{"id":3143,"date":"2025-10-14T04:11:39","date_gmt":"2025-10-14T04:11:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/codata.org\/blog\/?p=3143"},"modified":"2025-10-14T04:11:39","modified_gmt":"2025-10-14T04:11:39","slug":"audrey-masizana-candidacy-for-codata-executive-committee-ordinary-member","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/codata.org\/blog\/2025\/10\/14\/audrey-masizana-candidacy-for-codata-executive-committee-ordinary-member\/","title":{"rendered":"Audrey Masizana: Candidacy for CODATA Executive Committee Ordinary Member"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/codata.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/ChatGPT-Image-Oct-14-2025-09_41_03-AM.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright size-medium wp-image-3144\" src=\"https:\/\/codata.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/ChatGPT-Image-Oct-14-2025-09_41_03-AM-300x300.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/codata.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/ChatGPT-Image-Oct-14-2025-09_41_03-AM-300x300.png 300w, https:\/\/codata.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/ChatGPT-Image-Oct-14-2025-09_41_03-AM-150x150.png 150w, https:\/\/codata.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/ChatGPT-Image-Oct-14-2025-09_41_03-AM-768x768.png 768w, https:\/\/codata.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/ChatGPT-Image-Oct-14-2025-09_41_03-AM-624x624.png 624w, https:\/\/codata.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/ChatGPT-Image-Oct-14-2025-09_41_03-AM.png 1024w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a>This is the twentieth in the series of short statements from candidates in the coming CODATA Elections at <\/span><\/i><a href=\"https:\/\/codata.org\/events\/general-assembly\/general-assembly-2025\/\"><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">the General Assembly to be held on 17-18 October 2025<\/span><\/i><\/a><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. Audrey Masizana is a candidate for the CODATA Executive Committee as an Ordinary Member.<\/span><\/i><b><i> She was nominated by Botswana<\/i><\/b><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n<p><b>Affiliation:<\/b><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><b>Institution:<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u00a0University of Botswana\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><b>City:<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u00a0Gaborone<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><b>Country:<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u00a0Botswana<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><b>Role:<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> Senior Scholar, University of Botswana<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><b>Nationality of Candidate:\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Botswana<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">I, Audrey Masizana have been a member of\u00a0<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/codata.org\/about-codata\/executive-committee\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Executive Committee of the CODATA<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u00a0since 2021. I hold a PhD in Computer Science from University of Manchester UK (2004). I am also a fellow of <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.schoolandcollegelistings.com\/BW\/Gaborone\/100604817979280\/Botswana-Academy-of-Science\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Botswana Academy of Sciences<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u00a0(FBAS) since 2021 and this year in 2025 have been elected as Vice President of the Academy. I also serve as <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/micro.med.upenn.edu\/globalhealth\/scholars-programs-partnerships\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Global Health International Scholar of University of Pennsylvania, USA (2023-2026).<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">I am a very passionate advocate of Open Data and Open Science Policies and Practices locally and across the continent and to that effect I currently chaired the development of <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/search?q=the+Botswana+National+Open+Data+Policy&amp;oq=the+Botswana+National+Open+Data+Policy+&amp;gs_lcrp=EgZjaHJvbWUyBggAEEUYOdIBCTMzNDlqMGoxNagCALACAA&amp;sourceid=chrome&amp;ie=UTF-8\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">the Botswana National Open Data Policy<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> established by the Botswana Presidential Task Force (Smart Bots) in March 2021, which is now awaiting approval by Botswana Cabinet.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">I have over the years gained enormous experience in spear heading academic networking platforms including\u00a0 chairing conferences such as Information Technology for Development (IASTED Africa\u00a0<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.iasted.org\/conferences\/pastinfo-813.html\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">2014<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">,\u00a0<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.iasted.org\/conferences\/pastinfo-836.html\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">2016<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">), International Conference in Cyber-Security and Information systems conference series referenced in ICICIS\u00a0<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.coe.int\/en\/web\/cybercrime\/news\/-\/asset_publisher\/S73WWxscOuZ5\/content\/botswana-first-international-conference-on-the-internet-cyber-security-and-information-systems-icicis-?inheritRedirect=false&amp;redirect=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.coe.int%2Fen%2Fweb%2Fcybercrime%2Fnews%3Fp_p_id%3D101_INSTANCE_S73WWxscOuZ5%26p_p_lifecycle%3D0%26p_p_state%3Dnormal%26p_p_mode%3Dview%26p_p_col_id%3Dcolumn-4%26p_p_col_count%3D1%26_101_INSTANCE_S73WWxscOuZ5_cur%3D4%26_101_INSTANCE_S73WWxscOuZ5_keywords%3D%26_101_INSTANCE_S73WWxscOuZ5_advancedSearch%3Dfalse%26_101_INSTANCE_S73WWxscOuZ5_delta%3D5%26p_r_p_564233524_resetCur%3Dfalse%26_101_INSTANCE_S73WWxscOuZ5_andOperator%3Dtrue\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">2016<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u00a0and\u00a0<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-newsroom.com\/press\/united-states-joins-international-conference-on-cybersecurity-in-gaborone-botswana?lang=en\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">here<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.\u00a0 Also chairing the Local Organising Committees of the \u00a0<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/codata.org\/events\/conferences\/international-data-week-2018\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">International Data Week (IDW 2018)<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u00a0 in Botswana and the <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/datatin.net\/vizafrica-conference-and-symposiun\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Viz Africa conferences<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u00a0 delivered in collaboration with CODATA, World Data Systems (WDS) and Research Data Alliance (RDA).<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">I also continue to support and contribute to the implementations of the <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/codata.org\/initiatives\/making-data-work\/global-open-science-cloud\/african-open-science\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">African Open Science Platform (AOSP)<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> having been a member of technical advisory committee while it was being established in 2017.\u00a0 I strongly believe its delivery will improve on policy front across the continent.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">I currently serve as a Project Investigator on behalf of University of Botswana on several interdisciplinary projects aligned to my research area in\u00a0<\/span><b><i>Scientific Application of Data.\u00a0 <\/i><\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">These include<\/span><b><i>\u00a0<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.ub.bw\/news\/ub-advances-open-science-agenda-through-oscar-20-workshop\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Towards Open Science Communities Development in Sub-Saharan Africa Region,<\/span><\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.epdri.com\/en\/projects\/10\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">OSCAR 2.0<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> European Commission (EU) (2024 -2026)\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><a href=\"https:\/\/informaticshub.ucsf.edu\/node\/206\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Development of eHealth Enterprise Architecture for Botswana<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, Global Health Sciences at the University of California San Francisco-PEPFAR 2024\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u00a0<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov\/39383523\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Evaluating Healthcare Data Collection, Sharing and Use in Botswana.<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> Children&#8217;s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) Global Health Pilot Grant 2020\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><a href=\"https:\/\/converis.ub.bw\/converis\/portal\/detail\/Project\/8172056?auxfun=&amp;lang=en_GB\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Development of a machine learning-based model for COVID-19 Mortality Prediction in Botswana<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> (2022-2026)\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">My contribution to CODATA as an executive member has been largely on advocacy across the African continent on its mission and implementation strategy. This advocacy has led to the establishment of the newly formed\u00a0<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/codata.org\/botswana\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Botswana CODATA National Committee<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> which I am currently leading in developing its own strategy. I therefore wish to continue to serve to see to the end of this strategy and how it can be reused by other countries\u00a0 who have yet to establish their national committee across the continent.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>This is the twentieth in the series of short statements from candidates in the coming CODATA Elections at the General Assembly to be held on 17-18 October 2025. Audrey Masizana is a candidate for the CODATA Executive Committee as an Ordinary Member. She was nominated by Botswana. Affiliation: Institution:\u00a0University of Botswana\u00a0 City:\u00a0Gaborone Country:\u00a0Botswana Role: Senior [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[46],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3143","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-codata-elections-2025"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/codata.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3143","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/codata.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/codata.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/codata.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/codata.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3143"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/codata.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3143\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3145,"href":"https:\/\/codata.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3143\/revisions\/3145"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/codata.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3143"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/codata.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3143"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/codata.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3143"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}