Andrew Lewis of UCT's ICTS department presented a paper titled Development of a sustainable e?infrastructure for academic research support at the University of Cape Town at the recent IST-Africa 2010 conference in Durban.

The paper, co-written with Dr Bruce Becker from the Meraka Institute, discussed the issues surrounding user engagement during the development of e-infrastructures in Southern Africa.

IST-Africa 2010, the largest IT conference in Africa, was hosted by the Department of Science and Technology and technically co-sponsored by IEEE and the Computer Society of South Africa. The focus was on The Role of ICT for Africa's Development, and specifically on applied ICT research in the areas of e-Health, Technology Enhanced Learning and ICT Skills, Digital Libraries, Technology Transfer, Open Source Software, ICT for e-Inclusion and e-Accessibility, e-Infrastructures, RFID and ICT for Networked Enterprise, e-Government and e-Democracy

The conference attracted delegates and IT portfolio ministers from African and European countries, including the director-general of the Department of Science and Technology and the European Commission's director-general for Information Society and Media. Naledi Pandor, South Africa's Minister of Science and Technology, delivered one of the keynote addresses.

"This was a fantastic opportunity for UCT's IT staff to engage with other IT experts and share their views on the challenges and opportunities presented by large scale e?Infrastructure," said ICTS's Steff Hughes.