Who we are.
Specialists in the disciplines of digital sciences develop complementary skills to address the challenges posed by high-performance computing, modeling of complex systems, machine learning in artificial intelligence, computer security through cryptography or program certification, as examples. Together, they are building a community whose objective is to promote and sustain the fruitful cooperation between scientists in the field of digital sciences that are strongly transforming societies, economies and governments today.
It is this scientific community that the African Society in Digital Sciences (ASDS) wants to represent and support in Africa.
ASDS is an autonomous, non-political and non-profit scientific organization, independent of state institutions and established by scientists from all-over the world, who develop excellence on subjects relevant to Africa and adhere to a number of values : access to digital resources for all, open science, open data, frugal digital sciences, digital ethics, scientific integrity, scientific excellence, equal opportunities for all, including women and minorities, balanced and fruitful South-North and South-South partnerships.
What are we offering.
The planned activities first build on already existing ones, promoting and extending them to more African both English and French-speaking countries. Let us mention some conferences (CARI, AFRICOMM, ACSE, CRI, CNRIA, …), thematic schools, an online journal (ARIMA), and an online seminar in Digital Sciences. New anticipated activities are, for instance, the provision of online resources, a training offer, and the dissemination and valorization of research results to the general public, companies, administrations, and international organizations.
Governance.
Governance is provided by two main bodies:
The General Assembly
The General Assembly is the supreme decision-making body of the Association to which the Executive Committee is responsible. The main functions of the General Assembly are as follows:
- Deliberate on and approve the general programme of activities of the ASDS
- Approve the admission of members proposed by the Executive Committee
- Examine and approve the report of the Executive Committee and the audited account
- Elect directly the Members of the Executive Committee
- Consider and decide upon the amendments to the bylaws of the Association
- Decide upon any such matters as may be referred to it.
Executive Committee
The Executive Committee runs the Association between the meetings of the General Assembly. The Executive Committee is made of nine (9) members as follows :
- The President
- Six Vice-Presidents from each of each African sub-regions and Diaspora
- The Secretary General
- The Treasurer.
Charter
View the charter of ASDS
Missions.
The African Society in Digital Sciences (ASDS) is established with the overall objective of promoting and sustaining the fruitful cooperation between scientists in the field of digital sciences that are strongly transforming societies, economies and governments today. In furtherance of this main objective, the Society has the following missions:
- Support research in the discipline of Digital Sciences
- Position itself at the interface between the academic and industrial worlds as well as international organizations
- Make academic voices heard in society and promote critical thinking and scientific method (project team, multidisciplinary modelling, development and experimentation loop)
- Promote and support the archiving and development of knowledge and know-how (seminars, MOOCS, educational resources, …)
- Contribute to the definition of international standards and policies in digital sciences
- Foster collaborations between researchers from the African continent and those from the Diaspora
- Promote cooperation projects between African institutions and organizations from other continents
- Contribute to the achievement of the African Union’s Agenda 2063 in the field of Science, Technology and Innovation, and more particularly all aspects related to digital sciences.
Organs of the Society.
The main organs of the ASDS are:
a) The General Assembly: the supreme decision-making organ of the Association to which the Executive Committee is responsible; The General Assembly of the ASDS is made up of all Fellow Members of ASDS. It meets at least once every year. An extraordinary meeting of the General Assembly may be called by the Executive Committee either on its own initiative, or upon the request of two-thirds of members.
b) The Executive Committee: runs ASDS between the meetings of the General Assembly.The Executive Committee is composed of
- one President
- one Secretary General
- one Treasurer
- seven Vice-Presidents from each sub-region, African Diaspora in Europe and African Diaspora in North America.