First Call for Papers: SACAIR2021

The Organising Committee of the South African Conference for Artificial Intelligence Research (SACAIR2021) invites the submission of full papers for presentation at the conference, to be held at Simbithi Country Club, Simbithi Eco-Estate, Dolphin Coast, KwaZulu-Natal, from 6 – 10 December 2021. The conference theme is ‘Artificial Intelligence for Science, Technology and Society’. The SACAIR series of conferences, held since 2019, aims to promote multi- and interdisciplinary studies in Artificial Intelligence and provides a platform to researchers and practitioners from both academia and industry to meet and share cutting-edge developments in the field. The conference seeks significant contributions to all major fields of Artificial Intelligence in both theoretical, application and practical aspects.

Conference Structure
• 6 December 2021: Student Unconference
• 7 December 2021: Tutorials and Opening Ceremony
• 8 – 10 December 2021: Conference

Conference Scope
We especially solicit submissions falling into the following broad themes, although we will consider other submissions should space on the programme allow:
• Machine Learning
• Knowledge Representation and Reasoning
• Quantum Artificial Intelligence
• Deep Learning
• Computer Vision and Image Processing
• Philosophy and Ethics of AI
• AI Information Systems
• AI in the Humanities and Society

Paper Submission
Abstracts and full papers must be submitted in Easychair.
All papers should report original research that has neither been published nor submitted for publication elsewhere. Submissions must be between 12 to 15 pages (with 15 pages an absolute maximum).
All manuscripts must be formatted using Springer style files and templates available here. Only submissions made in these formats will be considered for review. To comply with Springer publication guidelines manuscripts may be submitted through a plagiarism-checking tool, following both submissions for review and the arrival of the files at Springer.
Detailed submission information and guidelines will be posted on the conference website.

Proceedings
Full papers will undergo double-blind peer-review, complying with the requirements of the South African DHET research output policy.
Proceedings with all accepted papers for SACAIR will be made available online, and a selection of accepted papers will appear in a volume of Springer series - (Communications in Computer and Information Science - CCIS), which is accredited by the South African DHET.
Authors will be required to submit a signed Consent to Publish form, through which the copyright of their paper is transferred to Springer. A link to the form and instructions will be provided on the conference website.
An option for open access, at an additional cost, will be available to authors.

Important Dates
• Abstracts Submission: 10 September 2021
• Submission of Full Papers: 24 September 2021
• Acceptance notification: 5 November 2021
• Final Papers (camera ready copies: 12 November 2021
• Main Conference: 8 – 10 December 2021

Contact
• Conference Website: http://2021.SACAIR.org.za
• Any enquiries can be made to sacair2021@gmail.com

Organising Committee
• Prof Aurona Gerber (general organising co-chair)
• Mr Anban Pillay (general organising co-chair)
• Dr Edgar Jembere (technical programme co-chair)
• Prof Serestina Viriri (technical programme co-chair)
• Prof Francesco Petrucionne (Local Organising Committee)
• Ms Yuvika Singh (Local Organising Committee)
• Mr Sibonelo Dlamini (Local Organising Committee)

SACAIR Steering Committee
• Prof Emma Ruttkamp-Bloem (University of Pretoria)
• Mr Anban Pillay (University of KwaZulu-Natal)
• Prof Aurona Gerber (University of Pretoria)
• Prof Alta de Waal (University of Pretoria)
• Dr Edgar Jembere (University of KwaZulu-Natal)
• Prof Serestina Viriri (University of KwaZulu-Natal)