PeopleofSuperintelligence

Researcher

Edgar Jembere

Edgar Jembere is a computer science researcher at the University of KwaZulu-Natal whose research includes natural language processing, sequence modelling and recommender systems. He coauthored studies on student-performance prediction and curiosity-driven reinforcement learning, then coauthored a SACAIR 2020 paper on sparse-reward navigation. In 2020 he supervised isiZulu word-sense disambiguation research; he co-edited SACAIR proceedings in 2022, co-chaired its technical programme in 2023, and supervised deep-learning accent-recognition research in 2025. As of October 2026, he is a Senior Lecturer and Academic Leader for Computer Science at UKZN; he holds a PhD and MSc in Computer Science and a BSc Honours in Statistics, and his work includes time-series and spatio-temporal modelling.

Timeline

  1. 2017–2018

    Predicting student performance

    At the 2017 World Engineering Education Forum, he coauthors “Matrix Factorisation for Predicting Student Performance” with Randhir Rawatlal and Anban Pillay. The study uses singular value decomposition to predict module marks from students’ previous results, and IEEE publishes it in 2018.

  2. 2019

    Exploring sparse rewards

    At FAIR 2019 in Cape Town, he coauthors “Directed curiosity-driven exploration in hard exploration, sparse reward environments” with Asad Jeewa and Anban Pillay.

  3. 2020

    Sparse reward navigation research

    For SACAIR 2020, he coauthors “Learning to Generalise in Sparse Reward Navigation Environments” with Asad Jeewa and Anban Pillay.

  4. June 2020

    IsiZulu language processing

    In June 2020, he supervises Sibonelo Dlamini’s master’s research in isiZulu natural language processing. The project applies machine learning to word-sense disambiguation.

  5. December 2022

    Editing SACAIR proceedings

    In December 2022, he co-edits the SACAIR proceedings with Anban Pillay and Aurona Gerber.

  6. 2023

    Technical programme co-chair

    He serves as a Technical Programme Co-chair for SACAIR 2023.

  7. May 2025

    Accent recognition research

    In May 2025, he supervises Yuvika Singh’s MSc research on accent recognition using deep learning. He serves on the SACAIR Steering Committee in 2025.

  8. As of October 2026

    Academic leader at UKZN

    As of October 2026, he is a Senior Lecturer in UKZN’s Computer Science Discipline and a member of the UKZN node of the Centre of Artificial Intelligence Research (CAIR). He is Academic Leader for Computer Science and co-chairs SACAIR’s 2026 technical programme. He holds a PhD and MSc in Computer Science and a BSc Honours in Statistics; his research interests include sequence modelling, natural language processing, sequential recommender systems, time-series modelling and spatio-temporal modelling.

Career

  1. NowUniversity of KwaZulu-NatalSenior Lecturer and Academic Leader for Computer Science
  2. NowCentre for Artificial Intelligence ResearchMember, UKZN node

From the biography.

  1. More people shaping AI studied at Massachusetts Institute of Technology than at any other institutionIncludes University of KwaZulu-Natal. We estimate where the people shaping AI studied and where their careers led. Massachusetts Institute of Technology leads with 467 former students, including 291 recorded doctorates.
  2. The company share of AI researchers’ top papers was 31% in 2020–2024 and 8% in 1970–1974Includes University of KwaZulu-Natal. We estimate where the people shaping AI worked when their most-cited papers appeared: the company share was 31% in 2020–2024 and 8% in 1970–1974, and Google led all organizations in 2020–2024.
  3. Google had the most people shaping AI every year from 2014 to 2025Our estimates of which organizations employed the most people shaping AI each year from 1955 to 2025, tracing the shift from university labs to companies.
  4. The United States employs an estimated 48% of people shaping AIWe estimate where the people shaping AI work today, how universities, companies and research institutes split across countries, and how country shares have changed since the 1960s.

Colleagues

People named in this biography, and people with dated positions at the same organization in the same years.

Sources and credits

Photo: We have no published photo of Edgar Jembere yet. Send us a free-licensed photo.

  1. People | CAIR cair.org.za. Checked 22 October 2026.
  2. South African Forum for Artificial Intelligence Research 2019 ceur-ws.org. Checked 22 October 2026.
  3. Programme – sacair2020 2020.sacair.org.za. Checked 22 October 2026.
  4. Master’s Research Paves Way for IsiZulu Language Processing ww2.caes.ukzn.ac.za. Checked 22 October 2026.
  5. SACAIR Online Proceedings – sacair2022 2022.sacair.org.za. Checked 22 October 2026.
  6. Committees – SACAIR2023 2023.sacair.org.za. Checked 22 October 2026.
  7. Master’s Graduate Focuses on Accent Recognition Using Deep Learning agriculture-science.ukzn.ac.za. Checked 22 October 2026.
  8. Call for Papers – SACAIR2025 2025.sacair.org.za. Checked 22 October 2026.
  9. Jembere Edgar agriculture-science.ukzn.ac.za. Checked 22 October 2026.
  10. Committees – SACAIR2026 2026.sacair.org.za. Checked 22 October 2026.