James is an astronomer and astrophysicist from the UK, currently based in Chile. His research focuses on the evolution of protoplanetary discs; the environment in which planets are formed. He attained his undergraduate degree and PhD in astrophysics from the University of Leeds. Following this he moved to Chile to start a position as ALMA Fellow at the Joint ALMA Observatory, working with the National Astronomical Observatory of Japan (NAOJ). Last year he began his position as a postdoctoral researcher at the YEMS Millennium Nucleus and the Centre for Interdisciplinary Research into Astrophysics and Space Science (CIRAS) at Universidad de Santiago de Chile.

Born in Sevilla, Spain, Miguel obtained his bachelor studies in Physics at the Universidad Complutense de Madrid (Spain) and the University of Calgary, Canada. He obtained his Masters in Astrophysics and Cosmology at the Universidad Autónoma de Madrid (Spain). In October 2020, he received my PhD from the University of Leeds (UK) with a thesis titled "A census of Herbig Ae/Be stars. New candidates and analysis from a Gaia perspective”. During his PhD, he undertook an 18-month secondment at the European Space Astronomy Centre (ESAC) in Madrid and the adjacent Centro de Astrobiología. After his PhD, he moved to Chile for 3 years with an ALMA Fellowship at the Joint ALMA Observatory. In January 2024, he moved to Germany, where he now works as an ESO Fellow at the European Southern Observatory in Munich.

Dr. Neema Mduma is a computer scientist and senior lecturer at the Nelson Mandela African Institution of Science and Technology (NM-AIST), specializing in Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML). She founded BakiShule, an initiative promoting STEM education for girls in secondary schools in Tanzania. Dr. Mduma is a Principal Investigator in various projects using AI and ML to address challenges in agriculture, health, education, and other sectors. She also reviews for scientific journals and conferences and was recently appointed by the Minister of State, President’s Office Planning and Investment, as a member of the technical team for drafting the Tanzania Development Vision 2050.

Lorna Mugambi is an accomplished researcher and data scientist currently pursuing her MSc. degree at the Center for Data Science and Artificial Intelligence (DSAIL) in Nyeri, Kenya. Her recent work includes AI-based diagnosis of rheumatic heart disease and camera trap image annotation for wildlife conservation. Beyond academia, Lorna engages with the community through workshops and conferences, sharing insights on machine learning for conservation and healthcare applications of AI.

Kushatha Ntwaetsile is a Computer Scientist turned Astronomer. She earned an MSc in Computer Science from Botswana International University of Science and Technology in 2018 and an undergraduate degree in Computer Systems Engineering from the University of Sunderland in 2013. She recently obtained a PhD in Astrophysics from the University of Hertfordshire, UK, with a thesis on "Rapid Automatic Classification of Radio Galaxies in Large Surveys using Machine Learning." Currently, she works for the AVN (African VLBI Network) Project in Botswana as a Software and Data Processing Engineer. Her research interests include radio galaxy classification, applying unsupervised machine learning and deep learning techniques in big data, particularly for image generation and classification, as well as big data visualization and analytics.

Boitumelo is a dedicated second-year Master's student at the Botswana International University of Science and Technology (BIUST), specializing in astronomy and space science. Actively involved with Botswana's Women in STEM organization, she focuses on training and mentoring young people, especially women, in STEM fields. Her research interests include star formation rates in spiral galaxies and reducing uncertainties in star formation rate indicators. Boitumelo aims to pursue a PhD in astronomy or astrophysics, contributing to the development of astronomy in Botswana and Africa, and aspires to be a leading researcher and mentor.

Chinasa T. Okolo, Ph.D. is a Fellow at The Brookings Institution and a recent Computer Science Ph.D. graduate from Cornell University. Her research focuses on AI governance in the Global South, human-centered approaches to AI explainability, and the future of data work. In addition to her work at Brookings, Dr. Okolo also serves as a Drafting Member of the Nigeria National AI Strategy, a Consulting Expert to the African Union AI Continental Strategy, an Expert Contributing Writer to the International Scientific Report on Advanced AI Safety, a member of the IEEE Standards Association working group on algorithmic bias, and a contributing member of the ACM US Technology Policy Committee. Her research has been covered widely in media outlets and published at top-tier venues in human-computer interaction and sociotechnical computing. Learn more about Dr. Chinasa T. Okolo at www.chinasatokolo.com.

Jonathan Mukiibi is a dedicated research scientist passionate about leveraging artificial intelligence to drive positive social impact. With a background in working with the UN Nations Global Pulse, they have been at the forefront of monitoring Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) through developing Speech Recognition Models for social listening. As a member of the IEEE Signal Processing Society, they have actively contributed to the field of automatic speech recognition, particularly in addressing gender bias. Have been at the Makerere Artificial Intelligence Lab, where they led projects centred around creating inclusive and privacy-conscious open-source datasets for low-resourced languages. Their groundbreaking on understanding morphological complexity in children's speech aims to facilitate multilingual transfer learning for building inclusive speech tools in children's education in collaboration with Oracle Research. My current focus is at MTN Momo as Manager of Insights and Analytics.

Dr Andrew King is Associate Professor at Swansea University, UK. He has previously worked at The Zoological Society of London, University College London, The Royal Veterinary College, and the University of Cambridge in the UK, and has held visiting positions in Germany and South Africa. His research group (www.SHOALgroup.org) study animal behaviour and ecology in a range of animal systems. His research has strong applied themes, and he works across disciplines and sectors to apply behavioural studies to topics ranging from wildlife management to swarm robotics.

Bunmi Akinremi, a seasoned Machine Learning Engineer with a rich background in Computer Science from Obafemi Awolowo University, who has found the ecosystem of compliers a knit niche. With a strong foundation in Python, Java, Javascript, Tensorflow, PyTorch, and a suite of modern tech stacks on MLOPS, Bunmi has led projects that have significantly optimized processes, enhanced model accuracy, and introduced innovative machine learning applications across diverse sectors from agriculture, media, to advertising, showcasing a knack for improving operational efficiencies and data accuracy through advanced analytics and machine learning techniques.

I am an IBM PhD fellow, PhD candidate and Lecturer in Computer Science at the University of the Witwatersrand. I have always been fascinated by the immense potential for good of creating intelligent systems---the pinnacle of which is artificial general intelligence (AGI). My main research interests lie in reinforcement learning (RL), since it is the subfield of machine learning which I believe has the most potential for achieving AGI. In particular, my current work focuses on principled approaches for efficient compositional generalisation in RL agents.

Claire is currently part of the Artificial Intelligence and Data Science Research Lab Makerere University as a mentor and a research. She is also a lecturer at Uganda Technology and Management University. Her background is in computer science specializing in Artificial Intelligence and Network Security. She carries a great enthusiasm for data science and machine learning with a zeal of harnessing the potential of AI in improving service delivery.

Isaac's passion is in the field of software defined networks, machine learning, deep learning and big data analytics. He has researched in cognitive radio networks, Internet of Things (IoT), cloud computing, social media and e-commerce. Isaac is currently researching in employing Cognitive Radio networks with Internet of Things to collect data from natural phenomena, whose data is hosted over a secure cloud platform and processed in real time.

Nsubuga Hassan is Software Developer with deep love for Machine Learning. He is the founder and CEO at Hansu Mobile and Intelligent Innovations, a start-up pushing the limits of Mobile and AI/ML based in Mbale, Uganda.