PACT OBJECTIVES

The objective of PACT is to support and stimulate active productive research which could strengthen the technical foundations of engineers and scientists in the continent, develop strong technical foundations and skills and lead to new small to medium enterprises within the African sub-continent. We also seek to encourage the emergence of functionally skilled technocrats within the continent. We invite research papers, workshop proposals, and panel proposals on the topics listed. The list is not exhaustive. Tutorials and Sessions that will impact on and enhance Postgraduate research within the continent will be considered. Training Workshops on research software tools such as Matlab, Scilab, Althium, Qiskit, Genesys, COMSOL Multiphysics and others are welcome. The Conference also provides a forum for students to compete for best papers and receive an award. Registration fees for student authors are also discounted.

Submit your paper HERE.

TECHNICAL PROGRAM TRACKS

The conference will accept paper submissions in areas related to the following broad themes:

• Devices and Mobile Phone Applications and Software
• Wireless Mobile Communications (3G, 4G, 5G and 6G)
• Sensors and Remote Sensing, IOT, Embended Systems
• ICT for Development (e-Learning and e-Education, e-Health, e-Agriculture, Smart Cities)
• E-Government and smart citizens
• Smart Grid and Energy Harvesting
• Telecommunications
• Applied Mathematics
• Computer Networks
• Scientific Computing (Bioinformatics, GIS etc.)
• Computational Intelligence and Forensics
• Environmental and Sustainability
• Radio Frequency and Microwave Engineering
• Industry 4.0
• Food Security (Policies & Technical aspects)
• Business Information Systems and Management
• Artificial Intelligence (AI), Deep Learning and Regenerative AI
• Emerging Technologies (Data Science, Microservice Architecture etc)
• Quantum Computing, quantum algorithms, quantum information processing
• Cybersecurity
• High Performance Computing, Cloud Computing, Grid Computing and Cluster Computing
• Fog computing
• Blockchain
• Autonomous systems, self-driving vehicles, unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV)
• Wireless Power systems and power from space
• Remote Sensing
• Computational science
• Combinational Logic Design
• Entrepreneurship and Commercialization

 Demonstrators and Products Tracks

PACT has made provision in 2015 for display and demonstration of working software and hardware that are relevant to African manufacturing base. We will consider working prototypes from university students, staff and industry.

Paper Submissions

Original research papers containing new research findings which have not been submitted concurrently to any other publication outlets such conferences, Journals and books are sought from authors. Full length papers must be limited for six (6) A4 single-line spacing pages (10-point font size minimum) and formatted following the IEEE conference paper format. Student papers are also limited to between three (3) and four (4) A4 single-line spacing pages. PACT has adopted the IEEE referencing formats for all its publications. Paper submission is via the conference site at: https://www.icict.org.zm/ OR  https://www.icict.org.zm/submission-2/ and the use of EasyChair at https://easychair.org/conferences/?conf=pact2023. Authors should access EasyChair through the conference site for all submissions (http://www.ib2com.org/PACT/. OR https://www.icict.org.zm/). Do not email papers directly to Track or Conference Chairpersons as this makes reviewing of your papers messy and difficult. All papers submitted to the conference will be reviewed by at least two international reviewers. Papers which are registered and presented during the conference will be included in the conference proceedings with an ISBN to facilitate access and referencing.

Deadlines:

Deadline for expression of interest in PACT tutorials:     June 21, 2023
Deadline for submission of full length papers:       June 21, 2023
Deadline for submission of student abstracts:       June 21, 2023
Deadline for submission of tutorials:      June 28, 2023
Deadline of notification of authors:     July 15, 2023
Deadline of final paper submissions:     July 31, 2023
Deadline for Notification of Tutorials:      July 31, 2023

Post Conference Publications:

All papers accepted and presented at the conference will be submitted to Compendex and SCOPUS for indexing. When we secure the IEEE technical sponsorship, reviewed papers which meet the IEEE requirements and presented during the conference will be forwarded to the IEEE for consideration for inclusion in the IEEE Xplore. Papers will also be submitted to iqproceedings.org for inclusion in their conferences database for worldwide access and indexing. Despite the above undertaking, authors whose papers are found to be technically relevant and suitable as possible journal publications will be invited to extend their PACT conference papers to full length journal papers of not less than 12 pages. Such extensions must ensure that the extended paper is clearly significantly different in content from the paper presented during the conference. They will be further reviewed and if the extended papers are accepted by the Journals, they will be included in special 2023 issues of:

1. African Journal of Information and Communication Technology (http://www.insibidi.ib2com.org/)
2. African Journal of Informatics (http://www.insibidi.ib2com.org/)
3. Journal of Machine to Machine Communications (River Publishers, Denmark; 2023 Issues): http://www.insibidi.ib2com.org/
4. Zambia ICT Journal (https://www.icict.org.zm/submission-2/)

Local organising Committee

1. Jameson Mbale (Copperbelt University) – Chairperson – jameson.mbale@cbu.ac.zm
2. Douglas Kunda (ZCAS University -VC) Vice-Chairperson – douglas.kunda@zcasu.edu.zm
3. Josphat Kalezhi (Copperbelt University) – kalezhi@cbu.ac.zm
4. Christopher Chembe – Member (ZCAS University) christopher.chembe@zcasu.edu.zm
5. Aaron Zimba (ZCAS University) aaron.zimba@zcasu.edu.zm
6. Mrs Monde Kabemba (University of Zambia) mkabemba@gmail.com
7. Mayumbo Nyirenda (University of Zambia) mayumbo@gmail.com
8. Lighton Phiri (University of Zambia) lighton.phiri@unza.zm
9. Jackson Phiri (University of Zambia) – Jackson.phiri@cs.unza.zm
10. Clement Sinyangwe (ICT Association of Zambia) sinyangweclement@chau.ac.zm
11. Ariel Phiri – Member (IEEE, Zambia Section) ahphiri@ieee.org
12. Stern Mkandawile (ZAMREN) mkandaws@zamren.zm
13. Mercy M. Fandamu (Copperbelt University – Secretariat) nambamba@gmail.com

Members of the TPC Committee

1. Johnson I Agbinya, Chairperson, Technical Program Committee, Melbourne Institute of Technology, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
2. Professor Ryszard Klempous; Wroclaw University of Technology, Poland
3. Professor Atsushi Ito, Faculty of Economics, Chuo University, Tokyo, Japan
4. Tiejun Zhao, Harbin Institute of Technology (HIT), China
5. Dr Bhagwan Das, Melbourne Institute of Technology, Australia
6. Dr Xiaoying Kong, Melbourne Institute of Technology, Sydney
7. Professor Christian Walter Omlin, Department of ICT, University of Agder, Norway
8. Paul Okuthe Kogeda, University of the Free State, South Africa
9. Professor Jan Nikodem, Wroclaw University of Technology, Poland
10. Mjumo Mzyece, University of the Witwatersrand, South Africa
11. Nagi F Mohammed, College of Engineering Technology, Houn, Libya
12. Karim Djouani, ESIE Paris and TUT South Africa
13. Jemal Abwajy, Deakin University, Melbourne, Australia
14. David Chisanga, Australia
15. Madoka Hasegawa, Utsunomiya University, Japan
16. Norihiro Fukumoto, University of Tokyo, Zambia
17. Jameson Mbale (Copperbelt University), Zambia
18. Douglas Kunda (ZCAS University ), Zambia
19. Josphat Kalezhi (Copperbelt University), Zambia
20. Christopher Chembe – Member (ZCAS University), Zambia
21. Aaron Zimba (ZCAS University), Zambia
22. Mrs Monde Kabemba (University of Zambia) , Zambia
23. Mayumbo Nyirenda (University of Zambia), Zambia
24. Lighton Phiri (University of Zambia), Zambia
25. Jackson Phiri (University of Zambia), Zambia
26. Clement Sinyangwe (ICT Association of Zambia), Zambia
27. Prof Patrick Okorie, Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, Nigeria
28. Prof Rashid Saeed, Malaysia
29. Dr Kenneth Okedu, Queensland, Australia
30. Dr Tahsien Al-Quraishi, Melbourne Institute of Technology, Australia
31. Dr Amoakoh Gyasi-Agyei, Melbourne Institute of Technology, Australia
32. ProfessorHastings M. Libati, Copperbelt University, Zambia
33. Bupe M. Mwanza, Graduate School of Business, University of Zambia, Zambia
34. Erastus Mwanaumo, School of Engineering, The University of Zambia, Zambia
35. Mukelabai Mukelabai, Computer Science Department, University of Zambia, Zambia

Honorary Committee

• Professor Johnson I Agbinya, Melbourne Institute of Technology, Australia
• National Coordinator – The SMART Zambia Institute, Zambia
• Vice Chancellor – University of Zambia, Zambia
• President – The Information and Communications Technology Association of Zambia, Zambia
• Professor Jemal Abwajy, Deakin University, Melbourne, Australia
• Vice Chancellor – Copperbelt University, Zambia
• Professor Ryszard Klempous; Wroclaw University of Technology, Poland
• Vice Chancellor – ZCAS University, Zambia
• Professor Atsushi Ito, Faculty of Economics, Chuo University, Tokyo
• Vice Chancellor – Mulungushi University, Zambia
• Karim Djouani, ESIE Paris and TUT, South Africa
• Director – Zambia Information and Communications Technology Authority, Zambia
• CEO – Zambia Research and Education Network (ZAMREN), Zambia
• Professor Nagi F Mohammed, College of Engineering Technology, Houn, Libya
• Vice Chancellor – Chalimbana University, Zambia
• Professor Christian Walter Omlin, Department of ICT, University of Agder, Norway

Conference Chairpersons

• Jameson Mbale, Chairperson, Copperbelt University, Kitwe, Zambia, (jameson.mbale@cbu.ac.zm)
• Johnson I Agbinya, Chairperson, Technical Program Committee, Melbourne Institute of Technology, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia (j.agbinya@ib2com.org)