Keynote Speakers
Prof. Dr. techn. Dipl.-Ing. Wolfgang Nejdl
🏛️ Leibniz Universität Hannover
Professor of Computer Science · Leading AI research, digital libraries & knowledge management.
📍 Germany
Prof. Dr. Eng. Bang Wang
🏛️ Huazhong University of Science & Technology
IEEE SENIOR MEMBER · Professor of Information Engineering, expert in wireless networks & AI.
📍 Wuhan, China
Dr. Zelalem Assefa (PhD)
🏛️ Ministry of Education, Ethiopia
ICT and Digital Education Executive, CEO · Driving national digital transformation.
📍 Ethiopia
Dr. Eng. Assefa Tesfay Abraha, Ph.D.
🏛️ Mekelle University
IEEE MEMBER · AI Researcher, Head Technology Incubation Academic Center.
📍 Ethiopia
👥 Panelists & Discussion Leaders
Dr. Simon Gottschalk
Leibniz University Hannover
Research Group Leader @ L3S · Knowledge graphs, LLMs.
Germany
Dr. John Paul Kasse
Bournemouth University, UK / MUBS
Senior Lecturer, Digital Transformation & AI Cybersecurity expert.
United Kingdom
Dr. Araya Abrha Medhanyie (PhD)
Mekelle University
Associate Professor Global Health, digital health & AI.
Ethiopia
Prof. Dr. Mouhammad Mpezamihigo
Equator University of Science and Technology
Vice Chancellor, VODAN-Africa chair, FAIR Open Science.
Uganda
Dr. Duncan Nyale
Co-operative University of Kenya
Information systems scholar, data protection policy advisor.
Kenya
Dr. Amanuel Haile
Tigray Regional Health Bureau
Leading post-war health system recovery, specialist.
Ethiopia
Hailay Kidu Teklehaymanot
Leibniz University Hannover / UZH
PhD candidate: LLM representation, Semitic languages.
Germany
Goitom Tegegn Admasu
Thomas More Univ. of Applied Sciences, Belgium
Lecturer in intl. education, Challenge-Based Learning.
Belgium
Dr. Daniel Teka Dessie
Mekelle University
Water resource planning, remote sensing & GIS expert.
Ethiopia
Dr. Lemma Lessa
Addis Ababa University
Associate Professor, IS Policy, president AIS Ethiopia.
Ethiopia
Muluneh Atinaf (PhD)
Ministry of Education, Ethiopia
Senior Advisor ICT & Digital Education.
Ethiopia
Tewelde Zemichael Kahsay
Wagwago Business Group / Geez EdTech
GM & Co-founder, AI-driven learning.
Ethiopia
Angesom Alemayo Ketema
3iS
Information Management Officer at 3iS
Ethiopia
📄 Presenters & Research Showcase
| # | Presenter Name | Title | Thematic Area / Track |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Hailay Kidanu | Integrating AI and Geospatial Analysis to Assess Cactus Pear Cultivation Potential for Post-War Food Security in Eastern Tigray, Ethiopia | AI in Precision Agriculture |
| 2 | Temesgen Bezabh | Data Driven Prediction of Sesame Yield Using Remote Sensing Time-Series Vegetation Indices and Climate Variables | AI in Precision Agriculture |
| 3 | Asnake Enawgaw Amognehegn | Enhancing Water Security through Early Coffee Disease Detection Using deep learning | AI in Precision Agriculture |
| 4 | Afeworki Welday | Integrated Remote Sensing and Machine Learning Prediction of Water Deficit Index (WDI) | AI in Precision Agriculture |
| 5 | Afework Alemu | A Bi-Directional integration of Satellite-UAV Remote Sensing for Adaptive Precision Agriculture | AI in Precision Agriculture |
| 6 | Letezgi Hagos | From Systematic Review to a Localized Edge-AI Solution: Addressing Post-Harvest Losses | AI in Precision Agriculture |
| 7 | Ermiyas Tsehay Birhanu | Artificial Intelligence Literacy and Utilization among Higher Education Instructors in Ethiopia | AI in in Education |
| 8 | Tsalafo Chaka Chame | Digital Divide and Artificial Intelligence Adoption in Ethiopian Higher Education Institutions | AI in Education |
| 9 | Derbabaw Fentie Shiferaw | Reimagining the Future of Higher Education: Digital Transformation and Immersive Technologies | AI in Education |
| 10 | Solomon Anteneh Tegegne | Systematic Literature Review on Artificial Intelligence in Education: Opportunities, Challenges, and Future | AI in Education |
| 11 | Addisalem Kumsa Diribsa | Leveraging AI for Financial Inclusion and Stability: A Framework for Ethiopia | AI in Finance |
| 12 | Lencho Desalegn | Exploring the Role of Artificial Intelligence in Shaping Socio-Economic Development | AI in Finance |
| 13 | Alemu Kumilachew Tegegnie | Automatic Classification of Financial Service (FinTech) Reviews Using NLP | AI in Finance |
| 14 | Kidane Tenaye | Fostering Sustainable Development through FinTech Innovation: A Review | AI in Finance |
| 15 | Alyu Abate Yimam | Investment Limitation and Sharia Compliance Regulation of Interest-Free Banking | AI in Finance |
| 16 | Simon Hadush Nrea | Hybrid Cross-Modal Attention Network for Early Breast Cancer Detection | AI in Health |
| 17 | Goitom Yemane Welay | Interpretable machine learning for predicting birth asphyxia in Tigray | AI in Health |
| 18 | Kibrom Gebremedhin | OPTED: Open Preprocessed Trachoma Eye Dataset Using Zero-Shot SAM 3 | AI in Health |
| 19 | Hagazi Gebre Meles | Machine Learning Prediction of Child Stunting using XGBoost and SHAP | AI in Health |
| 20 | Haben Haileselassie | Saving Little Lives Assist (SLL-Assist) AI: Usability and Feasibility Test | AI in Health |
| 21 | Kokob Gebru Kidanu | Resilience through Inclusive Self-care and Emotional Well-being (RISE) | AI in Health |
| 22 | Bewket Mesgnaw | AI as a Digital Health Strategy for Quality Improvement in Medical Labs | AI in Health |
| 23 | Hussen Asefa Musa | AI and Cybersecurity Integration to Enhance National Interest | AI and Data Analytics for Cybersecurity |
| 24 | Yohannes Gebrekirstos | Blacksmith AI: Multi-Agent System for Autonomous Penetration Testing | AI and Data Analytics for Cybersecurity |
| 25 | Hailay Kidanu | Infrastructure Bias in LLM Tokenization | Multilingual Large Language Models and Low-Resource Languages |
| 26 | Tsegaye Semere Gebremichael | Tigrigna Emotion Analysis Model for Facebook Comments | Multilingual Large Language Models and Low-Resource Languages |
| 27 | Gebreagziabher Gebrelibanos | Handwriting recognition for Tigrigna Geez script using Grad-CAM | Multilingual Large Language Models and Low-Resource Languages |
| 28 | Fortunate Mugwaze | The Digital Afropolitan: Ali Mazrui's Afropolitanism in the Age of Generative AI | Multilingual Large Language Models and Low-Resource Languages |
| 29 | Simachew Alamneh | Deep Learning for Amharic Image Captioning | Multilingual Large Language Models and Low-Resource Languages |
| 30 | Goitom Ybrah Hailu | Deep Learning-based Amharic Chatbot for University FAQs | Multilingual Large Language Models and Low-Resource Languages |
| 31 | Weldesemayat Teklay | Systematic Evaluation of Automatic Speech Recognition Systems for Tigrinya | Multilingual Large Language Models and Low-Resource Languages |
| 32 | Aregay Asmelash Abrha | Error Analysis of Tigrigna Text-to-Speech Systems | Multilingual Large Language Models and Low-Resource Languages |
AI4SD — Bridging AI research and sustainable development in Africa & beyond