A scholarship program to foster and nurture talent in responsible Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML) in African public universities will be officially launched on Tuesday August 31st, 2021. The scholarship will be awarded to successful registered PhD students (4 female and 4 male), two each from the 4 regions of the Sub-Saharan Africa. Please use this link to register for the launch.
It will support selected scholars to undertake and successfully complete PhD research in Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML) in African universities; and early career academics (ECA) to strengthen their research and development capacities in the two areas. Special consideration will be given to research projects on responsible AI innovation for sustainable development, gender equity, equitable regional distribution in low-income countries.
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Special support will be given to women candidates who have completed MSc in areas relevant to AI and ML to pursue PhDs studies. In this respect, at least 4 women will benefit from this scheme, one per each region. The same approach will be given to low-income countries.
The 3-year program, funded by the International Development Research Centre (IDRC) and the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency, aims to meet the growing demand of demand for research and development in responsible Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML) in the continent.
It is implemented by the African Centre for Technology Studies (ACTS) based in Kenya in partnership with Kwame Nkrumah University of Science & Technology in Ghana, University of Linkoping, Sweden and University Cheikh Anta Diop de Dakar, Senegal.
Other partners include the Regents of the University of California, United States; Human Sciences Research Council and Institute for Humanities in Africa based in South Africa; and the University of Eduardo Mondlane, Mozambique.
The initiative is built on the premise that whereas majority of doctoral graduates expect to secure jobs in academic and research, a postdoctoral period is desirable to develop fully-fledged, independent, and competent researchers. Also, there are very few universities in Africa that currently offers MSc and PhD programs in AI and ML. The bulk of the departments, however, do offer MSc and PhD in ICT related courses with some potential to supervise PhD in AI and ML.
Apart from supporting research capacities of selected scholars, the programme will enhance the capacities of the existing ICT departments to offer MSc and PhD in AI and ML by supporting them with research tools and related infrastructure for AI and ML. This will not only facilitate the research activities of the ECA but will also be made available to other postgraduate and final year undergraduate students within the departments.
A series of complementary activities have also been lined up to enhance research capacities of the scholars which include short-courses, PhD Academy, quarterly seminars, annual workshops, mentorship, regional conferences and online training.
It is expected that there will be a critical mass of scholars to enhance research and development in AI and ML related fields while public universities in sub-Saharan Africa will have developed their capacities to provide postgraduate training in AI and Machine Learning. In addition, there will be adequate access to knowledge by researchers and practitioners and enhanced networking opportunities of the AI and ML scholars
The programme is also expected to generate substantial evidence for policy making on AI and ML related issues enhanced in Sub-Saharan Africa.
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