Speakers

Keynote Speakers

Names

Institution

Country

Prof Dennis N Ocholla

University of Zululand

KwaZulu Natal, South Africa

Prof Joseph Kiplang'at

Africa International University

Nairobi, Kenya

Prof Jaya Raju

University of Cape Town

Cape Town, South Africa

Prof Trywell Kalusopa

University of Namibia

Windhoek, Namibia

Prof Constant Okello-Obura

Makerere University

Kampala, Uganda

Prof Marlene Holmner

University of Pretoria

Pretoria, South Africa

Prof Hrvoje Stancic

University of Zagreb

Croatia

Prof Constant Okello – Obura

Bio

Dr. Constant Okello-Obura is a Professor of Information Science at Makerere University, Kampala Uganda. He was the Principal of the College of Computing and Information Science at Makerere University and Currently the Dean, East African School of Library and Information Science, Makerere University. He has served in different Professional Association leadership positions as President and Vice President of Uganda Library and Information Association and currently Chairperson, IASSIST Africa Chapter. He has published widely in the field of Information Science with bias in Business Information Systems and Services, ICT use in Records and Archives management, LIS Education, Agricultural Indigenous Knowledge and now with research interest in Data Literacy, Knowledge Management and Business Records/Information Security.

Prof Joseph Kiplang’at

Bio

Prof. Joseph Kiplang’at is currently, the Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Academic Affairs & Research) at Africa International University in Kenya.  He holds a PhD in Information Sciences from the University of Zululand, South Africa, a Master of Philosophy and Bachelor of Science in Information Sciences from Moi University.  Prof. Kiplang’at is a Professor of Information Science with over twenty-six years of experience in administrative, academic and research in the University. He has also served as the Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Administration, Planning and Infrastructure) at the Technical University of Kenya (2013-2018). Prior to joining the Technical University of Kenya, Prof. Kiplang’at was the Director of Moi University, Nairobi campus (2006-2013) where he provided strategic leadership as the academic and administrative head of the Campus. Prof. Kiplang’at has published extensively refereed journals, co-authored books, and book chapters. Further, he has supervised and graduated several doctoral students and master students. In addition, he has attracted grants and carried out research/projects in collaboration with colleagues as well as Scholars from other institutions. He has also chaired and participated in organizing International Conferences.  He was a lead consultant in developing a comprehensive data and information sharing Protocol for the East Africa Community Partner States. He has been an external examiner in several universities. Prof. Kiplang’at is currently a member of following global initiatives: Internet of Education; Dublin Core Metadata Initiative (DCMI); Curriculum Committee of iSchools. He is also a member of the Kenya Library Association.  He is a member of Editorial Board of Electronic Library Journal published by Emerald. Prof. Kiplang’at is married and blessed with three grown up children.

                                                                                 Bio

Jaya Raju is Full Professor and Head of the Department of Knowledge and Information Stewardship at the University of Cape Town. She holds a PhD in Information Studies. She is a specialist researcher and author in Library and/or Information Science (LIS) education and its epistemological implications for the discipline as well as for professional practice, particularly in the African developing context. Her research focus is the development of research-based LIS competency indexes which may be used i) to ascertain existing knowledge and skills in professional sites of practice and to identify areas for further knowledge and skills acquisition; and, ii) by LIS educators and researchers for curriculum review and renewal – with both instances of research heuristically contributing to ongoing critical epistemology on the evolution of the LIS discipline in a highly digitised and rapidly evolving global information environment. She was Editor-in-Chief of the South African Journal of Libraries and Information Science from 2012 to 2018; serves on the Editorial Advisory Boards of the African Journal of Libraries, Archives and Information Science; International Journal of Information, Diversity & Inclusion; Open Information Science; African Journal of Communication & Information Science; Information Research; Journal of Librarianship & Information Science; is inaugural co-editor of the ALISE (Association for Library and Information Science Education) Book Series on LIS education and research; and, was co-editor of the International Insights Column of College & Research Libraries News from 2018 to 2022. She is currently Co-editor-in-Chief of Library Trends. She has published in peer-reviewed national and international journals and has also presented papers at local, national, and international meetings. Jaya Raju is currently Co-Chair of IFLA’s Building Strong LIS Education (BSLISE), an active global network of LIS educators and researchers. She is an NRF rated researcher. Since 2018 she has been Subject Chair for Library and Information Science and multi-disciplinary journals on the Scopus Content Selection & Advisory Board – an international group of scientists and researchers representing major scientific disciplines and tasked with evaluating journals applying for inclusion on the Scopus indexing list.

                     Prof Trywell Kalusopa

                                                                   Bio

Prof. Trywell Kalusopa works at the University of Namibia in the School of Humanities, Society and Development, Department of Social Sciences – Information Science Programme. He also serves as a Research Fellow at the University of Zululand (UNIZULU). He is rated by the National Research Foundation of South Africa as an established senior academic and researcher and his main current research interests are: digital records management, digital preservation, digital government and labour market information systems. He is also the founding and current executive director of the Zambia Institute for Labour Research & Development (ZILARD) based in Lusaka, Zambia. He has previously worked at University of Zambia, University of Botswana, and University of Zululand, South Africa. He boasts of an impressive array of sustained research profile evidenced by several refereed journal articles; edited books, book chapters, public conference papers, technical policy reports and non-refereed monographs with a wide geographical spread of international, regional and national coverage.  He has abundant evidence of mentoring junior scholars and colleagues and successfully supervised PhD and master’s students in five different universities in Southern Africa (University of Zambia, University of Botswana, University of South Africa, University of Zululand and University of Namibia); a reflection of his understanding of an international and multicultural dimension of scholarship. The supervision has produced several accredited research outputs which have been published in peer refereed journals. Prof. Kalusopa has a deep and varied professional community outreach involvement as editorial member and reviewer to distinguished journals in information science. He serves as an external examiner at the University of South Africa (UNISA), University of Fort Hare, University of Cape Town, University of Western Cape, South Africa and the National University of Science of Technology (NUST), Zimbabwe.  Prof Kalusopa  possesses progressive, dynamic and diversified leadership experience gained by working in numerous leading positions such as: researcher/consultant on labour and employment projects with the AU-APRM,  SADC, ILO, FES, ITUC-Africa, BWI, ITUC-Global and national/regional trade union federations across the African continent; director of education/research at the Southern Africa Trade Union Co-ordination Council (SATUCC); board member of African Labour Research Network (ALRN) and African Labour Research & Education Institute (ALREI); steering committee member of the Rights-Based Social Protection – Africa Region.

                                                                             Bio

Prof Holmner obtained a BA degree from the University of Pretoria in 1995, and a BA (Hons) Information Science (Cum Laude) in 1997. This was followed in 1999 by an MA Information Science (Cum Laude) from the same institution. Prof Holmner completed her D (Phil) in 2008 with the title: A critical analysis of information and knowledge societies with specific reference to the interaction between local and global knowledge systems. Marlene is an Associate Professor in the Department of Information Science, University at Pretoria, South Africa. Marlene serves on the Information Technology for Development Editorial Board, and several other journal editorial boards. She is also active in ASIS&T, serving as officer in 2021-2023 and a Steering Committee member of African Center of Excellence in Information Ethics. Marlene publishes primarily in the areas of information ethics, information communication for development, and ICT in education.

                                                                             Bio

Professor Ocholla joined the University of Zululand as Professor (FP) and Head of the Department of Library and Information Science (1996-2014) and appointed Senior Professor at the University in 2006. He started his academic career at Moi University in Kenya, as a lecturer in 1988 and later Senior Lecturer and Head of the Department of Library and Information Studies before moving to the University of Botswana as a Visiting Scholar (1995-96). He has served the University 0f Zululand as Dean (1998-99), Vice Dean (2007-2011), Deputy Dean of Research and Internationalization (2014-2019), in the Faculty of Arts (now Humanities and Social Sciences). He graduated with PhD (Kiev and Leningrad/St Petersburg) 1988 in the former Soviet Union. His research and teaching interest-where he has published and graduated many masters and PhDs- include- information seeking, KM and IKS, ICT4D/Human computer interaction-user interfaces, LISE, data science- bibliometric /infometrics, information practices-information seeking, information ethics, scholarly communication and research methods. He serves/has served in the editorial and peer review boards of many local (RSA) (e.g., SAJLIS) and international journals (e.g. Library Management, Infometrics, LIBRI), conferences and research organizations/councils. He was the Editor -in- Chief of Inkanyiso: Journal of Humanities and Social Sciences (2009-2022) and before that, Editor -in- Chief of South African Journal of Libraries and Information Science (2002- 2008). He has received research awards including NRF [RSA] established researcher rating. Some of his research publications can be accessed at- https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=OJHFQG0AAAAJ&hl=en

                                                                             Bio

Hrvoje Stančić is full Professor and Chair of Archival and Documentation Sciences at the Department of Information and Communication Sciences as well as Acting Vice-Dean for Organization and Development at the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, University of Zagreb, Croatia. He was Director of the InterPARES Trust project’s Team Europe (2013-2019). Currently, he is member of the Research Committee at the InterPARES Trust AI project (2021-2026). He has published more than 80 scientific and professional papers and has presented at numerous conferences (full bibliography available at: http://bib.irb.hr/lista-radova?autor=244003&lang=EN). He edited the book Trust and Records in an Open Digital Environment (2021), published the book Digitisation (2009), co-authored Archival Science Dictionary: English-Croatian, Croatian-English (2015). He co-edited the book Heritage Live: IT Tools-based Heritage Management (2012) and six proceedings of the biennial international conference The Future of Information Sciences (INFuture). His research interests are long-term preservation of digital archival materials, preservation of authenticity and trustworthiness of digital records, blockchain as well as digitisation. He is member of the board of Croatian Archival Society and President of the mirror technical committee for development of ISO/TC 307 Blockchain and distributed ledger technologies at the Croatian Standards Institute. In October 2021 he was awarded bronze medal at the 19th International Innovation Exhibition for his innovation TrustChain – A System for Preservation of Trustworthiness of the Digitally Signed Documents.