Press Release [For Immediate Release] DeepMind will make a donation to Makerere University to fund the establishment of four scholarships in the field of Machine Learning beginning in the academic year 2021/2022. The scholarships will support students who wish to study MSc. Computer Science programme (Track: AI and Data Science) taught in the Department of Computer Science at Makerere University beginning in the academic year 2021/22. The scholarships will be open to students from Uganda, other East African countries, or International students from a Sub-Saharan African country. The scholarship package will include full financial support for tuition, stipend, equipment, AI conference participation and mentorship. International students will also be eligible for a relocation grant to move to Makerere to begin their studies.
Makerere University will join other leading universities in partnering with DeepMind to offer scholarships, including Stellenbosch University in South Africa and international partners, such as the Universities of Cambridge and Oxford, University College London and Imperial College in London.
“In this era, Universities in Africa should embrace the Fourth Industrial Revolution if they are to remain relevant and competitive. To achieve this, Makerere University is partnering with reputable partners at the national and international levels to train hi-tech human resources and establish state-of-the-art teaching, learning and research facilities. So, the partnership between Makerere University and DeepMind is aligned to the already ongoing efforts by Makerere University to build the future workforce for the Fourth Industrial Revolution through our College of Computing and Information Sciences. This is a valuable partnership that will enable Makerere University to train and produce graduate students/researchers and scholars with expertise in Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning and Data Science. Thank you DeepMind for coming on board and for choosing to partner with Makerere University,” remarked Prof. Nawangwe.
Obum Ekeke, Global Lead, University Relations & Education Partnerships at DeepMind, added, “We are very proud to be further expanding our scholarships in Africa with Makerere University, and look forward to welcoming new African scholars to our programme. DeepMind’s education efforts recognise that talent must be nurtured in regions which can bring a diverse range of perspectives into AI research, to ensure AI is a technology that can bring benefits for all.”
Engineer Bainomugisha, Associate Professor and Chair of the Department of Computer Science at Makerere University, said “We are delighted that DeepMind has provided funding to support graduate training in AI and Data Science at Makerere University. The Department of Computer Science is committed to providing relevant skills in AI and machine learning. The scholarships will complement our ongoing efforts in AI training and research with emphasis on its applications to unique African challenges in the sectors of health, agriculture, and environment, among others. The scholarships will contribute to the growth of the African AI ecosystem.”
About DeepMind DeepMind is a multidisciplinary team of scientists, engineers, machine learning experts and more, working together to research and build safe AI systems that learn how to solve problems and advance scientific discovery for all.
Best-known for developing AlphaGo, the first program to beat a world champion at the complex game of Go, DeepMind has published over 1000 research papers – including more than a dozen in Nature and Science – and achieved breakthrough results in many challenging AI domains from StarCraft II to protein folding.
DeepMind was founded in London in 2010, and joined forces with Google in 2014 to accelerate its work. Since then, its community has expanded to include teams in Alberta, Montreal, Paris, and Mountain View in California.
About the Department of Computer Science atMakerere University The Department of Computer Science is one of the four Departments in the School of Computing and IT of the College of Computing and Information Sciences at Makerere University. The Department is recognized as one of the top Computer Science departments in Africa. Faculty and students in the Department are undertaking innovative research in areas such as machine learning, computer vision, natural language processing, and software systems security. The Department of Computer Science hosts the Makerere AI research lab that specialises in AI research and its applications to real world challenges including the automated diagnosis of crop and human diseases, auction design for mobile commodity markets, Google-funded research on monitoring and analysis of air pollution and traffic patterns in African cities. http://cs.mak.ac.ug
Eligible students for the scholarships need to be admitted to the MSc Computer Science programme. Applicants for the Msc Computer Science at Makerere University should look out for a call for graduate admissions for 2021/22 around the end of February 2021 (tentative) the Directorate of Research and Graduate Training website. For more information about the DeepMind scholarships please contact cs@cis.mak.ac.ug. The scholarship announcement will be published around May 2021 on the Department and University websites.
Mbusa Joseph, a student from the College of Computing and Information Sciences (CoCIS) undertaking a Bachelor’s Degree in Information Systems and Technology is set to attend the Africa Internet of Things (IOT) & Artificial Intelligence (AI) Challenge finals in Jumeirah Towers, Dubai, UAE from 12th-18th December 2021.
Mr. Mbusa Joseph who is also the CoCIS College President emerged as the best during the National competition of the (IOT) & (AI) Challenge in Uganda which took place on Thursday 18th November 2021 at the National ICT Hub premises at Uganda Institute of Information and Communications Technology, Nakawa . Mr. Mbusa Joseph and others trounced their counterparts from Kabale and Busitema University.
Mbusa was among the Mak team that developed a technology dubbed, “Ntaasa Emergency system”, to improve communication between the emergency service providers (Ambulances, Police, firefighters, and health works) and the Ugandan citizen.
“I congratulate Makerere University upon having students at the final National Competitions in which the best candidates will represent Uganda at the regional and continental levels in Dubai on the 13th December 2021”, said Prof. Venansius Baryamureeba, Chairman and Managing Director UTAMU Research and Innovation City (UTAMURIC). UTAMURIC is an umbrella non-profit organization that promotes research, innovation, business incubation and startups in Africa.
Injury and medical emergencies are among the leading causes of morbidity and mortality in Uganda. The burden has cost the country massively in terms of human life.
This is partly attributed to inadequate means of communication between the Ugandan citizens and the emergency service providers (Ambulances, Police, and Health services. There is also an inadequate means of reporting violence and crime to the stakeholders.
It is for this and other reasons that students wrote a proposal to develop sustainable solutions that will increase access to emergency medical and security services across the country and reduce preventable deaths of Ugandans as government works towards rolling out the National Emergency Medical Service.
“The goal and objective(s) of this project is to save lives with the use of technology, bridge the communication gap between the emergency service providers and the Ugandan citizen and to improve crime reporting and other unacceptable conditions in society to the police and other stakeholders”, Mr. Mbusa said.
The name and phone number of the person get registered in the software application for quick back and forth communication with the service provider and the victim. The user then gets access to all the service providers’ contact information so that they can call them or send SMS to them.
“Service providers give us toll free numbers, however, if they do not have a toll-free number then, they give us a paid number. For users that are not able to connect to the internet, we shall have an SMS short code where they can place their requests and our agents will be responding and connecting to them in real-time,”, said Mr. Mbusa Joseph.
Africa IoT& AI Challenge
Africa IoT& AI Challenge is a continent-wide program for senior university students and startups that have innovative ideas in the areas of Internet of Things (IoT), Artificial Intelligence (AI) and related fields. The challenge is co-organized by several national and international partners like the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) with its dedicated society for Technology and Engineering Management (IEEE TEMS), and different universities, corporates, and governmental entities in Africa
“On behalf of the steering committee of the Africa IoT& AI Challenge, I cordially invite you to participate in the finals of the Africa challenge among the activities of IEEE Global Conference on Artificial Intelligence & Internet of Things (IEEE GCAIoT ) 21”, Mr. Mohamed Aboud, Chairman of Africa IoT& AI Challenge Program stated in his invitation letter to Mak students.
Click on the news link below and start viewing at 19 minutes
Jane Anyango is the Principal Communication Officer, CoCIS
The Center for Innovations and Professional Skills Development (CIPSD), College of Computing and Information Sciences (CoCIS), Makerere University is a specialized unit which delivers state-of-art training in ICT. The training includes; Cisco Networking Academy for Cisco related courses, Microsoft IT Academy Program for Microsoft related courses, International Computer Driving License course, Oracle Certified Training center for Oracle, Linux and Unix Training center. CoCIS is also an authorized Testing center, operating under PearsonVUE and Kryterion.
Please see Downloads for the courses starting 13th December 2021.
For further enquiries, contact;
The Center for Innovations and Professional Skills Development (CIPSD) Level 5, Block B/Front Office, Block A College of Computing and Information Sciences (CoCIS) Makerere University E-mail: psd.cis[at]mak.ac.ug Url: www.cis.mak.ac.ug/cipsd Tel: +256 392 000 180 Mob: +256 782 512 897/+256 752 779 964/+256 775 349 730
The Center for Innovations and Professional Skills Development (CIPSD), College of Computing and Information Sciences (CoCIS), Makerere University is a specialized unit which delivers state-of-art training in ICT. The training includes; Cisco Networking Academy for Cisco related courses, Microsoft IT Academy Program for Microsoft related courses, International Computer Driving License course, Oracle Certified Training center for Oracle, Linux and Unix Training center. CoCIS is also an authorized Testing center, operating under PearsonVUE and Kryterion.
Please see Downloads for the courses starting 8th November 2021.
For further enquiries, contact;
The Center for Innovations and Professional Skills Development (CIPSD) Level 5, Block B/Front Office, Block A College of Computing and Information Sciences (CoCIS) Makerere University E-mail: psd.cis[at]mak.ac.ug Url: www.cis.mak.ac.ug/cipsd Tel: +256 392 000 180 Mob: +256 782 512 897/+256 752 779 964/+256 775 349 730
General6 days ago
