The University of the Western Cape (UWC) will proudly represent South Africa on the global stage as part of the national team competing at the Supercomputing Conference in Hamburg, Germany, in June 2025.

This comes after a team of UWC staff and students made their mark at the Centre for High-Performance Computing (CHPC) 2024 Conference in Gqeberha in December. The annual conference brought together leading experts, researchers and students to explore the forefront of computational science and its transformative potential across diverse fields. UWC competed in the Datathon, CHPC and Cybersecurity categories.

Computational Science is an interdisciplinary field that uses advanced computing, mathematical modelling and simulation to solve complex scientific and engineering problems. At UWC, researchers analyse large datasets, simulate real-world systems and develop innovative solutions in areas such as physics, biology and climate science.

Students who participated in the final CHPC competition were selected through a highly competitive process. UWC featured one team in Cybersecurity, one in Data Science and two in High-Performance Computing (HPC), with most participants from the Computer Science Department. Each team had a unique name including the CHPC Wizards which yielded a star performer - Lisa Pitsi. 

Pitsi was selected to be part of the six member team that will represent South Africa at this conference and competition from 10-13 June.

She said that through this experience she has gained deeper insights into HPC , teamwork and the value of pushing boundaries. “These lessons will stay with me as we represent South Africa on the global stage at the upcoming International SuperComputing Conference in Hamburg, Germany ISC-SCC 2025!"

Dr Andre Henney from UWC’s Computer Science Department was pivotal in selecting and mentoring the students. Peter van Heusden, from the university’s South African National Bioinformatics Institute,  was instrumental in training the two HPC teams. Two postgraduate students in Computer Science - Meshack Sedzani and Ruchelle Coetzee - mentored the Data Science and HPC teams, respectively.

UWC eResearch Director, Prof Clement Nyirenda, said: “These accomplishments highlight UWC’s growing strength in HPC and Data Science. Building on these successes, the focus will be on preparing for the 2025 competitions. The students are eager and motivated but will require financial support to organise hackathons and training workshops.”

Vutomi Mohube, a member of UWC Dataholics, said: "This experience has been a defining chapter in my journey, and I’m excited about what lies ahead. To anyone reading this: Never stop chasing your dreams, even when the road gets tough- it’s always worth it in the end!"

Team UWC’s notable achievements include:

• The UWC Data Science team, consisting of Vutomi Mohube, Gabriella Mandebvu, Viroshen Sewpaul, and Kevin Nkansah, earned multiple accolades, including the Most Improved Team Award and the Data Science Research team winning third place in the research challenge. The topic for the competition was "AI for Social Good."

• The Data Science team won the MATLAB Challenge (MATLAB software - an app and programme language platform used by engineers and scientists). The team used historical weather data from about 2011-2024 to forecast the minimum and maximum temperatures at one specific centre for three days.

• Vutomi Mohube, a member of the Dataholics Data Science team, was awarded a State Information Technology Agency (SITA) internship

• The UWC HPC Wizards team, consisting of  Lisa Pitsi, Justin Cheney, Mukize Habiyaremye and Mueen Dawood, placed 3rd overall in the Student HPC Cluster Competition.