Host Institution

Higher School of Communication of Tunis

Schedule

  • 13 May 2023
    • 8:30 am -> 9:30 am : check-in and opening Ceremony
    • 9:30 am -> 10:00 am : Keynote by Mr. Karim Beguir
    • 10:30 am -> 11:00 am : Keynote by Mr. Firas Ben Hassen
    • 11:00 am -> 11:30 am : Keynote by Mr. Tom Barret
    • 1:00 pm -> 2:30 pm : Workshops: - Machine Learning on edge Computing workshop - Deep Dive into Large Language Models with Python - Build you Reinforcement Learning environment with Jax
    • 3:00 pm -> 4:30 pm : Bio- AI Workshop
    • 5:00 pm : Hackathon start Hackathon theme: predicting the impact of mutation on protein stability
  • 14 May 2023
    • 1:00 pm : Hackathon end
    • 2:00pm -> 3:00 pm : Pitching
    • 3:00 pm : Winners announcement and closing ceremony

List of Speakers

Oliver Bent

Oliver Bent

An accomplished researcher with a DPhil from the AIMS CDT (Autonomous Intelligent Machines and Systems) program at the University of Oxford, and currently serves as a senior software engineer on DeepChain core technologies at InstaDeep. His research has focused on the application of machine learning for decision making from computationally expensive simulation models. Oliver also holds his Master of Engineering Science (M.Eng.) degree from the University of Oxford and has worked with numerous organisations internationally, gaining practical experience in applying machine learning to high-impact real-world scenarios. He is dedicated to leveraging machine learning to drive advancements in various domains, including diseases, healthcare and education.

Arnu Pretorius

Arnu Pretorius

A senior research scientist specializing in Reinforcement Learning at InstaDeep, with a PhD in Computer Science from Stellenbosch University. His doctoral thesis extensively explored the complexities of noise regularized neural networks, with a keen focus on topics such as initialization, learning, and inference. Based in Cape Town, South Africa, Arnu is actively involved in cutting-edge research and development efforts related to multi-agent reinforcement learning (MARL), collaborating closely with applied teams to tackle real-world challenges at scale. He is passionate about AI skills development in Africa and is regularly involved in initiatives that aim to strengthen AI talent across the continent.

Rihab Gorsane

Rihab Gorsane

A Research Engineer and a team lead at InstaDeep. She is currently working on Reinforcement Learning based projects for industrial applications where she is helping to automate the scheduling, routing and dispatching of trains at a large scale for a national rail operator. Rihab is also involved in research projects within the company focusing on Multi-Agent RL. She is passionate about AI skills development in Africa, is a google developer expert in Machine learning and has taught DL/RL courses at Tunisian universities.

Firas Ben Hassen

Firas Ben Hassen

A Lead Data Scientist at Allianz Technology. He manages a team of data scientists and creates analytics models using cloud technologies for customers. He is mainly working on topics related to fraud detection and claims management using Artificial Intelligence: Machine Learning (Predictive Modelling ), Natural Language Processing (Text Forensics), Computer Vision (Photo Forensics), and Conversational AI (Chatbot). Firas co-founded Mitakus Analytics, which helps restaurants predict guest numbers and recommend menus based on data. He holds a Master's in Computer Science and won the German accelerator's innovation and entrepreneurship award in 2019.

Oumayma Mahjoub

Oumayma Mahjoub

A research engineer in Reinforcement Learning at InstaDeep, a startup specializing in decision-making AI. She is based in Tunis, Tunisia and her primary focus is on Multi-Agent Reinforcement Learning (MARL). Omayma has a particular interest in fair evaluation, scalability, and robustness of MARL algorithms. Her expertise in the field is demonstrated by a published paper at NeurIPS 2022. Omayma is passionate about exploring new and innovative approaches to tackle complex problems in the field.

Tom Barret

Tom Barret

A researcher with a wide range of expertise from Artificial Intelligence to Quantum Physics and Optical Computing. During his time at the University of Oxford he obtained a PhD developing methods for the quantum information processing and networking, and held Postdoctoral Research positions considering the application of machine learning to quantum systems. Now a Research Scientist at InstaDeep, Tom has continued to pursue a broad research agenda with projects spanning Structural Biology, Quantum Machine Learning and Reinforcement Learning. Overall, he is excited by the potential of AI and new computing hardware to tackle the world's most challenging and impactful problems.

Khalil Rhouma Ghardaddou

Khalil Rhouma Ghardaddou

An AI Research Engineer at InstaDeep. With over 2 years of experience in this field, he has developed a strong background in natural language processing(NLP) and a proven ability to work with cutting-edge algorithms and models for conversational AI. In addition to that, he has also been exploring the intersection of NLP and Biology. With the help of the latest protein language models, he has been working on exciting project related to protein design, which has immense potential in the field of biotechnology.

Haifa Ben Massoud

Haifa Ben Massoud

A Bio Engineer from Tunisia with a passion for using AI to solve important problems in biology. She has a master's degree in genetics and biodiversity and an engineering degree in biotechnology. She has experience as a molecular biologist at the National Gene Bank of Tunisia, working on detecting genetically modified organisms in food and crops. Currently, she works at Instadeep Ltd, developing AI applications to identify and classify protein patterns, create personalized healthcare solutions, and improve drug discovery.

Mohamed Ould-Elhassan Aoueileyine

Mohamed Ould-Elhassan Aoueileyine

An Assistant Professor at the University of Carthage with expertise in ICT, Trainer and Consultant specifically in the fields of IoT, TinyML, eHealth, AI, and Sensor Network. With a strong background in electrical engineering, Mohamed has a deep understanding of the technical aspects of these technologies and how they can be applied to real-world problems. Mohamed's research has focused on a variety of topics within these fields, including the development of smart systems for eHealth, the integration of TinyML in IoT devices, and the security of IoT networks. Mohamed is also working on professional projects related to electrical mobility, as well as embedded Linux for nanosatellites. As an accomplished researcher and educator, Mohamed has published numerous papers and articles in leading academic journals and conferences. He is also an active member of professional organizations in his field such as UIT, AUF and AICTO, and regularly participate in events and conferences to share their expertise and collaborate with other experts in the field.

Karim Beguir

Karim Beguir

The co-founder and CEO of InstaDeep. He helps companies and African leaders come to grips with the latest AI breakthroughs and deploy them. As a graduate of France's Ecole Polytechnique and former program fellow at New York University's Courant Institute, Karim has a passion for teaching and using applied mathematics. He's also a Google Developer Expert and a mentor at the Google for Startups Accelerator, and is a steering committee member of Deep Learning Indaba, Africa’s largest machine learning teaching forum. Karim is on a mission to accelerate the transition to an AI-First world that benefits everyone, and sits on the World Economic Forum's Council on the Future of AI.