Dr Tope Samuel Adeyelure, Senior lecturer at the Department of Informatics.
Dr Adeyelure’s paper aimed to identify factors that will inform the readiness of private health sectors in South Africa towards the adoption of Geographical Information Systems (GIS) for pre to post COVID-19 management.
“The review process for this article was rigorous,” said Dr Adeyelure. While the article was peered reviewed internationally, it was also thoroughly analysed to meet Springer’s publication standard for manuscript preparation,” he added.
According to him, the most interesting findings of this research paper are that contact tracing and pattern establishment are among the most effective tools in curbing the rise of infections and putting targeted intervention plans in place in specific areas. GIS is mostly used for informed decision-making in matters like logistics, health, crime, social welfare, pattern analysis based on mapping, and more. These decisions are made by leveraging spatial data. Using several scientific methods and statistical tools from a positivist lens, the study identified contextualised factors that may inform the readiness of private healthcare sectors towards adopting a GIS in pre to post COVID-19 pandemic management.
A readiness assessment model was then developed based on the identified factors.
The model that he developed for this paper, can be used by by the South African Government, Private Healthcare Sector and subsequently extended to the public healthcare sector, as well as associated bodies to assess their readiness toward adopting GIS for future pandemic control and management.
Dr Adeyelure completed his PhD in 2016, in the field of Computer Science and Data processing (Business Information Technology), at TUT’s Faculty of ICT, Department of Informatics. He is a seasoned researcher who has published in various accredited journals and peer reviewed conference papers with globally recognised publishers. These include inter alia, the International Journal of Smart Education and Urban Society, International Journal of Business Intelligence and Systems Engineering, as well as the International Congress on Information and Communication Technology.
Commenting on this stellar achievement, he said, “I feel humbled and ever more driven to constantly contribute to my immediate environment in South Africa and globally, through contextualised, driven and innovative research. I would also like to appreciate the Faculty of ICT and the Department of Informatics for continuously creating an enabling environment for research and innovation through various progressive initiatives,” he concluded.