Teaching
Current teaching - Recent industry teaching - Past courses (university) - Summer schools and guest lectures - Graduated PhD, MSc, honours students
Teaching in 2026
- Ontology Engineering. Honours (4th year) in CS course, 2026-present. (Parts I and II and part of Part III of this textbook).
- Current postgraduate students:
- Toky Raboanary (PhD; 2019-)
- Tadiwa Magwenzi (MSc; 2024-)
- Phuthang Makhupane (MSc; 2023-)
- CS Honours (4th year) projects (2026):
- TBA
Graduated postgraduate students
- PhD:
- Zola Mahlaza (PhD; 2018-2022); currently a lecturer at UCT
- Joan Byamugisha (PhD, 2015-2019); currently in industry (IBM)
- Yamiko Msosa (PhD; 2014-2018); currently in industry (Dimagi)
- Zubeida Khan (PhD, 2014-2017); currently a senior researcher at CSIR, South Africa
- Sindiso Nleya (PhD, 2014-2016); currently an academic at the National University of Science and Technology, Bulawayo, Zimbabwe
- MSc (by research)/M. IT (mini-dissertation):
- Leighton Dawson (MSc; 2020-2025)
- Jacques de Lange (M. IT; 2021-2024)
- Kyle Seakgwa (M. IT; 2021-2024)
- Cameron Kyle (M. IT; 2017-2018)
- Zola Mahlaza (MSc CS; 2016-2018)
- Tresor Mvumbi (MSc CS; 2014-2016)
- Tamindran Shunmugam (M. IT; 2014-2016)
- Nasubo Ongoma (MSc CS; 2013-2014; cum laude)
- Zubeida Khan (MSc CS; 2012-2013, cum laude)
- BSc CS (Honours) projects:
-
2024:
- TRENDy: temporal database generation tooling: Stephan Maree and Richard Taylor
- Toolkit for an Abstract wikipedia: CRAFT and TempTing: Jordy Kafwe and Matthew Craig
- Composing wikipedia articles from wikidata: CoSMo Studio and isiZulu nounclass tagger: Imaan Sayed and Imaan Salie
-
2023:
- Lexical resources for generating Wikipedia articles from Wikidata: Tadiwa Magwenzi and Zahraa Hoosen
- Generating adaptive learning materials: Nervesh Naidoo, Muhammad Hassiem, and Chiranjeev Nathoo (main supervisor: Toky Raboanary)
-
2021:
- Software for Afro-Latin dance in South Africa: James Kriel, Ana Dauane, and Simangaliso Mncwango
- Digital Assistant for Financial Transactions: Amy Solomons and Junior Moraba
-
2020:
- Social Dance App: Kouthar Dollie and Carryn Joseph
- A computational analysis of SA English: Alec Badenhorst and Umar Khan
- Knowledge-driven databases (as part of KnowID): Mandisa Baleni and Bradley Malgas
- Generating natural language text in isiZulu from mathematical expressions: Shan Smith (main supervisor: Zola Mahlaza)
- 2019:
- Salsational Dance Application: Alka Baijnath, Jordy Chetty, and Micara Marajh
- Toward smart textbooks: Kyle Robbertze and Steve Wang
- Comparing end-to-end models and templates for Generating text: Jarryd Dunn and Matthew Poulter (main supervisor: Zola Mahlaza)
- 2017:
- Spellcheckers for isiZulu and isiXhosa: Nthabiseng Mashiane, Frida Mjaria, and Siseko Neti
- Automated marking of language learning exercises: Soham Singh, Nikhil Gilbert, and Kgotso Nkosi
- 2016: Toward Test-driven development of ontologies: Kieren Davies, Ameerah Allie
- 2015:
- VerbOWL: verbalising OWL ontologies in Afrikaans: Lauren Sanby, Ion Todd
- An isiZulu spellchecker: Victor Kabine, with Balone Ndaba (co-supervisor; currently a MSc student at UCT)
- TravelSearch: faceted search for travel destinations: Dylan Henderson, Luqmaan Salie, Ngonidzashe Choga
- 2014: Protected areas database: Alex Hall, Matthew Welham
- 2013: Asive Dlaba, Siyabonga Madlala
- 2011: Zubeida Khan (with distinction); graduated with a MSc cum laude from UKZN and a PhD from UCT in the meantime
- 2009: Giorgio Stefanoni; graduated with an EMCL MSC and then a PhD from Oxford in the meantime
-
2024:
- Students' theses supervision at all levels
- BSc, MSc, PhD exam commission membership and external examiner (at UCT, UKZN, FUB, EPFL/LBD, UNS, and others)
Courses taught (semester or block, university)
- Ontology engineering:
- Ontology Engineering (CSC5028Z). MSc in CS course, UCT, 2019-2024. (roughly block I and II of this textbook).
- Ontology Engineering. 10 credits, BSc in CS Honours course, UCT, 2014-2017. (roughly block I and II of this textbook).
- Ontologies and Knowledge Bases (COMP720; used to be COMP718 in 2011 and 2012). 16 credits BSc in CS Honours (4th year) course, UKZN, 2011, 2012, semester 1; 2013 semester 2; Lecturer, including course development. 10-15 students.
- Semantic Web Technologies (2009/2010, MSc-level, 4 ECTS; course code 72010, part of the European Masters in Computational Logic), Lecturer. Course websites with the details of the lectures: the first part by Jos de Bruijn and second part by me.
- Logic (2007/2008, BSc-level, 4 ECTS; course code 70014, BSc-level); Teaching Assistant; setting labs and midterm. Exercises and supplementary material.
- Databases:
- Big Data (CSC4023Z), 4th year BSc in CS honours course at UCT, 2024.
- Databases (CSC5013Z), MSc in IT conversion masters, UCT, 2021.
- Database Systems (COMP306), 16 credits, 3rd year BSc in CS module, UKZN, 2012, 2013, semester 1; Lecturer, including course development. 25-35 students
- Theory of computation:
- Theory of Computation (part of CSC3003S), 3rd year BSc in CS core module; 2021, 2023-2024.
- Theory of Computation (COMP314). 16 credits 3rd year undergraduate core module, UKZN, 2nd semester 2011, 2012; Lecturer, including course development. about 70 students
- Compilers I (CSC4021Z), 4th year BSc in CS honours module, UCT, 2019-2020 (and supervisory role in 2021).
- Soft skills for computing:
- Social Issues and Professional Practice [Computer Ethics] (part of CSC1016S; 1st year CS course), UCT; 2016-2021, 2023. SIPP lecture notes
- Social Issues and Professional Practice [Computer Ethics] (CSC5014Z), MSc in IT conversion masters, UCT, 2018-2021. SIPP lecture notes
- Research methods (CSC5017Z), MSc in IT conversion masters at UCT, 2024.
- Research methods (part of CSC4019Z), 4th year BSc in CS honours module, 2019, 2024.
- Research statistics (part of the Research methods course for postgraduate students), August 2015-2017, 2019, 2021, 2023 at UCT; (5-6h).
- Computing for Natural Scientists (COMP106), 16 credits, semester 2, UKZN 2013; Lecturer. 200 students
- Computer networks:
- Networks (CSC5010Z), Masters in IT, 2014-2017, 2023-2024.
- Networks 2 (part of CSC3002F), 3rd year BSc in CS core module, UCT; 2023.
- Networks (part of CSC3002F, 3rd year BSc in CS core module) UCT, 2014-2017.
- Networks (CSC5010Z, Masters in IT), UCT, 2014-2017.
- Course Convenor:
- CS1 convenor (CSC1015F and CSC1016S), 2015-2017, CSC1017F in 2015, CSC1010H and CSC1011H in 2019;
- CS2 convenor (CSC2001F, CSC2002S, CSC2004Z, CSC2005Z) in 2020 and 2021; CSC2005Z (undergraduate research project) Convenor, 2024
- CS Honours Programme Convenor, 2024
Tutorials and short courses (university, international academic events)
Summer schools, event tutorials
- Competency Questions for Ontologies. Educational Series on Applied Ontology (ESAO'23). December 17, 2024, online.
- Foundations of ontology-based data access and Principles and methods for good ontologies. International School on Applied Ontology (ISAO'23). Sherbrooke, Canada, 10-14 July, 2023.
- Generating text from ontologies in multiple languages, a JOWO 2022 tutorial. Jönköping, Sweden, 15-19 August, 2022.
- Semantics and conceptual modelling. International School on Applied Ontology (ISAO'18), Cape Town, 10-15 September, 2018.
- Representing and reasoning over relationships in ontologies. Forum on AI Research 2014 (FAIR'14), Stellenbosch, South Africa, 3-5 December, 2014. tutorial
- Introduction to ontology engineering, with emphasis on Semantic Web Technologies as part of the Masters Ontology Winter School 2010, 16-30 July, Meraka Institute, South Africa; Lecturer; includes course development and teaching (15+7 hours lectures and labs).
- Representing and reasoning over a taxonomy of part-whole relations. Mini Ontology Winter School (MOWS 2008), Knowledge System Group, Meraka Institute, 1-11 July 2008, Pretoria, South Africa. A shorter version was presented at the University of South Africa, Pretoria, on August 6, 2008.
- NLP for African (Nguni) languages. Guest lecture 3rd year BSc in CS NLP course, Poznan University of Technology, Poznan, Poland, 10 April 2018.
- Foundations and recent trends on ontology engineering. Course at the Erasmus Mundus Master's Programme in Information Technologies for Business Intelligence (IT4BI)/Erasmus Mundus Joint Master Degree Programme in Big Data Management and Analytics (BDMA). Universitat Politecnica de Catalunya, Barcelona, Spain. 2017. 1 ECTS. slides: Foundations and Recent trends (selected methods)
- Top-down Ontology Development. Guest Lecture of the Ontology and Knowledge Based Systems fourth year (honours) course, University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, South Africa, d.d. 17-18 August 2010.
- Introduction to Ontology Engineering: Foundations and applications, 5-15 July 2010, Universidad de las Ciencias Informáticas, Cuba; Lecturer; includes course development and teaching (20+10 hours lectures and labs).
- Comprehensive introduction to ontology engineering, 5-16 April 2010, MSc-level, 30 hours, Universidad de la Habana, Cuba; Lecturer; includes course development, teaching, and labs.
- Semantic Web for the Life Sciences. Guest lecture d.d. 23-5-2007 as part of the course 'Semantic Web Technologies' (course code: 70175, MSc-level), Free University of Bozen-Bolzano, Italy.
- Introduction to part-whole relations: mereology, conceptual modelling and mathematical aspects. Tutorial given on 23-10-2006 at the KRDB Research Centre, Free University of Bozen-Bolzano, Italy.
- ORM introduction. Seminar given on 27-4-2004 at the Laboratory of Applied Ontology, Trento, and Free University Bolzano/Bozen, Italy.
Recent industry teaching
- Modelling Information for Data Analysis and Critical Thinking. Digital Learning Hub, Luxembourg, December 2025.
- Information Modelling for System Design. Digital Learning Hub, Luxembourg, December 2025.
- Introduction to AI & IT Ethics: Why an AI Act Is Needed. Digital Learning Hub, Luxembourg, September 2025