Basic HTML Version
211
Global Partnerships, Local ICT Solutions
Research Groupings
associated with this theme
research, but being based in a developing economy.
Incorporating researchers from across the university,
the centre looks to create ICT solutions that can be
applied in a developing-world context.
Being the only such centre in a developing country,
we have been able to attract researchers and students
from across the globe. The Hasso Plattner Institute
Research School in ICT4D, which provides bursaries
for African students working in this field, was launched
in 2009 and will be based within the wider structure of
the centre.
Director: Professor G Marsden
E-mail: gary.marsden@uct.ac.za
Web: http://www.ict4d.cs.uct.ac.za/
Centre for Information
Technology and National
Development in Africa
(CITANDA)
CITANDA is located within the Department of
Information Systems. It brings together researchers,
projects, funders, and programmes focused on the
use of information and communication technology
(ICT) in the service of national development.
CITANDA researchers study, using a diversity
of research approaches, the management,
development, adoption, and impact of ICT in
areas related to business, economic, and social
development in Africa.
The centre specifically explores and investigates
information systems (IS) phenomena that arise
at the nexus of interaction between information
technology andAfrica’s business, cultural, social, and
economic context, in order to advance knowledge
concerning IS in organisations and society in Africa.
Through CITANDA, the Department of Information
Systems attracts a large cohort of PhD and master’s
degree students from across Africa and beyond.
Director: Professor J-P van Belle
E-mail: jean-paul.vanbelle@uct.ac.za
Web: http://www.commerce.uct.ac.za/citanda
Scientific Computing
Research Unit
The Scientific Computing Research Unit (SCRU) was
established in 2009 and has as its core mission the
development and application of computer code
for scientific problems, specifically in chemistry,
biophysics, physics, and engineering.
The unit has made major technical advances in
biophysical computational modelling, with the
development of a generalised free energy code
called FEARCF. In 2009, the unit was awarded a
long-term development grant from the Nvidia
Corporation to advance the SCRU program to port
quantum code to graphical processing unit-based
computer clusters. The research group has strong
links with international groups, particularly via its
Scientific Computing International Lecture Series
programme.
Director: Professor KJ Naidoo
E-mail: kevin.naidoo@uct.ac.za
Web: http://scru.uct.ac.za/
Information and
Communications Technology
Centre for Development
The Information and Communications Technology
Centre for Development (ICT4D) was established
in 2008 to capitalise on UCT’s unique position in
the ICT domain, namely, producing world-class ICT
ICT4D was established to
capitalise on UCT’s unique
position in the ICT domain.