Andiswa Bukula is a Digital Humanities Researcher at the South African Centre for Digital Language Resources (SADiLaR), specializing in isiXhosa and the development of South African indigenous languages through innovative digital interventions. With seven years of experience in the field, her work focuses on corpus linguistics,  the use of technology for language learning, and the intersection of Digital Humanities with African languages. 

She has played a key role in projects such as the Masakhane Named Entity Recognition (NER) and Part-of-Speech (POS) tagging initiatives. She has co-led text data utterance creation projects for 16 African languages. She actively promotes Digital Humanities through research, workshops, and conference presentations at both national and international levels.

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

Dr. Hope Mogale obtained his PhD in Computer Science in 2019 from North-West University. His research interests are in Machine Learning, Natural Language Processing and Artificial Intelligence. He is a senior member of the DSFSI.

Dr Sibeko is an academic researcher and lecturer at Nelson Mandela University in South Africa, specialising in Digital Humanities and linguistic studies. His work explores the intersection of technology, culture, and language, with a particular focus on how digital tools shape communication and societal narratives. His current research investigates emotional responses and meaning-making in digital spaces, such as YouTube comments, with a keen interest in culturally sensitive topics in the African context. His PhD project produced readability metrics for Sesotho. 

Malebo Matshaba has a solid academic background and specialises in language and communication. She graduated from the University of Johannesburg (UJ) with a Bachelor of Arts in Communication and Languages and an Honours in Applied Linguistics. Malebo joined the Institute for Intelligent Artificial Systems at the University of Johannesburg in May 2024. She has a strong academic background that is essential to the Institute's innovative 4IR technology research and education programs. With a strong interest in the social function of language and its ability to influence interpersonal relationships, Malebo combines her academic training with real-world communication experience. Her work demonstrates a dedication to understanding the ways in which language affects both individual expression and societal comprehension. She is dedicated to using her knowledge to improve communication.

TBA

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.

Affiliation(s): University of KwaZulu Natal

Area(s) of Expertise: Linguistics

Ms. Seani Rananga is a South African computer scientist and data scientist specializing in machine learning, natural language processing (NLP), and misinformation detection. She serves as a lecturer in the Department of Computer Science at the University of Pretoria, South Africa, and is an active  senior member of the Data Science for Social Impact (DSFSI) research group at the university. Ms. Rananga is currently pursuing her Ph.D. in Computer Science at North-West University, focusing her research on NLP and misinformation detection in African languages, often referred to as low-resource languages. Her research interests encompass deep learning, machine learning, NLP, large language models (LLMs), misinformation detection, sentiment analysis, generative AI, retrieval-augmented generation (RAG), SQL queries for NLP, dynamic spectrum allocation, network slicing, and 5G technologies. She has published several papers in these areas and is a regular speaker at conferences and workshops.In addition to her technological pursuits, Ms. Rananga is a passionate advocate for education and social justice. She volunteers as a mentor for various youths at the University of Pretoria, promoting education and empowerment for the youth.

Thapelo is a PhD student at university of Pretoria under the department of computer science. His areas of interest include machine learning, Natural Language Processing, and Artificial Intelligence with a particular focus on optim-centric techniques (e.g transfer learning, optimization, e.t.c for low-resourced languages). For this, his masters dissertation focused on cross-lingual embeddings and cross-lingual models for creating shared representation between high-resourced languages and low-resourced languages.

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.