Prof. Clement N. Nyirenda is the Director of the eResearch Unit within the Office of the Deputy Vice-Chancellor: Research and Innovation at the University of the Western Cape and serves in the dual role as an Associate Professor in the Department of Computer Science.

He holds a PhD in Computational Intelligence and Systems Science from the Interdisciplinary Graduate School of Science and Engineering at Institute of Science Tokyo (formerly Tokyo Institute of Technology), an MScEng in Computer Engineering from the University of KwaZulu-Natal, and a BSc in Electrical Engineering from the University of Malawi.

Prior to joining the University of the Western Cape in October 2018, he held academic and research positions at several institutions, including Lecturer and Senior Lecturer at the University of Namibia (2012–2018), Postdoctoral Research Fellow at Keio University, Japan (2011–2012), where he contributed to a Sumitomo Electric Industries project on indoor localisation using antenna array signals and deep recurrent neural networks, and Predoctoral Researcher at the CSIR Meraka Institute under the Wireless Africa programme (2006–2007). He also served as Staff Associate and Lecturer in Electronics and Computer Engineering at the University of Malawi (2000–2008). In addition, he has held leadership roles such as Head of the Department of Electrical Engineering at the University of Namibia and Acting Head of the Department of Computer Science at the University of the Western Cape.

Prof. Nyirenda has over two decades of teaching experience across Computer Science, Artificial Intelligence, Information Technology, and Engineering in institutions in South Africa, Namibia, Malawi, and China. These include the University of the Western Cape, Henan University of Economics and Law (China), the University of Namibia, the University of Malawi, and the National College of Information and Communication Technology (NACIT) in Malawi. His teaching portfolio spans Artificial Intelligence, Operating Systems, Computer Networks, Computer Architecture, Network Security, Digital Signal Processing, Digital Image Processing, Control Systems, Electronics, and Enterprise Networking.

His research focuses on Computational and Artificial Intelligence paradigms, including fuzzy systems, swarm intelligence, artificial neural networks, reinforcement learning, and online continual learning, with applications in communication networks, smart energy systems, smart water infrastructure, smart healthcare, and agri-food systems. He leads the Computational Intelligence Research Group, supervising postgraduate and postdoctoral researchers. To date, he has supervised one postdoctoral fellow, two PhD graduates, 20 Master’s graduates, and more than 60 Honours projects. He is currently supervising 5 Honours students, 7 Master’s students, 7 PhD students, and two postdoctoral fellows. He has published more than 90 peer-reviewed journal and conference papers.

He serves as an Associate Editor of the Journal of Advanced Computational Intelligence and Intelligent Informatics (JACIII) (Fuji Press, Japan) and is Co-Principal Investigator of UKUDLA, the African–German Centre of Excellence focused on sustainable and resilient food systems and applied data science. The centre is funded by the DAAD and German federal ministries, with a total funding envelope of approximately €6.5 million for the period 2025–2029.

Prof. Nyirenda is available for collaborative research and development projects, as well as industry-linked partnerships. He also welcomes opportunities to supervise and co-supervise Master’s and PhD students, and to mentor emerging researchers. Prospective students are encouraged to review his research profile and submit a concept note to ensure alignment of research interests.