The Deep Learning Indaba 2024  has been announced officially ON since the start of the year ! The new edition will be taking place in Dakar, Senegal from the 1st to the 7th of September. 

With a new edition, this year’s awards has been announced with a new category this year ! 

  • The Kambule Doctoral Award
  • The Alele-Williams Masters Award
  • The Maathai Impact Award
  • The Anta Diop Award

As always, we are looking for brave individuals volunteering to take on the task of reviewing awards submissions and evaluating them! This role will be in support of the Awards committee! 

If you are willing to assist as a reviewer for one or more of the nominations, please provide your details in the form below by the 19th April, 2024.

Call for Reviewers

Following are more details about each award and the reviewing process. 

Calibrating your reviews

The most common question we receive from reviewers is: what standard should be used to assess nominations in the review. This is an important question since it recognises the impact of lasting historical disparities, maturity of the teaching, research and innovation environment across different countries, and resource limitations. We ask that you use your best judgement. 

Use a standard that both addresses excellence at the highest standard, and one that accounts for the impact the nomination can have in strengthening African machine learning, computational science and innovation in the current climate, in broad applications including but not limited to technical, societal,  environmental, and economic impacts. Please provide feedback that is as constructive and as detailed as you are able to offer. Provide a critique that helps both candidates and the awards committee understand where a nomination shines, or falls short. Without this type of feedback, positive growth will not be possible. In this way, you will help give the mentorship and guidance that will help all future candidates reach the highest levels of excellence possible.

About Cheikh Anta Diop early to mid career  Nomination Reviewers: 

What is the Cheikh Anta Diop early to mid career Award?

The Anta Diop Award recognises and encourages excellence in research, teaching and community service by early to mid-career academics and researchers at African universities, in any area of artificial intelligence, and computational and statistical sciences.

The Anta Diop Award celebrates African research excellence: its recipients are those that uphold Cheikh Anta Diop’s legacy as a multidisciplinary scientist and visionary intellectual.

The award will be presented at the annual Deep Learning Indaba, Senegal in September 2024. We welcome applications from faculty members themselves, or nominations from their colleagues, mentors, or department heads.

How were candidates nominated?

Candidates were either self-nominated or nominated by a third party. The application includes a 3-page outline covering the following: 

  • Community Engagement: Demonstrating the ability to support the broader African AI community, with a focus on the Deep Learning Indaba Community where applicable. 
  • Research Excellence: Showcasing impactful work and research excellence in computational and statistical sciences, various fields such as machine learning, deep learning, artificial intelligence, statistics, probability, data science, information theory, econometrics, optimization, statistical physics, biostatistics and bioinformatics, natural language processing, computer vision, computational neuroscience, and computational data science. 
  • Teaching Portfolio: Providing a teaching portfolio that illustrates how their research informs their teaching methodologies, 
  • Vision for the Future of AI in Africa: Articulating the candidate’s vision for the future of AI in Africa and how they plan to contribute to its advancement.

How to assess a nomination

The application should be assessed based on:

  • The  significance of the candidate contributions to the AI Community
  • Research Excellence is crucial, highlighting the depth of their research and its impact in the field.
  • Evaluating teaching effectiveness and its contribution to the improvement of African institutions, students, or supervision.
  • Candidate’s role in strengthening African machine learning and artificial intelligence as part of vision for the Future of AI in Africa.
  • The strength of the supporting letter

The review form asks for a 1-5 rating for each of the above items, as well as a longer-length answer (150-200 words) commenting more generally on the 3 pages portfolio and the candidate.

More information on eligibility and other application guidelines can be found here. 

About Kambule Doctoral & Alele-Williams Masters Nomination Reviewers:

What are the Kambule and Alele-Williams Awards?

The Thamsanqa Kambule and Grace Alele-Williams Awards recognise and encourage excellence in research and writing by doctoral and masters candidates, respectively, at African universities, in any area of computational and statistical sciences. 

The Kambule Doctoral Award celebrates African research excellence: its recipients are those that uphold Thamsanqa Kambule’s legacy as a defender of learning, a seeker of knowledge, and activist for equality. 

The Alele-William Masters Award celebrates African research excellence: its recipients are those that uphold Alele-Williams legacy as a mathematician, a tireless champion of women in science, and an educationalist who influenced modern mathematics curricula across Africa. 

How were candidates nominated?

Candidates were either self-nominated or nominated by a third party. The application includes the dissertation, examiners’ reports, a summary of the dissertation’s primary contributions to its field of research, and a supporting letter from a person in a position to comment on the candidate and the candidate’s work.

How to assess a nomination

The application should be assessed based on:

  • The dissertation’s technical depth
  • The dissertation’s contributions/significance to its field of research (whether in theory or practice)
  • Its quality of presentation – how well is the thesis communicated (clarity, succinctness, notation accuracy and consistency)
  • The thesis and candidate’s role in strengthening African machine learning and artificial intelligence
  • The strength of the supporting letter

The review form asks for a 1-5 rating for each of the above items, as well as a longer-length answer (150-200 words) commenting more generally on the thesis and the candidate.

More information on eligibility and other application guidelines can be found here (Kambule) and here (Alele-Williams). 

About Maathai Impact Nomination Reviewers:

What is the Maathai Impact Award?

The Wangari Maathai Impact Award encourages and recognises work by African innovators that shows impactful application (including but not limited to technical, societal,  environmental, and economic) of machine learning and artificial intelligence.

This award reinforces the legacy of Wangari Maathai in acknowledging the capacity of individuals to be a positive force for change: by recognising ideas and initiatives that demonstrate that each of us, no matter how small, can make a difference.

The award will be presented at the annual Deep Learning Indaba in Senegal in September 2024. We welcomed applications from individuals, teams and organisations themselves, or nominations by third parties.

How were candidates nominated?

Candidates were either self-nominated or nominated by a third party. The application includes a description of the impactful work being done, the people empowered by this work, and why the work is innovative. Two supporting letters from persons familiar with the work are also provided.

How to assess a nomination

Applications should be assessed based on:

  • The impactful work itself on concrete communities 
  • The breadth of impact they or their work has had in utilising technology to educate about, showcase, or preserve African culture, language and history
  • The work’s innovativeness and the extent to which it is grounded in African communities 
  • The individual/team’s role in empowering individuals and groups affected or involved with machine learning
  • The strength of the supporting letters

The review form asks for a 1-5 rating for each of the above items, as well as a longer-length answer (150-200 words) commenting more generally on the nominee and the work they are doing

More information on eligibility and other application guidelines can be found here. 

The awards will be presented at the annual Deep Learning Indaba, Dakar, Senegal in September 2024. We welcomed nominations from both students themselves, and their supervisors and mentors. The awards winners will be given the opportunity to travel to present  at the Deep Learning Indaba. ( nominations will be closed on the 21st of March )