Courses

Data Science Initiative for Africa (DSI-A) Training Programme:

The University of KwaZulu-Natal (UKZN), in collaboration with Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health (HSPH), and Heidelberg Institute of Global Health, have been awarded a training grant (U2RTW012140) by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and Fogarty International Centre (FIC) known as “WASHA (Working on Applications for Data Science and Health in Africa) Takwimu”, Swahili for Ignite Data. https://www.hsph.harvard.edu/dsi-africa/. The programme aims to build data science research capacity in Africa with UKZN as the hub and four partners (Spokes) in sub-Saharan Africa, including Nigeria (University of Ibadan), Uganda (Makerere University), Tanzania (Muhimbili University of Health and Allied Sciences), and Ghana (University of Ghana). This programme brings together a multidisciplinary team of researchers and expert faculty with in-depth experience in health data science and the following two global health priorities: (1) Health Systems Strengthening, and (2) Climate Change, Food Systems, and Planetary Health

Students may choose to take any or all courses depending on their interest and prior training/experience.

A Series of Short Courses in Health Data Science Methods and Global Health Domains:

Machine Learning I and II

Applications are invited for a short course on Machine Learning data science methods.

Dates:

06^th – 10^th May 2024 (virtual)

13^th – 17^th May 2024 (in-person, Durban, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa)

Course Description:

This will be a two-week short course taught by several experts both locally and internationally. The aim of the course is to enhance capacity in machine learning (ML) methods for health data science to address global health problems in Africa. The course will cover:

Introduction to terminology and how ML works
Introduction to classification and regression methods (logistic regression, k-nearest neighbors, etc.)
Advanced methods (Support vector machines, random forests, boosting, etc.)
Dimension reduction methods (PCA, LASSO, etc.)

Please apply by Friday, 5^th April 2024 (17h00 SAST) using this form:

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfTOuzTu3UyPA-536SzqPspamDh4qflrnnwtUsem8E8wTJTMQ/viewform?usp=sharing

Deep Learning and Database Systems

Applications are invited for a short course in Deep Learning data science methods.

Dates:

17^th – 21^st June 2024 (Virtual)

24^th -28^th June 2024 (in-person, Durban, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa)

Course Description:

Deep learning is a subfield of machine learning that builds predictive models using large artificial neural networks. Deep learning has revolutionized the fields of computer vision, automatic speech recognition, natural language processing, and numerous areas including public health, medicine and computational biology. In this short course, we will introduce the basic concepts of deep neural networks, discuss basic neural networks, convolutional neural networks and recurrent neural networks structures, and examine biomedical and public health applications. Participants are expected to be familiar with calculus, linear algebra, machine learning and Python.

The course will cover:

Neural networks
Computer vision
Natural language processing

Please apply by Friday, 10^th May 2024 (17h00 SAST) using this form:

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScyAImBqDl7cx6dHP_WO-Gn6jDo1nMu8iH9e8QRV2U7WJTMmA/viewform?usp=sharing

Climate Change, Food Systems, and Planetary Health

Applications are invited for participation in the second of two short courses on Climate Change, Food Systems, and Planetary Health.

Dates:

22^nd July – 26^th July 2024 (virtual)

29^th July – 2^nd August 2024 (in-person, Durban, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa)

Course Description:

This course will introduce trainees to concepts of climate change, nutrition, diet, food systems, remote sensing and planetary health and its applicability to health data science methods by linking these concepts to the analysis of data. Participants are encouraged to bring their own dataset to work on during the course. Applicants who participated in the first course (July 2023) are encouraged to apply, although attendance in course one is not an eligibility requirement for course two.

Please apply by Friday, 7^th June 2024 (17h00 SAST) using this form:

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScY7aRl8BxV9i5JOwH8bJ5j83bYS1ueWB9KJdTy2YFKXj6Xaw/viewform?usp=sharing

Health Systems Strengthening

Applications are invited for participation in the second of two short courses on Health Systems Strengthening.

Dates:

19^th August – 23^rd August 2024 (virtual)

26^th – 30^th August 2024 (in-person, Durban, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa)

Course Description:

This course will introduce trainees to concepts of health systems and its applicability to health data science methods by linking these concepts to the analysis of data. Participants are encouraged to bring their own dataset to work on during the course. Applicants who participated in the first course (August 2023) are encouraged to apply, although attendance in course one is not an eligibility requirement for course two.

Please apply by Friday, 12^th July 2024 (17h00 SAST) using this form:

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScFtMmYPpgdpQvARU7kLFplRdUajF6t5yAjtveqT7QUP-RqzQ/viewform?usp=sharing

Eligibility Criteria:

Evidence of a first degree in health or biological sciences with quantitative skills in statistics, mathematics, or computer science or degrees in statistics, mathematics, and computer science with an interest in health or biological applications.

Pre-requisites:

Candidates should be willing to attend the virtual bootcamp in R taking place in March 2024 or have the ability to use the statistical software R for basic statistical computing. Knowledge of basic concepts for computing using Python will be an added advantage.
Candidates should be willing to travel to Durban, South Africa for the in-person duration of the course.
A limited number of scholarships to participate in the short course training programme will be awarded on a competitive basis to two applicants from each of our Spoke institutions (Ghana, Uganda, Tanzania and Nigeria).
- The scholarship will cover the course facilitation, airport transfers, materials, flights, bed and breakfast for the course duration. The scholarship excludes: Visa costs, vaccine requirements, travel insurance, and daily dinner for the duration of the course.
Additional candidates from our Spokes and other African institutions are welcome to apply. However, these candidates will have to cover the full cost of the travel and accommodation.
Candidates within South Africa will have to cover their logistics due to limited funding.

For each course you are interested in, please submit the following as part of your application:

Completed application form (link listed under each course)
Cover letter indicating academic background and motivation (maximum one page)
Brief Academic Curriculum Vitae (maximum one page)

For further information and any questions, please e-mail Mr. Themba Manqele at the Centre for Rural Health (Manqelet@ukzn.ac.za).