IPID launches Southern Africa Chapter

The International Network for Post Graduate Students in the Area of ICT4D (IPID) is a SPIDER research network operating worldwide. The network has over 900 registered members composed of graduate students, researchers and practitioners. Because of the increasing number of network participants, the network has created regional chapters.

The Southern Africa Chapter was launched at the School of Computing of the University of South Africa (UNISA) on 23 July 2019. Unisa will coordinate the IPID chapter. Unisa is the biggest open and distance learning university in Africa with many masters and doctoral students from African countries.

The IPID Chapter launch facilitated by the Head of Research and deputy director at the Swedish Program for ICT in Developing Regions (SPIDER), Prof Caroline Wamala-Larsson and the UNESCO Chair in ICT4D at Royal Holloway University, Prof Tim Unwin was a resounding success.

The launch was attended by students from the University of Cape Town, the University of Western Cape, Rhodes University, the Cape Peninsula University of Technology, the University of Johannesburg, the University of Pretoria, Unisa and stakeholders from the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), HSRC (Human Sciences Research Council) and industry.

A student chapter committee was elected. The committee members are:

• Ntombiyokusa Nyoni (University of Johannesburg),
• Kristen Theunissen (Rhodes University),
• Wanjiru Mburu (University of Cape Town),
• Sifiso Dlamini (University of Pretoria and CSIR) and
• Emilia Mwim (University of South Africa).

The elected student members will work alongside the IPID chapter representatives in South Africa: Prof. Judy van Biljon and Dr Samwel Mwapwele, both from the University of South Africa.

For more information regarding the IPID Southern Africa Student Chapter please contact ict4d@unisa.ac.za or info@ipid.se.