Applications close 12 April 2019!

Apply to Attend

We encourage everyone who is interested to apply. Application is open to all, including students, post-doctoral candidates, research staff, industries, startups: to people from across Africa and the world. We are particularly looking for people with a passion for machine learning and who are committed to our mission of strengthening machine learning in Africa.

Why Should I Apply?

• Unparalleled networking opportunities: The Indaba is the annual and largest meeting of the African AI and data science community, and one of the largest in the world.
• Learn from and interact with world-class researchers and engineers who are there for most of the week.
• Take the time to focus on learning. The week long Indaba is an intense programme designed to both teach and reinforce through practical sessions and discussion with peers.
• Deep-dive into topics of interest. Our new parallel tracks allow you to tailor your experience to be more theoretical, more applied or more focussed on policy, strategy and ethics.
• Become part of the community. We are a fast-growing community of researchers, industry professionals, academics and students from across Africa and the world!

Please see our provisional programme for more information.

What does it cost?

Registration is FREE for students. For general attendees there is a fee (please check back for details).

Registration covers participation in lectures and practical sessions, lunch, coffee breaks and evening events. All other costs, including travel and accommodation, are the responsibility of the attendees. We do have financial support for travel and accommodation that students may apply for.

Financial Support and Awards

Applying for financial support will not affect a student’s chances of being accepted to attend the Indaba.

We will offer financial support to encourage students from across our continent to attend. We will not be able to fund everyone who applies for these awards, so applications are competitive. In 2017 we supported 70 students, in 2018 we supported almost 200 students, and we hope to increase this number in 2019.

Application Guide

Applications are handled using Baobab, our online portal. See below for instructions on using Baobab

We will ask 7 questions that require answers in short paragraphs. We recommend preparing these answers beforehand and then simply pasting them into the application form when you are ready.

1. If you attended the Indaba in 2017 or 2018, tell us how your past attendance has helped you grow or how you have used what you have learned. (max 150 words)
2. Tell us why attending the Deep Learning Indaba 2018 is important to you? Please provide a short paragraph. (50-150 words)
3. How will you share what you have learned after the Indaba? (50-150 words)
4. Share with us a favourite machine learning resource you use: a paper, blog post, algorithm, result, or finding. Tell us why. (max 80 words)
5. Are you (or have you been) a tutor for any courses or part of any machine learning or data science society or meetup? (max 80 words)
6. Have you ever worked on a project that uses machine learning? If yes, give a short description below. (max 150 words)
7. If you would like to be considered for a travel award, please provide a short motivation for why you should be selected. (max 150 words)

Other things we ask for:

• Your CV (PDF, max 10MB) and permission to add it to a CV database.
• Your background, current academic institution and degree programme.

If anything is unclear or your have any other questions, feel free to email us at info@deeplearningindaba.com

How to Apply using Baobab

This year we are introducing a new portal called Baobab, where you will be able to apply to attend our events, monitor your application status and register if you are accepted.

In order to use Baobab, you will need a modern web-browser such as Chrome, Firefox, Edge or Internet Explorer 11+

1. Visit Baobab and click on the “Sign Up” link to create a new account.
2. As part of creating your user account, we ask for quite a few details, such as ethnicity, nationality and your affiliation. These details form part of your application and are also used in aggregate for reporting purposes.
3. After creating an account, you will receive a link by email asking you to verify your email address. This will ensure that we are able to communicate with you to inform you of your application status. Your email address and details will not be shared with any third parties without your consent.
4. Once you have verified your email address, you can login to Baobab and click on the “Apply” link in the main menu to complete your application form.
5. Fill in answers to the all relevant questions to the best of your ability. Remember, the Indaba is generally very over-subscribed and we choose attendees and award travel sponsorship based on the quality of these answers!
6. There are multiple pages of questions, remember to click the “Next” button to proceed to subsequent pages.
7. You can click “Save for Later” at any point to save your progress. You will be able to log back in to Baobab and complete the rest of the form at a later time.
8. When you feel you have answered all the questions, click on the Submit button on the last page to submit your application for consideration. Ensure that you do this before the application deadline.
9. You will see a status page indicating that your application has been submitted for considering. Note: If you don’t see this status page, your application has not been submitted and will not be considered!

If you have any issues, please use the “Report a bug” button on the bottom right corner of Baobab to get in touch with us.

APPLY NOW USING BAOBAB

Example Responses

You should answer the questions in any way you like - there is no right or wrong way. We know that some people might like to see examples of responses and so we have included a collection from last year’s applicants below. Note that they should serve as a guide only.

Tell us why attending the Deep Learning Indaba is important to you?

“As I’m working on a program which tries to simulate human brain, I need a deep understanding of neural network and machine learning. In my country, we still lack highly qualified specialists in artificial intelligence, so if we really want to learn it, we have to wait for an opportunity like this to fulfill our desire to study it. And the fact that it will be in an international environment will give me the privilege to create new relationships with people from different cultures with different ideas and perspectives in order to expand my skills in this field. I’m really passionate about machine learning and its applications which can be potential tools for social innovations.” - MSc student

“I am fascinated by the incredible applications from simple fruit classification to Baidu’s success in reuniting an abducted child with his family 27 years after the event. Having dedicated a significant portion of my time out of studies/work to furthering my ML knowledge (Coursera, Udacity, academic papers), I believe this conference will provide an incredible opportunity for me to further my technical ability and understanding of how deep learning can impact the world - for application in business and through my non-profit drive.” - Industry professional

“The main motivation for attending the Deep Learning Indaba is to improve my skills in deep learning methodologies and also meet industry experts in the field. Astronomy and especially radio astronomy is an area where deep learning methods have a lot of potential applications. With the interactions at the Indaba I intend to bring those expertise available in industry to science. This is very critical when the biggest big data project like Square Kilometer Array is being setup in South Africa.” - Postdoc

“For my 3rd year applied mathematics project I designed a neural network for facial recognition. This project gave me a taste of what machine learning is all about and I would really like to expand my knowledge on the subject. The Indaba will also allow me to make a much more informed decision on whether a career in machine learning would be the correct career path for me.” - 4th year student

Frequently Asked Questions

Am I eligible for travel sponsorship/funding?

Travel sponsorships are only available to students enrolled at an academic institution (university or coding academy) on the continent of Africa. Registration and attendance of the Indaba is, however, still free for all students from anywhere in the world.

(Note that funding is limited and unfortunately we cannot guarantee that everyone who applies for travel sponsorship will receive it.)

Can I apply if I attended last year’s Indaba?

Yes! Our aim is to build a community of machine learning researchers in Africa. Continuity is an important part of this. In addition to the community-building and networking benefits, you will also gain exposure to new speakers, more advanced topics in our parallel tracks and updated practical sessions!

I already applied for an Indaba X, do I still need to apply here?

The 27 Indaba X events were independent events affiliated with the Deep Learning Indaba. We strongly encourage everyone who attended an Indaba X event to apply for the main Deep Learning Indaba in Nairobi. You will still need to complete the application form described here!