The Deep Learning Indaba (DLI) is the annual meeting of the African machine learning and AI community with the mission to strengthen African AI. This year, it will be taking place in Dakar, Senegal, from the 1st to the 7th of September 2024 at Amadou Mahtar Mbow University (UAM), comprising keynotes, tutorials, workshops, panel discussions, and paper presentations.  To this end, the 6th Deep Learning Indaba, DLI 2024, is inviting proposals for workshops to be held in conjunction with the main event. Previous editions of the Deep Learning Indaba workshop can be found here.  

The workshop program aims to offer a structured environment for discussing specialised technical subjects. Proposed workshops should be designed to encourage active idea exchange among participants. Topics and agenda for the proposed workshops should therefore be aligned with the purpose and aim of the main event, including the following topics, but  are not limited to: 

  • Foundation models for African languages
  • Trustworthy AI: robustness, explainability, privacy, fairness, etc.
  • Generative models: augmentation, adversarial, etc.
  • Learning in low-resource settings, e.g., edge ML, tiny ML
  • NLP and Multi-modal learning. 
  • Computer vision.
  • Reinforcement learning.
  • Applications of deep learning in various fields: agriculture, health, finance, education, etc. 

We strongly encourage the workshop organisers to make their workshops highly interactive and include discussions, Q&A, and panel sessions to facilitate a lively exchange of ideas among the attendees. This has been the main custom of previous workshops, and we have seen the benefits it has for the participants and we encourage organisers to maintain this approach..

The main event is intended to have the last 2 days dedicated to workshops, Friday, the 6th  and Saturday, the 7th. These workshops are envisioned to be either full-day or half-day sessions, with half-day sessions typically lasting for 4 hours. They will run concurrently with other workshops. The workshop can take any format and may include, for example, tutorials, keynote speakers, contributed papers and presentations, and panel discussions. 

Important Dates

  • Call for workshop proposals: March 29th, 2024
  • Deadline proposal submission: April 28th, 2024
  • Acceptance notifications: May 5th, 2024
  • Workshop Date: September 6th, September 7th, 2023

Requirements for Proposal Submission:

Workshop proposals should be submitted  using the following link:

Submit Proposal

*OpenReview Note*: We recommend making authors aware of OpenReview’s moderation policy for newly created profiles in the Call for Papers:

  • New profiles created without an institutional email will go through a moderation process that can take up to two weeks.
  • New profiles created with an institutional email will be activated automatically.

The proposal should contain the following information:

  • Workshop title and abstract
  • Workshop goals and objectives and how it benefits the african community.
  • A tentative workshop agenda which includes the length of the workshops, invited talks, panels, or posters, etc
  • Include their full names and affiliations, with the primary contact highlighted in bold. We encourage that at least two to four members from the organisers’s team possess expertise in the relevant area. It is preferable that these members do not all come from the same institution. Strong proposals will feature organisers with diverse perspectives on the workshop topic and strong connections to potential participant communities.
  • Invited speakers (preference for in-person speakers as a key pillar of the Indaba is community interaction, allowing attendees to engage with speakers beyond sessions. However, we are open to big-ticket speakers who may only present remotely, ensuring time zones align for a meaningful experience for all. Confirming speakers in the proposal would be preferable.)
  • A list of related workshops held within the last few years, if any, and their relationship to the proposed workshop. If this workshop continues a workshop from a previous general or area-specific conference, please indicate that. If available, please provide the link for the previous editions. 
  • Importantly,  a workshop proposal is encouraged to demonstrate diversity (across gender, geographical locations, expertise levels, etc.) in its profiles of organisers, invited speakers and panellists. 
  • Workshop organisers are expected to cover expenses

Selection Process

The workshop program committee will make the selection of workshops. It will be based on multiple criteria including but not limited to the quality of the proposal, the modality of the workshop, the balance and distinctness of topics across all workshops, the history of past attendance for non-first-time workshops, and the experience of the organising committee. We may request proposers addressing similar or overlapping content areas to merge their proposals.

*** Please Note: Deep Learning Indaba would allocate 2 free registration tickets for workshop organisers and 2 one/two day passes tickets for speakers per workshop. These registration tickets do not include travel/air tickets. If requested, accommodation can be organised at the university hostels where sponsored attendees will stay.  

Contact Information

For any questions or inquiry, please contact the workshop chairs at : pc@deeplearningindaba.com.

Organizers

  • Henok ademtew
  • Yasser Salah Eddine
  • Aisha Alaagib
  • Lesego Makhafola