AI4D Africa Scholarship Project
The African Centre for Technology Studies (ACTS) is implementing the Artificial Intelligence for Development Africa (AI4D) Scholarship Project to foster and nurture talent in responsible Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML) in African public universities.
The 3-year project, funded by the International Development Research Centre (IDRC) and the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency, aims to meet the growing demand of demand for research and development in responsible Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML) in the continent.
Building Institutional Capacity
Apart from supporting research capacities of selected scholars, the project will enhance the capacities of existing ICT departments to offer MSc and PhD in AI and ML by supporting them with research tools and related infrastructure for AI and ML. This will not only facilitate the research activities of the ECA but will also be made available to other postgraduate and final year undergraduate students within the departments. The project design has also lined up a series of complementary activities that will help enhance research capacities of the scholars which include short-courses, PhD Academy, quarterly seminars, annual workshops, mentorship, regional conferences and online training.
Scholarship Categories
The AI4D scholarships has been designed to target the following three categories of beneficiaries.
Registered PhD Students
- This targets candidates who are already registered for PhD, have finished course work as well as research proposals. This will be open to all universities offering PhD in AI (or any of its derivatives).
Early Career Academics
- Under the ECA scholarship, 8 Early Career Academics will be supported. This will mainly target those ECA who have capacity to supervise PhD and MSc students.
Masters Students
- The program will also support MSc students under the ECAs. In addition to supporting ECAs, the AI4D Africa scholarship project will also enhance the capacities of the existing ICT departments in the universities to offer MSc and PhD in AI and ML.
Scholars views
Short Courses
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Expected Outcomes
After three years, it is expected that there will be a critical mass of scholars to enhance research and development in AI and ML related fields while public universities in sub-Saharan Africa will have developed their capacities to provide postgraduate training in AI and Machine Learning. In addition, there will be adequate access to knowledge by researchers and practitioners and enhanced networking opportunities of the AI and ML scholars.The programme is also expected to generate substantial evidence for policy making on AI and ML related issues enhanced in Sub-Saharan Africa.
