Welcome DSFSI Postdoc Dr Idris Abdulmumin

Welcome Dr Idris Abdulmumin to the Computer Science department at University of Pretoria. He is joining Data Science for Social Impact Research Group as a Postdoctoral Fellow through the ABSA UP Chair of Data Science.

Idris obtained his PhD in August 2023, marking a significant milestone in his academic journey. His doctoral research focused on enhancing machine translation systems for low resource languages by harnessing the power of monolingual data. This endeavor not only allowed him to delve deep into the intricacies of Natural Language Processing (NLP) but also sparked my passion for bridging language barriers through technology.

Throughout Idris’ doctoral and postdoctoral years, he had the privilege of collaborating extensively with fellow researchers in the field. His involvement with organizations like Masakhane, HausaNLP, and LITHME expanded his horizons and provided valuable insights into the global NLP community. These collaborations enriched Idris’ knowledge and fostered a spirit of innovation that continues to drive his research.

Beyond machine translation, Idris’ journey in NLP has been diverse. He has been involved in various NLP projects, including sentiment analysis and semantic relatedness, exploring the multifaceted landscape of language processing. As he transitions into his postdoctoral fellowship, Idris is excited to embark on a new challenge: developing resource-efficient language models, especially for African languages. The future holds exciting prospects for him as he aims to contribute to the development of sustainable and accessible language technologies in Africa.