Dr. Michael Zimba is the Executive Dean of the Malawi Institute of Technology (MIT) and founding Lead for the Center for Artificial Intelligence and STEAM (CAIST) at the Malawi University of Science and Technology (MUST). Prior to joining MUST, Dr. Zimba was the Acting Director of the ICT Directorate; Associate Professor of Artificial Intelligence, High Performance Computing and Data Science in the ICT Department and founding Dean of the Faculty of Science, Technology and Innovation at Mzuzu University.
Dr. Zimba is the Unit Editor for Artificial Intelligence in Society Series with the Oxford University Press. He is also a Member of the Committee on Data (CODATA)'s International Data Policy Committee (IDPC) of the International Science Council (ISC). He also consults for Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation’s Grand Challenges Program on AI, and Science Africa Foundation's Grand Challenges Program on AI in Global Health. . He is engaged by the Academic Councils of the African Centre of Excellence in Internet of Things (ACEIoT), the African Centre of Excellence in Data Science(ACE-DS), both at the University of Rwanda, as an External Consultant of PhD theses in Internet of Things & Data Science. He is an African Union Commission's Contributing Expert to STISA-2024 & STISA-2034 and an African Union High Level Panel on Emerging Technologies' (APET's) Contributing Expert on AI. Dr. Zimba co-authored the AU Technical Report on AI titled “AI for Africa: Artificial Intelligence for Africa’s Socioeconomic Development”. He is also in the AU-AI-Strategy Team, developing the AU Continental AI Strategy. He reviewed the 4IR book titled “The Disruptive Fourth Industrial Revolution: Technology, Society and Beyond” edited by Prof Tshilizi Marwala. He often leads Malawi's dialogue on AI. He was Malawi's Expert Country Delegate to UNESCO Southern Africa Sub-Regional Forum on AI in Namibia, 2022. He was in the Malawi's Team of Experts that successfully negotiated the first HPC facility for Malawi from SADC. He is a Board Member (DepHUB, RSA), & Board-Director (YTS, TZ). He reviews for several key Research Institutions & AI conferences including the Deep Learning Indaba (Africa’s premier AI conference), and AI Ethics & Society (jointly organized by AAAI & ACM SIG on AI).
Dr. Zimba’s interests include: (Big Data &) Data Science; Artificial Intelligence, (and its nested sub-fields of Machine Learning & Deep learning); their application in various sectors; High Performance Computing Systems; Emerging Technologies (Blockchain, Drone, IoT); their Impact, Ethics & Policies; Digital Signal Processing & Forensics, System Modeling/Simulation; Watermarking & Cryptology.
Dr. Zimba is the Unit Editor for Artificial Intelligence in Society Series with the Oxford University Press. He is also a Member of the Committee on Data (CODATA)'s International Data Policy Committee (IDPC) of the International Science Council (ISC). He also consults for Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation’s Grand Challenges Program on AI, and Science Africa Foundation's Grand Challenges Program on AI in Global Health. . He is engaged by the Academic Councils of the African Centre of Excellence in Internet of Things (ACEIoT), the African Centre of Excellence in Data Science(ACE-DS), both at the University of Rwanda, as an External Consultant of PhD theses in Internet of Things & Data Science. He is an African Union Commission's Contributing Expert to STISA-2024 & STISA-2034 and an African Union High Level Panel on Emerging Technologies' (APET's) Contributing Expert on AI. Dr. Zimba co-authored the AU Technical Report on AI titled “AI for Africa: Artificial Intelligence for Africa’s Socioeconomic Development”. He is also in the AU-AI-Strategy Team, developing the AU Continental AI Strategy. He reviewed the 4IR book titled “The Disruptive Fourth Industrial Revolution: Technology, Society and Beyond” edited by Prof Tshilizi Marwala. He often leads Malawi's dialogue on AI. He was Malawi's Expert Country Delegate to UNESCO Southern Africa Sub-Regional Forum on AI in Namibia, 2022. He was in the Malawi's Team of Experts that successfully negotiated the first HPC facility for Malawi from SADC. He is a Board Member (DepHUB, RSA), & Board-Director (YTS, TZ). He reviews for several key Research Institutions & AI conferences including the Deep Learning Indaba (Africa’s premier AI conference), and AI Ethics & Society (jointly organized by AAAI & ACM SIG on AI).
Dr. Zimba’s interests include: (Big Data &) Data Science; Artificial Intelligence, (and its nested sub-fields of Machine Learning & Deep learning); their application in various sectors; High Performance Computing Systems; Emerging Technologies (Blockchain, Drone, IoT); their Impact, Ethics & Policies; Digital Signal Processing & Forensics, System Modeling/Simulation; Watermarking & Cryptology.