The Human Sciences Research Council (HSRC) and the Science for Africa Foundation (SFA Foundation), a pan-African, non-profit and public charity organisation that supports, strengthens and promotes science and innovation in Africa, plan to host a satellite event to discuss the role of artificial intelligence (AI) in social science and health research. The event seeks to explore the benefits and challenges of using AI and data science, as well as the related ethics and governance issues in Africa. The event aims to provide a platform for participants to share best practices, innovative approaches, and lessons learned in implementing data science and AI initiatives. It will help identify gaps in knowledge and research and potential collaborations between academia, industry, and government to help address the continent’s most pressing development issues. At a continental level, the lack of a regional regulatory or ethical framework for the use of AI may pose a data sovereignty problem within the wider scholarly space of health and social sciences. At the local level, the introduction of AI can make radical changes to the social and health sectors. Therefore, we need to discuss this issue to create a research ecosystem and community of practice that generates excellent research and innovation ideas and enables interdisciplinary collaborations among researchers to produce new, locally relevant knowledge

Register to join the event via Zoom here.

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