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ICTAS 2019 Conference Deliberates on Research, Innovation and Engagement

ICTAS 2019 Conference Deliberates on Research, Innovation and Engagement

The Durban University of Technology’s (DUT’s) Faculty of Accounting and Informatics hosted the third Information Communication Technology and Society (ICTAS) 2019 Conference which took place in March 2019 at the Blue Waters Hotel in Durban.

The conference was attended by more than 90 delegates, representing academia, research institutes, and industry. Both international and national organizations participated in the conference, which provided a platform for electrical and electronic engineers to exchange ideas, share their latest research contributions, network with their peers, gain continuing education opportunities, and most importantly, learn about the innovations and solutions to issues affecting human well-being.

The theme of ICTAS 2019 was: ‘Information Communication Technology and Society with the emphasis on research, innovation and engagement, recognizing at the same time accelerated growth research outputs.’

The conference was led by the Dean of the Faculty of Accounting and Informatics at DUT Prof. Oludayo Olugbara, Conference Chair Prof. Richard Millham, Program Committee Chair and Editor Dr. Delene Heukelman, Conference Program Chair Dr. Alveen Singh, Conference, Publicity Chair Dr. Jeanette Wing, Conference Treasurer Dr. Progress Mtshali and the complete Organizing Team.  Forty-six international experts within the field and from 6 continents and 12 countries worldwide comprised the Technical Program Committee.

ICTAS 2019 hosted three keynote speakers from academia and industry including Zoran Bojkovic from the University of Belgrade and Engineering Academy of Serbia, who gave a keynote presentation on “Fifth Generation (5G) mobile networks and beyond”. He spoke about identifying challenges for technologies, and paving the way for providing wireless communications with massive connectivity, tactile internet, quality of service (QoS), and network slicing. “One of the activities beyond 5G will be expanding end-to-end software defined/network function virtualization. Other trends will be end-user integration, security and energy efficiency, QoS maintenance, and fault tolerance of any kind,” he said.

Associate Dean of Technology at the School of Business and Technology, Capella University, USA, Bill Dafnis gave a keynote presentation on “Academic Program Innovation: Economic Factors on Cloud Computing and Blockchain Technology Talent Alignment.” Dafnis indicated that economic shifts enabled by cloud computing, coupled with the immutable and transparent constructs of blockchain technology, hold the promise of further disrupting and reshaping legacy industries and workforce talent.

Head of Incident Response Team, Cyanre, Francois Mouton, gave the third keynote address on: “Examining the Threat Landscape of Social Engineering in an Emerging Society.” Within this address, the particular discussion focused on the psyche of the individual and discussed the basic human instinct of trust.  It also looked at the concept of trust which differs based on environmental conditions and socio-economic upbringing.

Conference organisers added that the ICTAS2019 conference proved to be academically challenging and inspirational. It constituted a dynamic and diverse community of dedicated professionals in the field of information communication technology and society.

IEEE South Africa Computer Society technically and financially sponsored the third ICTAS Conference. Other partners included Oracle, Computer Mania, Faculty of Accounting and Informatics of Durban University of Technology, National Research Foundation of South Africa, and South African Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers.

Pictured: Some of the delegates who participated in the ICTAS Conference in 2018.

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