You're Invited -> MIT 808 Exhibition +Poster 2025 – Data Science & AI for Societal Impact
You’re Invited!
Part of Future Africa Africa Week 2025
RSVP by Friday, 23 May 2025 (To assist us in planning)
The MIT 808 Exhibition and Poster Session is the annual capstone showcase of the MITC Big Data Science programme, coordinated by the Department of Computer Science in collaboration with departments across the School of IT, Electronic Engineering, Mathematics and Applied Mathematics, Statistics, and others.
As part of Future Africa Africa Week 2025, this event highlights how our student teams are applying Data Science and Artificial Intelligence to solve real-world challenges—demonstrating the power of interdisciplinary collaboration and local innovation.
Date: Wednesday, 28 May 2025
Time: 11:30 AM – 1:30 PM
Venue: Research Commons, Future Africa Campus, University of Pretoria
We invite you to:
Meet the student teams behind this year’s impactful projects
Engage with researchers and supervisors from across disciplines
Explore pathways for collaboration in research, policy, and practice
Featured Themes & Projects for 2025
1. Environmental Intelligence & Conservation
Estimating Elephant Population Structure Using Machine Learning
In collaboration with conservation researchers, this project applies computer vision and machine learning to aerial elephant images to help estimate age and sex distribution—informing conservation strategies.Machine Learning for Medium-Range Rainfall Prediction
This project uses historical weather and climate data to build machine learning models that improve accuracy in forecasting rainfall patterns in Southern Africa.
2. Public and One Health Futures
Understanding Community Knowledge of Zoonotic Diseases
Working with public health researchers, the team mapped local knowledge systems to create accessible tools for community education on disease prevention and response.Linking Zoonotic Disease Data with Beef Production Systems
This project built a prototype platform to explore data standardisation and correlation between zoonotic outbreaks and beef industry trends—highlighting risks and informing food systems policy.
3. Society, Governance, and Law
Political Polarisation and Network Analysis of SA Election Discourse
Using social media data, this project mapped patterns of engagement and echo chambers during South Africa’s election cycles—offering insights into polarisation and information flows.Music Law and Intellectual Property Through a Data Lens
Combining legal frameworks and data analysis, this project explores how copyright and enforcement issues impact musicians—building a data-informed view of systemic challenges in music law.
4. Foundational & Interdisciplinary Science
Population Genetics and Algorithmic Modelling
Bridging biology and data science, this project explored mathematical and algorithmic approaches to modelling population genetics, offering insights into species adaptation and evolution.
Digital Showcase Available (2020-2024, 2025 will be available soon):
https://up-mitc-ds.github.io/808exhibition/
RSVP Now: https://forms.gle/TGgX2fEsMwcCeaut6
Please RSVP by Friday, 23 May 2025
For queries, contact:
Sehaam Brey – sehaam.brey@up.ac.za
Dr Abiodun Modupe – abiodun.modupe@cs.up.ac.za
We look forward to welcoming you to this celebration of innovation amd collaboration at the University of Pretoria.