FDCR 2025
Workshop Programme
The FDCR2025 Conference Organisers are pleased to announce that the following workshops and tutorials have been accepted for presentation on Tuesday, 15 July 2025.
Workshop 1:
Mini DH-IGNITE: Bridging Digital Capabilities and Computational Methods in Humanities Research
Presented by:
Jessica Mabaso, ESCALATOR Programme Coordinator, South African Centre for Digital Language Resources (SADiLaR)
Rooweither Mabuya, Digital Humanities Researcher – IsiZulu, SADiLaR
Marissa Griesel, UNISA Node Project Manager, SADiLaR
Andiswa Bukula, Digital Humanities Researcher – isiXhosa, SADiLaR
The DH-IGNITE workshop and tutorial introduces participants to the rapidly evolving field of digital humanities and computational social sciences, with a particular focus on building foundational digital capabilities for humanities researchers in South Africa. Through a combination of presentations, demonstrations, and hands-on activities, participants will gain practical insights into how digital methodologies can enhance traditional humanities research while contributing to a sustainable digital research ecosystem.
The workshop addresses the growing need to bridge the digital divide in academic research by demystifying computational approaches and demonstrating their practical applications in humanities contexts. Participants will be introduced to the ESCALATOR programme’s framework for digital humanities development, explore accessible tools for text analysis and data visualisation, and engage in discussions about integrating these approaches into their research practices. The workshop will conclude with a networking session designed to foster collaboration and community-building among participants interested in digital humanities methodologies.
By participating in this workshop, attendees will gain foundational knowledge of digital humanities approaches, practical experience with relevant tools, and connections to a broader community of practice in digital scholarship. This workshop aligns directly with FDCR 2025’s focus on sustainable digital capabilities by empowering researchers with the skills and networks needed to engage meaningfully with computational methodologies in their respective disciplines.
Format and Schedule
Full-day workshop (8 hours) combining presentations, demonstrations, hands-on activities, a panel discussion, and structured networking.
- Welcome and Introduction to Digital Humanities and ESCALATOR (30 minutes)
- Overview of Digital Humanities Tools and Methodologies (45 minutes)
- Hands-on Session:
- Text Analysis with Voyant Tools (60 minutes)
- Text preprocessing and cleaning; Word frequency analysis; Concordance and keyword-in-context; Collocations and relationships; Visualisation of results
- Digital Annotation and Digitisation Methods (60 minutes)
- Creating annotated corpora; Schema design; Quality control; Working with multilingual texts
- Building your Digital Humanities Research Project (45 minutes)
- Selecting appropriate tools and methodologies; Planning for data management and sustainability; Overcoming common challenges; Practical exercise in concept development
- South African Digital Humanities Community and Resources (30 minutes)
- Text Analysis with Voyant Tools (60 minutes)
- Panel Discussion: The Future of Digital Scholarship in South Africa (45 minutes)
- Structured Networking and Collaboration Opportunities (45 minutes)
Number of participants: 15-20
The tutorial is designed to be interactive throughout, with participants actively working with digital tools and applying concepts to sample datasets. Materials will be provided in advance, and participants are encouraged to bring their own research questions and data to explore during guided exercises. Tutorial instructors will circulate during hands-on sessions to provide individualised assistance.
Workshop 2:
Quantum Computing: A Digital Revolution For Africa
Presented by:
Stephanie Müller, Staff Research Scientist, IBM
Sibusisiwe Makhanya, Senior Research Manager, IBM
Nyameko Lisa, Senior HPC Technologist/Engineer, CSIR
Building a successful and sustainable digital economy in South Africa will be highly dependent on the appropriate integration of suitable digital technologies with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). In addition, equitable access to these technologies will be key to ensuring that all interested stakeholders have access as well as the knowledge to optimally utilise the technology, thus promoting digital inclusion. To this end, IBM has dedicated the past five years to proactively preparing the South African community for Quantum Computing (QC), by enabling quantum education activities in the region, and supporting researchers undertaking quantum computing-focused research activities in this niche area with widespread applications and interest. In this workshop, we will explore what quantum computing is, its readiness for commercial applications, the benefits that QC brings to economies and societies, the risks involved, and how government could proactively play a role in responsibly shaping its development for the South African economy.
Quantum machine learning (QML) is an exciting new field of study which in one respect harnesses the laws of quantum mechanics and applies them to classical machine learning models. QML has a wide variety of potential applications spanning many fields which include healthcare and life sciences, climate and sustainability, finance and optimisation. Two parallel activities have emerged to pioneer the field of quantum discoveries: one is the technological advancements required (hardware, software and algorithms) and the other is the rapid exploration of domain-specific problems towards identifying quantum advantage over classical methods. Quantum computing is evolving at an unprecedented pace and the hybrid use of high-performance computing (HPC) with quantum computing remains a critical avenue for workflow development towards seeing near-term quantum advantage.
Bringing together the classical and quantum world, this workshop will dive into a hybrid world where classical statistical methods merge with the atomistic levels of quantum computation. While quantum computing may seem daunting at first to non-physicists, this workshop will provide a primer on the basic principles on which quantum computation is built, followed by practical exercises conducted using the Qiskit SDK. This workshop will cover several important elements associated with the appropriate usage and development of quantum computing: spanning the technology itself, the use of it for tackling the SDGs, preparing to be “quantum safe” and the practicality of the technology in a low-resource region such as South Africa. The goal for this first workshop on quantum computing at the FDCR is to inspire, enable, and motivate our young, African researchers to add QC to their toolkit. By equipping participants with fundamental knowledge and the code needed to embark on their quantum journey, we envision participants from diverse backgrounds benefiting from this hands-on exposure to QC.
Format and Schedule
Full-Day Workshop
In this full-day workshop, we will provide the participants with an introduction to Quantum Computing, describe pioneering results reported by IBM Quantum and provide insight into the opportunities available to get started in Qiskit. This workshop is aimed at the academic and industry audience alike, as well as those more junior to the field of quantum machine learning, and those more experienced in running experiments using IBM’s Qiskit SDK. Healthcare and disease remain a core continental priority as we continue to battle non-communicable diseases such as cancer, and communicable diseases such as malaria, HIV/AIDS and tuberculosis. To accelerate fundamental research in these diseases towards understanding the mechanisms of disease, identifying drug resistance and finding new potential drug candidates, this workshop will introduce participants to the practical implementation of quantum machine learning algorithms for the task of binary classification of histopathological images. By focusing on “quantum machine learning”, we aim to provide participants with the necessary tools and knowledge for adapting the code to their own unique research problems and data.
- Intro to QC and Africa’s Potential (60 minutes)
- HPC and QC Supercomputing (30 minutes)
- Opportunities for Innovation; SDGs (30 minutes)
- Student researchers present projects relating to QC or any domain where application is applicable (3*8 min selected presentations from top abstract submissions) (30 minutes)
- Posters and Networking (30 minutes)
- Mitigating risks, Quantum safe, Quantum education (30 minutes)
- Tackling Africa’s SDGs with Quantum Technologies (Panel Discussion) (30 minutes)
- Practical session (120 minutes)
- HPC and QC for Healthcare research
Number of participants: 20-50
Workshop 3:
Next-Generation NLP: Generative AI Tools And R&D Advancements For The Digital Era
Presented by:
Privolin Naidoo, Senior NLP Specialist, CSIR
Avi Moodley, Principal AI Specialist/Research Group Leader: NLP, CSIR
Sthembiso Mkhwanazi, NLP Specialist, CSIR
Sandile Khumalo, Junior NLP Specialist, CSIR
Given Mnisi, Master’s student, CSIR
Mamolapi Mothomoholo, Junior Business Analyst, CSIR
Next-generation natural language processing (NLP) encompasses cutting-edge, artificial intelligence (AI)-driven techniques designed for context-aware, multimodal natural language processing, and human-like interactions. The rise of GPT models and other large language models (LLMs) has significantly outpaced traditional NLP methods, rendering many of them obsolete. This hands-on workshop offers a structured introduction to the evolving field of Generative AI, with a focus on practical applications and responsible implementation. Participants will leave with a clearer understanding of how generative AI can be applied in real-world contexts, exposure to open-source tools, and insights into developing or customising their solutions.
Format and Schedule
Half-day workshop (Morning session)
Designed for both technical and non-technical audiences, the workshop is divided into two parts:
- Introduction to Generative AI (60 minutes)
- Introduction of NLP research group)
- Overview of generative AI, its history and current state
- LLMs (Text Generation)
- Multimodal Models (Image, Video and Sound Generation)
- AI Services
- Responsible and Ethical AI Practices
- Demonstration + Walkthrough (120 minutes)
- Open-Source Tools
- How to access and use them
- Hosting your own
- Story Generation (Demo of NLP RG Application)
- Document Analysis (Demo of NLP RG Application)
Number of participants: 20-50
Workshop 4:
Designing Your Own 5G Network: A Hands-On Workshop
Presented by:
Thoriso Makhosa, Candidate Engineer, Cloud Network Architectures and Systems, CSIR
Rozeena Ebrahim, Researcher, Spectrum Access and Management Innovation, CSIR
Lusani Mamushiane, Senior Software Developer, Cloud Network Architectures and Systems, CSIR
“Designing Your Own 5G Network: A Hands-On Workshop” is a practical guide to building and operating a 5G mobile network using open-source tools. It bridges the gap between theory and practice by guiding participants through setting up an end-to-end 5G network. Participants will learn about 5G architecture, software-defined radio, and network emulation in a testbed environment.
As mobile networks evolve, local prototyping and testing of 5G systems are crucial for digital sovereignty, research and development (R&D), innovation, and capacity building. This tutorial aligns with the FDCR 2025 theme of a sustainable digital economy by equipping participants with skills to design and deploy cost-effective 5G networks.
Participants will understand mobile network components and emulate testbed environments for research purposes. The tutorial showcases CSIR’s 5G R&D capabilities, including a working testbed and network monitoring tool, promoting open-source tools to empower local institutions and foster collaborations in 5G R&D.
Achieving digital independence and resilient ICT infrastructures requires local design, testing, and optimisation of mobile networks. This tutorial introduces 5G network design and configuration using open-source software and low-cost testbeds. Participants will explore 5G architecture, experiment with emulation tools, and configure a basic 5G setup. The focus on open-source ecosystems addresses challenges in under-resourced environments, highlighting CSIR’s lab capabilities and opportunities for collaboration. This supports FDCR’s goal of a sustainable digital economy in South Africa.
Format and Schedule
Half-day tutorial (Afternoon session)
- Presentation (30 minutes)
- CSIR 5G Testbed current status and future plans
- Understanding the different elements of a 5G network
- Mapping a mobile network to a testbed
- Network emulation tools
- Installation and setup (60 minutes)
- Hands-on lab (Live configuration of 5G end-to-end network) (90 minutes)
- Demonstration (30 minutes)
- CSIR 5G lab setup
- NIMS performance management tool
Intended audience: This tutorial is suitable for students and early- to mid-career researchers, engineers and other professionals with an interest in 5G mobile networks. A basic knowledge of networking and Linux operating systems will be advantageous.
Prerequisites for participation: Participants should bring a laptop with the following minimum specifications: RAM: 4GB (8GB or more recommended), disk space: 30GB or more. Pre-installation of required open-source software (to be shared prior to the event).
Learning outcomes: By the end of the tutorial participants will have –
- gained a basic understanding of the key components of 5G networks and how this is mapped/realised in a lab environment;
- been introduced to a selection of network emulation tools;
- gained hands-on experience in deploying and configuring a 5G network testbed; and
- gained exposure to the CSIR’s mobile network testbed and network performance monitoring tool.
Number of participants: 5-15
