics, contributing valuable insights to the field.

Her research interests extend to deep learning, large language models (LLMs), sentiment analysis, generative AI, retrieval-augmented generation (RAG), as well as fraud and anomaly detection using machine learning. She also focuses on SQL queries for NLP, Dynamic Spectrum Allocation, Network Slicing, and 5G technologies.

Thapelo is currently a registered PhD student funded by the UK International Development and the International Development Research Centre (IDRC), Ottawa, Canada, under the AI4D Africa Program. His primary research focus is on the development of Sign Language translation tools, positioning his work at the intersection of Natural language processing for low-resourced languages and computer vision.

Prof Vukosi Marivate is a Professor of Computer Science and holds the ABSA UP Chair of Data Science at the University of Pretoria. He specialises in developing Machine Learning (ML) and Artificial Intelligence (AI) methods to extract insights from data, with a particular focus on the intersection of ML/AI and Natural Language Processing (NLP). His research is dedicated to improving the methods, tools and availability of data for local or low-resource languages. As the leader of the Data Science for Social Impact research group in the Computer Science department, Vukosi is interested in using data science to solve social challenges. He has worked on projects related to science, energy, public safety, and utilities, among others. Prof Marivate is a co-founder of Lelapa AI, an African startup focused on AI for Africans by Africans. Vukosi is a chief investigator on the Masakhane Research Foundation, which aims to develop NLP technologies for African languages. Vukosi is also a co-founder of the Deep Learning Indaba, the leading grassroots Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence conference on the African continent that aims to empower and support African researchers and practitioners in the field.