In short 

• A pan-African AI skills development academy brought together researchers from across the continent. 

• Over 830 researchers from 18 countries received practical AI training. 

• The programme addressed digital divides while strengthening ethical, accessible AI research skills. 

• Participants formed networks of AI ambassadors to share knowledge across African institutions and communities. 

The HSRC, in partnership with the University of KwaZulu-Natal and Cape Peninsula University of Technology, hosted its first-ever Artificial Intelligence (AI) Skills Development Academy, a three-day capacity-building initiative for emerging African researchers across the Global South. With over 830 participants from 18 countries, the Academy equipped scholars with practical AI competencies and launched a network of AI ambassadors committed to spreading these skills within their institutions and communities.

Globally, artificial intelligence (AI) is reshaping economies, transforming research and creating anxieties across the labour force amid looming automation and workforce shrinkage. These anxieties persist among emerging African researchers at the HSRC and across the continent. AI adoption on the continent often faces greater structural constraints than in the Global North, as communities contend with limited digital infrastructure and a widening digital divide. However, these challenges do not necessarily dampen researchers’ eagerness to build their skills and participate meaningfully in this technological shift. 

In response to this demand, the HSRC and partners from the University of KwaZulu-Natal’s (UKZN) School of Social Sciences and the Cape Peninsula University of Technology’s (CPUT) Faculty of Business and Management Sciences convened the first HSRC AI Skills Development Academy on 1–3 October 2025. Since 2023, researchers engaging with generative AI tools have been attending workshops to share lessons and best practices in how to use these tools effectively and ethically.  

The Academy was hosted in a hybrid format, with HSRC researchers and IT management staff dispersed across four physical sites, providing access to researchers at the HSRC Cape Town and Pretoria Offices, the UKZN Howard College and Pietermaritzburg Campuses, and CPUT’s District Six Campus.  

Why an AI academy?  

The Academy emerged from the HSRC’s AI Skills Development Roadshow, which began with a two-hour workshop in Diani Beach (Kenya, July 2023) as part of The Imprint of Education research project with more than 100 young people. The excitement in the room after groups were tasked with using ChatGPT to prepare business plans led to the AI Skills Development Roadshow, and requests were received to continue the training with colleagues across the continent. Since July 2023, the roadshow has continued in various locations through single-day workshops, reaching communities and institutions, including Philippi, CPUT, UKZN, the National Institute for Occupational Health, African Leadership University (Rwanda) and the HSRC’s own Internship Programme. These sessions consistently drew high attendance, but they also revealed a critical challenge: A single day was never enough. 

At the same time, the HSRC’s Community of Practice for Equitable AI Solutions in the Global South, a network of more than 50 social science experts from across the Global South, shared similar concerns, emphasising the need for a more thorough exploration of AI tools, ethics and data workflows tailored to African research realities. The HSRC’s Capacity Growth and Innovation (CGI) division also received several requests for formal AI training to support internal research development. These engagements highlighted the need for a more structured, sustained AI skills development programme with practical training, and the HSRC’s Academy emerged in response to this demand. 

A pan-African cohort 

The Academy attracted 1 000 registrants, with 838 participants attending across the three days, an 83.8% participation rate. Scholars joined from more than 18 countries, including South Africa, Ghana, Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda, Madagascar, Malawi, Namibia, Tanzania, Zimbabwe and Nigeria.  

Reflecting the Academy’s success in appealing to a broad spectrum of the emerging African research community, participants included: 

• PhD students and postgraduates 

• Researchers, senior researchers and chief researchers 

• Lecturers, senior lecturers and professors 

• Directors, managers and heads of departments 

• Data scientists, analysts and statisticians 

• Public-sector professionals and NGO practitioners 

Three days of immersive, high-impact learning 

The programme transitioned from a theoretical understanding of generative AI and a geopolitical perspective on AI advances to practical exercises and interactions.   

Day one focused on the foundations for AI research, exploring the rapid advancement of AI and raising several crucial questions about how this expansion is likely to impact societies in the Global South. These discussions were followed by modules on generative AI models, prompting strategies, and research ethics. The intention was to set the stage for understanding the implications of rapid advancements for the Global South and the social science sector in particular. 

Day two focused predominantly on qualitative research techniques, with further examinations of AI agents – autonomous intelligent AI systems similar to the Deep Research feature in ChatGPT or Gemini – and research proposal writing techniques that integrate AI. Among the exercises that were performed, researchers learnt how to conduct a systematic literature review using tools such as Elicit and Notebook LM. The team highlighted the use of free AI tools, emphasising that some tools were more accessible than others and offered valuable features. In addition, attendees learned how to visualise research and develop simple research outputs, such as blog posts, social media posts, podcasts and video overviews. Throughout, ethical research practices were centred and applied, helping researchers identify the line between ethical and unethical research. When working with these tools, “be the driver, not a passenger,” the HSRC’s Dr Krish Chetty encouraged the participants. 

AI agents are autonomous intelligent systems that perceive their environment, process information and act towards achieving goals. They can serve as research assistants (like Deep Research in ChatGPT or Gemini), but also operate in diverse roles such as customer service, workflow automation and creative collaboration.

On day three, the team transitioned to quantitative research practices. Here, researchers were taught how to “Vibe Code,” learning to use the free Google Colab tool to generate Python code to analyse multiple formats of data, from spreadsheets to Stata datasets. The “Vibe Coding” session, which focused on statistical analysis, became a distinctive feature of the programme and was appreciated for its accessibility and clarity. Overall, these sessions simplified quantitative research and analysis by linking appropriate AI tools to complicated software.  

Feedback 

The feedback received from participants was overwhelmingly positive. According to the Academy’s evaluation survey, 88% rated it “excellent”, 11% rated it “good”, and no “poor” or “average” ratings were received. 

Participants especially appreciated the practical nature of the training, the accessible way complex topics were approached and explained, and their exposure to various tools, of which most were unaware. In addition, several attendees emphasised the importance of building a community and welcomed the opportunity to join the HSRC’s Community of Practice for Equitable AI Solutions in the Global South. One participant from UKZN PMB captured the sentiment of many, commenting: “We are blown away by the amount of information we have learned today.” Others described the content as “mind-blowing and overwhelming but in a good way”, reflecting both the richness of the material and the hunger for contextually relevant AI skills among African scholars.  

Conclusion: Building a continental network of AI ambassadors 

From the outset, the Academy aimed not only to teach AI skills but also to foster a community of practice. By urging each participant to see themselves as an AI ambassador, the organisers anticipated a multiplier effect, with each attendee sharing AI tools, insights, ethics, methods and workflows with their networks. This multiplier effect drives the team to continue conducting such workshops in the future, fostering AI awareness and building a community of like-minded problem solvers inspired by the potential for a positive future.  

The first HSRC AI Skills Development Academy was more than a training workshop – it was a continent-wide capacity-building initiative and an important step in strengthening African research capacity. This workshop generated significant interest from other institutions that are seeking to strengthen their AI capabilities in the rapidly evolving landscape of AI.   

Research contacts and acknowledgements 

This Review article was written by Dr Krish Chetty, a senior research manager in the HSRC Equitable Education and Economies (EEE) division; Dr Gadija Khan, a senior research specialist in the HSRC Developmental, Capable and Ethical State division; Dr Petronella Saal (research specialist, EEE); Tyebakazi Madiba (research intern); Dr Jaqueline Harvey (research specialist, EEE); Kukhanyile Mali (PhD research trainee, EEE); and Nondumiso Masuku (researcher, EEE). Other contributors include Tahiya Moosa (researcher, HSRC alumna), as well as Boitumelo Rametsi (ICT network engineer) and Stanley Moshidi (Manager: Infrastructure) in the HSRC Office of the Chief Operating Officer. 

The article was based on the first HSRC AI Skills Development Academy hosted by the HSRC in October 2025 in collaboration with UKZN’s School of Social Sciences and CPUT’s Faculty of Business and Management Sciences. For more information about this work, please contact Dr Krish Chetty at kchetty@hsrc.ac.za.