CS graduate 

Affiliation(s): University of Pretoria

Area(s) of Expertise: Lingusitics, Natural Language Processing (Language Technologies), Machine Learning/Artificial Intelligence

Alexa Anthonie is a PhD Candidate in Sociolinguistics at Stellenbosch University and works as a Language Specialist in Afrikaans at the Cape Peninsula University of Technology. Her fields of interest include raciolinguistics, heteroglossia, language repertoires, decoloniality and vocational education. She considers herself an activist for multilingualism and the recognition of marginalised varieties of Afrikaans.   

Affiliation(s): CPUT, South African Association for Language Teaching (SAALT) 

Area(s) of Expertise: Lingusitics

Andiswa Bukula has been a Digital Humanities researcher at SADiLaR, with a special focus on isiXhosa for the past 5 years. Her special interest is in the development of under resourced  South African languages to be languages of teaching and learning.  

Affiliation(s): SADiLaR

Area(s) of Expertise:  Lingusitics, Natural Language Processing (Language Technologies)

Asive Dlaba is a Senior Data Scientist at Telkom Strategic Insights. He is  cuurrently involved and interested in the application of ASR and NLP for our local languages.  

Affiliation(s): Telkom Pty Ltd

Area(s) of Expertise:  Natural Language Processing (Language Technologies), Machine Learning/Artificial Intelligence

Principal AI Specialist at CSIR, life long learner of data science and machine learning. My current focus is on applying machine learning to various natural language processing, social media mining and data driving decision making tasks.  

Affiliation(s): CSIR

Area(s) of Expertise:  Natural Language Processing (Language Technologies), Machine Learning/Artificial Intelligence

An emerging researcher in NLP, Research interest are Word embedding, Word Sense Disambiguation, Sentiment analysis, etc.  

Affiliation(s): Tshwane University of Technology

Area(s) of Expertise:  Natural Language Processing (Language Technologies), Machine Learning/Artificial Intelligence

Dion Nkomo is a professor at the School of Languages & Literatures at Rhodes University where he holds the NRF SARChI Chair on Intellectualisation of African Languages, Multilingualism and Education. Among other focus areas, the SARChI seeks to contribute towards scholarship on Human Language Technologies.

Affiliation(s): Rhodes University

Area(s) of Expertise: Lingusitics, African Languages, Lexicography, Terminology and Translation

Febe de Wet is an associate professor at the North-West University's Department of Electrical, Electronic and Computer Engineering. She also has an affiliation with the Digital Signal Processing group at Stellenbosch University's Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering. Her research interests include statistical pattern recognition, speech resource development and automatic speech recognition. She is especially interested in developing language technology for South Africa's indigenous languages and in educational applications of speech technology.

Affiliation(s): North-West University

Area(s) of Expertise: Natural Language Processing (Language Technologies), Machine Learning/Artificial Intelligence

Dr Hildegarde Koen completed her M.Sc (Applied Mathematics) degree at the University of Stellenbosch in 2010. She then joined the CSIR Pretoria and completed her PhD degree in electronic engineering at the University of Pretoria early 2016. She has authored and co-authored numerous papers for both local and international publications, as well as being invited to present her work at several events including the 2019 Armscor Engineering Day. Hildegarde is a senior researcher at the CSIR. Her interests include rhinos, criminology, machine learning, and Natural Language Processing.

Affiliation(s): CSIR Pretoria

Area(s) of Expertise: Natural Language Processing (Language Technologies), Machine Learning/Artificial Intelligence

MSc Computer Science Student, Johannesburg South Africa. I am doing my research in Reinforcement Learning using Natural Language commands. My other research areas are in NLP for African Languages.

Affiliation(s): Masakhane, Wits University

Area(s) of Expertise: Natural Language Processing (Language Technologies), Machine Learning/Artificial Intelligence

Johannes is a lecturer at Nelson Mandela University. His research focuses on text readability, linguistic complexity and creative writing assessment. He is currently completing his PhD studies at North-West University.

Affiliation(s): Nelson Mandela University

Area(s) of Expertise: Lingusitics

Mahlatse is an analytical specialist within the R&D team at Discovery (Vitality Group) with a keen interest in machine learning and applications of NLP in industry

Affiliation(s): Discovery (Vitality Group), Masakhane

Area(s) of Expertise: Machine Learning/Artificial Intelligence

Mmasibidi Setaka is a Digital Humanities Researcher focusing on Sesotho language at the South African Centre for Digital Language Resource (SADiLaR). Her research interests lie in Lexicography for Sesotho. She has been involved in organising and teaching the Carpentries, to increase capacity in computational skills in South Africa specifically for the Humanities and Social Sciences and is part of the Executive Committee of the Digital Humanities Association of Southern Africa. She has  organised conferences such as the Digital Humanities Association of Southern Africa DHASA 2021 and workshops such as the Resources for African Indigenous Languages (RAIL 2020, 2021 and 2022) and Technologies for Enhanced Documentation of African Languages (TEDAL). She is also a member of the organsing committee for Hundzula retreat that brings together linguists and NLP practitioners in one space to discuss challenges and opportunities that arise between the two disciplines.

Affiliation(s): SADiLaR

Area(s) of Expertise:  Linguistics

Obtain a MTech (IT) from Tshwane University of Technology, and a PhD (IT) candidate at Durban University of Technology, topic revolves around word or sense embeddings in low resources Languages. A hard-working, self-motivated individual, with good team leadings skills, able to work on own initiative and as part of a team. A quick learner and always persevere to achieve the best results. Have good problem solving and analytical skills to develop effective solutions. Ability to manage projects within agreed deadlines. Willing and able to work under pressure and handles directions from superior’s very well. Always ready to learn new skills and participate among the peers. A mentor in datathons and hackathons for both undergraduates and postgraduates. I do supervise  postgraduate students in health sciences university to solve healthcare challenges using new technologies such as applying deep learning, NLP and machine learning algorithms to bring better solutions for the healthcare community.

Affiliation(s): Sefako Makgatho Health Sciences University

Area(s) of Expertise:  Natural Language Processing (Language Technologies), Machine Learning/Artificial Intelligence

Lecturer and researcher in the Faculty of Humanities at Nelson Mandela University, coordinator of the Digital Humanities Hub, former research fellow of UCT Centre for Innovation in Learning and Teaching.

Affiliation(s): Nelson Mandela University

Area(s) of Expertise:  Lingusitics

I am a Digital Humanities researcher who is interested in all aspects of Siswati language.

Affiliation(s): SADiLaR

Area(s) of Expertise:  Lingusitics

A computational linguist in the University of KwaZulu-Natal.

Affiliation(s): University of KwaZulu-Natal

Area(s) of Expertise:  Natural Language Processing (Language Technologies), Machine Learning/Artificial Intelligence, Corpus

An emerging academic at the University who has interest in Natural Language Processing and Machine Learning. Completed my MSc (Computer Science) in 2018 and was currently busy with PGDip in Higher Education (2021 - 2022).

Affiliation(s): University of Limpopo

Area(s) of Expertise:  Natural Language Processing (Language Technologies)

I am language researcher (Xitsonga). My areas of interest in teaching, learning and research lie in translation, terminology development, lexicography, digital humanities, and linguistic fields such as sociolinguistics, semantics, syntax, and morphology mainly in Xitsonga and other African languages.

Affiliation(s): South African Centre for Digital Language Resource (SADiLaR), North-West University,

Area(s) of Expertise:  Lingusitics, Natural Language Processing (Language Technologies)

Rooweither Mabuya is a Digital Humanities researcher with a focus on isiZulu at the South African Centre for Digital Language Resources (SADiLaR). Her research interests lie in the systematic creation of relevant digital text, speech, and multi-modal resources related to the development of isiZulu and to promote the use of Digital Humanities related methods and tools within the isiZulu research community. Areas of expertise are General Linguistics, Corpus Linguistics, and Digital Humanities. She is an EXCO member of Digital Humanities Association of Southern Africa (DHASA), DH-Africa Network member and a Masakhane member. 

Affiliation(s): SADiLaR

Area(s) of Expertise:  Linguistics

A Sociolinguist and Setswana lecturer at UP

Affiliation(s): University of Pretoria

Area(s) of Expertise:  Lingusitics

I'm passionate about natural language processing for local languages.

Affiliation(s): University of Pretoria

Area(s) of Expertise:  Natural Language Processing (Language Technologies), Machine Learning/Artificial Intelligence

Thapelo Sindane is a Master student in computer science affiliated Data Science for social impact  research group at the University of Pretoria. He has a background in application heuristic algorithms, Artificial intelligence, machine learning and NLP. 

Affiliation(s): University of Pretoria, DSFSI, Deep learning IndabaX,  and Masakhane.

Area(s) of Expertise:  Natural Language Processing(Language Technologies), machine learning/Artificial intelligence

Thipe Modipa is a senior lecturer in the Department of Computer Science and a member of the Telkom CoE. His research area is in the development of speech recognition models using deep learning techniques with a focus on under-resourced languages. His research interests are code-switched speech and text generation.

Affiliation(s): University of Limpopo

Area(s) of Expertise:  Natural Language Processing (Language Technologies)

I am a Nelson Mandela University Master's student. I hold a BA in Public Administration and English language Studies. And BA Honours in Applied Language studies, my research interests are language preservation through multilingualism, Translation, and digital technologies..

Affiliation(s): Nelson Mandela University

Area(s) of Expertise:  Lingusitics, Natural Language Processing (Language Technologies)

Prof Vukosi Marivate is the ABSA UP Chair of Data Science at the University of Pretoria. Marivate works on developing machine learning/artificial intelligence methods to extract insights from data. A large part of his work over the past few years has been in the intersection of machine learning and natural language processing. Prof Marivate’s work in this area focuses on techniques to improve tools for and availability of data for local languages or low-resource languages. Marivate is a co-founder of Deep Learning Indaba. He currently serves as a co-founder and chief investigator on the Masakhane NLP project (https://www.masakhane.io/) and on the steering committee of the Lacuna Fund (https://lacunafund.org/). Prof Marivate is the PI for the Data Science for Social Impact research group (https://dsfsi.github.io/).

Affiliation(s): University of Pretoria, Masakhane

Area(s) of Expertise:  Natural Language Processing (Language Technologies), Machine Learning/Artificial Intelligence