The Data Science Africa Uganda (DSAU) Chapter in collaboration with Mountains of the Moon University (MMU) have successfully held a three-day 2024 Data Science and Artificial Intelligence (AI) event at MMU Lake Saaka Campus Fort Portal City.
The theme for the 2024 DSAU event was “Data Science and AI Horizons: Cultivating Innovations for Sustainable Agriculture, Environment, Health and Tourism.”
The DSAU 2024 event attracted partners and participants: Institutions of higher learning, development partners, government ministries – Ministry of ICT & National Guidance – NITA U, the Ministry of Local Government – Jinja City, Fort Portal City and other government agencies. Higher Institutions of learning included: Makerere University, Busitema University, Kabale University, Gulu University, Uganda Pentecostal University (UPU), Uganda Christian University, Muni University, ISBAT University, Islamic University in Uganda, Kyambogo University, Soroti University, Mbarara University of Science and Technology, Uganda Institute of Information Technology. Development partners included: UN Global Pulse, RENU, Tooro Dev. among others. Government agencies included the Uganda Bureau of Statistics (UBOS), Personal Data Protection Office. Other categories included: Ernest Cook Ultrasound Research and Education Institute, Sunbird AI, Infectious Disease Institute, Marconi Lab, Makerere AI Health Lab, Data Cities, Makerere AI Lab, AirQo among many others.
The event started on Monday, August 26th 2024 with sessions: Introduction to Data Science and AI led by Benjamin Rukundo of Makerere AI lab; Python in Data Science led by Samuel Ocen of MMU. Other sessions of the day that other facilitators presented included: Data Engineering & Analytics, Data Visualization and Storytelling; Machine learning Fundamentals; Deep Learning Fundamentals; and Case studies in Agriculture, Health, Environment and Tourism were also presented.
Sessions for day two included discussions with lead topics on Agriculture and Tourism; Health and Environment with different sub-topics: Enhancing crop health- the role of low-cost spectroscopy sensors; tracking air quality in the city – from physical environment sensing to modelling in real-time disease monitoring among many other subtopics. The 3rd day on Wednesday 28th August 2024 was a day out at Nyamirima Cottages.
Prof. Pius Coxwell Achanga, the MMU Vice Chancellor during his welcome remarks at the DSAU 2024 noted that “I am delighted to see a diverse and enthusiastic group of professionals, scholars, and industry leaders gathered here today, united by our shared commitment to progressing knowledge and fostering innovation in Data Science and Artificial Intelligence (AI) Horizons: Cultivating Innovation for Sustainable Agriculture, Environment, Health, and Tourism. In other words, the notion of Data Science should be a boost, a resource in aiding humanity to mitigate and resolve problems – using the principles and practices from the fields of mathematics, statistics, artificial intelligence, and computer engineering to not only analyse large amounts of data, but as scientists, enable you to ask and answer the ‘what ifs’ questions why, how, where, when and so on.”
Adding that “as Vice Chancellor, I am proud that MMU is serving as a platform for such a significant gathering for intellectual exchange and I hope we forge collaborations here that will drive progress in the fields of Data Science andAI. As we all know, these fields are constantly evolving and posing unique challenges, especially for Higher Education Institutions. It is, therefore, crucial for us to stay at the forefront of these developments, and to continuously update our knowledge and refine our methodologies.”
Hon. Alex Ruhunda, the Member of Parliament representing Fort-Portal City who was the Chief Guest to the DSAU said by embracing the smart city initiatives exhibited during the event we will not only improve the lives of our citizens but also position Fort Portal as a beacon of innovation in Uganda. This transformation will attract investment, create jobs, and inspire our youth to become tech leaders of tomorrow.