2025 edition of the MIT 808 Big Data Science Capstone Exhibition

🎉 The 2025 MIT 808 Big Data Science Online Exhibition is Now Live!

We’re excited to announce that the 2025 edition of the MIT 808 Big Data Science Capstone Exhibition—a highlight of the University of Pretoria’s Masters in IT (MIT) programme—is officially online! 🚀

Each year, this capstone exhibition showcases the ingenuity and impact of our graduating MIT students as they take on real-world challenges using data-driven techniques. This year’s cohort—18 students working in 9 interdisciplinary teams—have tackled urgent issues in climate science, public health, conservation, political discourse, and law. The result? A suite of powerful, thoughtful, and socially relevant projects that underscore our belief: All Science is Data Science.

🔗 Explore the 2025 projects now:
👉 View 2025 Exhibition Projects (Exhibition website)

🎥 View just the Youtube playlist

From termite behaviour modelling to health chatbots in Sepedi, this year’s projects span a diverse landscape of disciplines and challenges:

• 🐜 Matabele Ant Raids: Ecological simulations for termite control
• 🗳️ SA Election Polarisation: Mapping xenophobia and discourse with DistilRoBERTa
• 🌧️ Rainfall Forecasting: Deep learning tools for disaster preparedness
• 🐘 ElephantMatcher: Automating elephant re-identification for conservation
• 🎶 Music Law & NLP: Using LegalBERT to decode public submissions on IP reform
• 🐄 Foot and Mouth Disease Dashboards: Predictive models for livestock health
• 🧠 Zoonotic Awareness in Sepedi: LLMs delivering public health education
• 📊 Beef Value Chain Disease Modelling: Integrated platforms for policy and risk planning

💡 These solutions were built in collaboration with real-world partners, including Mpala Research Centre, Future Africa, and the Data Science Law Lab, reflecting the interdisciplinary and applied nature of the MIT 808 course.

We’re proud of how this exhibition brings together students, academics, and partners from across institutions. Special thanks to our collaborators at the University of the Free State, University of Johannesburg, and across multiple faculties/departments at the University of Pretoria. Your support proves what’s possible when disciplines—and institutions—work together.

A heartfelt thank you to Kelebogile Sathekge (DSFSI Admin Assistant), Mahmooda Milanzie (DSFSI Project Management Assistant), and Sehaam Goolam (PA to Prof Vukosi Marivate, AfriDSAI) for making the physical exhibition possible, and to Future Africa for their ongoing support.

We are especially grateful to Google TensorFlow, which has generously supported the MIT 808 exhibition for the past five years through their Machine Learning Teaching Grant. This enduring support was initiated by Jocelyn Becker, whose commitment to inclusive AI education has helped sustain and grow this initiative. Thank you for believing in the power of student-driven, socially grounded Data Science!

Since 2020, Prof. Vukosi Marivate and Dr. Abiodun Modupe have led this capstone module as part of the MIT Big Data Science Programme. Their vision: empower students to put theory into practice, engage society through data, and graduate as data scientists ready to lead in their fields.

🔍 Learn more about the course and past exhibitions:
🌐 MIT808 Public Website
📘 MIT Big Data Science Programme

📬 Want to connect or collaborate?
Email us: dsfsi.info@up.ac.za

Let’s continue building a future where data science serves people, policy, and the planet.