Dr Islem Rekik (I-X Faculty), Dr Alice Malivert (Eric and Wendy Schmidt AI in Science Postdoctoral Fellow), and Dr Zhenzhu Li (Eric and Wendy Schmidt AI in Science Postdoctoral Fellow), alongside Dr Isambi Mbalawata and Dr Daniel Tcheutia (African Institute of Mathematical Sciences) were awarded AIMS-Imperial Education Seed Fund. The Fund promotes and supports early-stage collaboration among academics, researchers and students at Imperial College London, providing financial support to launch new education initiatives with the African Institute of Mathematical Sciences (AIMS). The programme encourages projects that combine expertise and efforts across Imperial and AIMS to jointly create new teaching, learning and student experience opportunities.

Islem, Alice, and Zhenzhu were awarded £10,000 to contribute to the organisation, in collaboration with AIMS Cameroon and the Research and Innovation Centre in Rwanda, an International conference titled Harnessing the Potential of Data Science and Artificial Intelligence for Sustainable Development. The workshop will focus on how AI and Data Science can contribute to sustainable development in countries of the Global South, circling around three main topics: agriculture, health, and energy. The event is scheduled to take place from 23 to 28 November at AIMS Cameroon in Limbe. By addressing multidisciplinary, global challenges through AI-driven solutions, the workshop contributes to the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) adopted by the United Nations in 2015 (zero hunger, good health and well-being, quality education, affordable and clean energy).

The workshop will host over 60 students from AIMS Cameroon, with additional participants, including Imperial students, joining online. The organisers also plan to run a hackathon for over 70 students, with PhD researchers from Imperial mentoring small groups of AIMS MSc students. The hackathon challenges will circle around three main themes of the workshop, focusing on applications of affordable AI in agriculture, healthcare, and energy. Finally, alongside the conference, an official inauguration of the permanent AIMS-Cameroon facilities will take place.

The grant will fund four top master’s students from the Computer Science or Mathematics departments of four local universities. It will support their attendance and cover consumables for the workshop. Additional funds will support travel costs for Imperial team and four international keynote speakers. The Imperial team expects that the workshop will not only increase knowledge and skills of the attendees and encourage innovative interdisciplinary thinking, but also lead to long-term engagement with the researchers from AIMS.