{"id":173,"date":"2019-02-24T21:30:23","date_gmt":"2019-02-24T21:30:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cs.uwc.ac.za\/?page_id=173"},"modified":"2020-10-04T05:08:29","modified_gmt":"2020-10-04T05:08:29","slug":"bang","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/cs.uwc.ac.za\/?page_id=173","title":{"rendered":"BANG"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
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Bridging Application and Network Gaps
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We conduct Information and Communication Technology for Development (ICT4D) research with and for marginalised communities to improve quality of life, share our experience through publications and educate students in interdisciplinary ways in a hands-on fashion. We do this because we care; about the communities with whom we work, and the students, too. Our current focus is learning how to transfer the fruits of our research back to the communities with whom we work, e.g. not-for-profit spin-offs, and to learn how to ensure communities can sustainably transfer and maintain community development leveraging ICT by themselves.<\/p>

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Zenzeleni<\/a><\/p>

a rural solar-powered wireless community network<\/p>

where the community owns and runs an ISP by and for themselves<\/p>

keeping revenue inside the community and creating jobs and opportunity.<\/p>

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SignSupport<\/a><\/p>

mobile assistive technology for Deaf people<\/p>

to deal with a largely hearing world<\/p>

in the language they can understand: sign language.<\/p>

Mostly concentrating on healthcare, e.g. pharmacy, diabetes, emergency medical service, etc.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t

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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/i><\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/i><\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tFor Prospective Students <\/a>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t\t\t\t\t

Prospective students How to choose a project<\/strong><\/span><\/p>

Honours<\/strong> degrees at UWC are by coursework and a project. In South Africa, an Honours degree follows on a 3-year BSc in Computer Science. The Honours project takes one year and consists of the following steps: write a project proposal consisting of user requirements and requirements analysis; design a software solution with UML and code a proof-of-concept prototype; implement the code; and test the code.\u00a0 At each of the four steps, the student must give a presentation to the department in addition to writing a report for each step culminating in a complete project report. Click here for a list of project ideas<\/span><\/a>. We tend to align an Honours project as a lead-in to an MSc, or at least to prepare the student for pursuing advanced postgraduate studies. Have a look at the suggested projects, and also at related <\/span>BANG publications<\/a><\/span>. Honours projects are chosen in January. Talk to the project supervisor<\/a> about the project. If you are serious about a project, you formally select a project by filling out a form (see the postgraduate administrator).<\/span><\/p>

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MSc<\/span><\/span><\/strong> and PhD<\/strong> degrees at UWC Computer Science are by research thesis only. There is no coursework. An MSc is supposed to take two years and a PhD takes three<\/span>. Both degrees consist of the following steps: write a research proposal, defend the proposal to the department, carry out the research by coding a prototype with which to collect data, and finally write up a thesis. We expect and encourage all MSc and PhD students to submit papers based on their work to local and international accredited conferences and journals. A PhD thesis has the additional requirement to be original and innovative work<\/span>. We expect both MSc and PhD students to generate their own research topic\/proposal in line with the research group ongoing activities, and take ownership of the entire process.<\/p>

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Funding<\/strong><\/p>

We expect Honours, MSc and PhD students (and post-docs, too) to attract funding for\u00a0 research activities, including bursaries. For example, South African and SADC citizens can apply for SA government (NRF) bursaries well in advance of intended studies, see www.nrf.ac.za<\/a> for information and deadlines. Provided we have external funding, and we usually do, we can top up those NRF bursaries by 50%, e.g. an R80k NRF bursary can be topped up by R40k meaning R120k\/annum. It’s all tax free, and with no strings attached.\u00a0 That’s R10k\/month in pocket (well, once fees are covered). You can even send money home! One can also search for ‘loaded’ bursaries from SA corporates, e.g. Telkom, or other government agencies. Try the dti, DST and\/or Meraka\/CSIR, for example. The bottom line is that you<\/em> are responsible for your academic career, and you must find ways to fund it.<\/p>

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If you are interested doing postgraduate studies, e.g. MSc and PhD with us: <\/span><\/strong><\/p>

Have a look at related BANG publications<\/a>. Many of the papers we have published are available for download through the publication source, via Google scholar and\/or the UWC R<\/span>esearch Repository. <\/span><\/span><\/p>

Read our brochure<\/a> and follow links to projects<\/a> that show completed theses and also ideas for new projects. That will give you an idea of the kind of work we do. <\/span><\/p>