SACLA 2025: Southern African Computer Lecturers' Association 2025 Tuscan Rose Bloemfontein, South Africa, July 30-August 1, 2025

The University of the Free State proudly announces the 54th Annual Conference of the Southern African Computer Lecturers' Association (SACLA). This in-person conference provides a distinguished platform for exchanging original research and practical experiences, fostering dialogue on the teaching and learning of Information Systems, Computer Science, Information Technology, and related disciplines.

Conference Theme

Innovation in CS, IS, and IT Education: Navigating the Next Frontier

SACLA 2025 invites researchers, practitioners, and industry representatives to contribute to this discourse. The conference will cover a diverse range of topics within the overarching theme, including but not limited to:

• Preparing students for the future workforce in CS, IS, and IT.
• Innovative teaching methods and new technologies.
• Expanding access to CS, IS, and IT education.
• Humanising CS, IS, and IT education: Inclusive teaching practices.
• Bridging the gap between academia and industry.
• Ethical challenges in teaching CS, IS, and IT.
• Leveraging Generative AI (GenAI) to advance and/or enhance CS, IS, and IT education.
• The impact of GenAI on CS, IS, and IT education.

Submission Categories

Full Papers:

• Full Papers (minimum of 12 pages, and a maximum of 16 pages in the Springer LNCS format) that report on completed research, inclusive of results.
• Full papers will be reviewed by three reviewers following a double-blind peer review process. Papers will be evaluated according to their novel research contribution, methodological soundness, theoretical framing and reference to related work, quality of analysis, and quality of writing and presentation.
• Only original, unpublished, research papers in English will be considered.
• As in previous years, the programme committee will apply to Springer for publication of the conference’s best full papers in a Communications in Computer and Information Science (CCIS) volume (Scopus-indexed).
• Accepted full papers not selected for the (potential) Springer CCIS publication will be eligible for inclusion in the SACLA 2025 local conference proceedings.
• All accepted full papers are DHET subsidy-bearing.
• Accepted full papers must be presented at the conference to be published in either volume.
• All submitted papers will undergo a pre-screening process by the programme chairs before sending them out for review. The programme chairs reserve the right to perform early rejection of any paper that does not meet the minimum quality/formatting/scope requirements.

Research-in-progress Papers:

• Research-in-progress papers (minimum of 6 pages, and a maximum of 8 pages) that report intermediate results of ongoing research projects which align with the conference scope.
• Research-in-progress papers will be reviewed by members of the programme committee but will not undergo a double-blind review process.
• Accepted research-in-progress papers will be included in the conference pack and must be presented at the conference.
• These submissions are not DHET subsidy-bearing.

Author Guidelines:

• All papers must follow the Springer LNCS template (see https://www.springer.com/gp/computer-science/lncs/conference-proceedings-guidelines). 
• Authors should guarantee the anonymity of their submissions by removing names and affiliations from the first page and elsewhere in the paper that would allow reviewers to easily identify authors.
• All papers must be submitted as per the guidelines provided at https://sacla2025.ufs.ac.za/paper-submissions.

Important Dates:

• Call for papers: 7 October 2024
• Paper submission deadline: 10 March 2025
• Notification of acceptance: 6 May 2025
• Camera-ready submission: 20 May 2025
• Registration: 6 – 31 May 2025
• Conference dates: 30 July – 1 Aug 2025

Conference website: https://sacla2025.ufs.ac.za

Venue: Tuscan Rose, Bloemfontein, South Africa (https://tuscanrose.co.za)

Local organising committee:

• Conference chair: Dr Bennie Botha
• Conference vice-chair: Dr Wynand Nel
• Conference Programme chair: Prof Liezel Nel
• Conference Programme vice-chair: Prof Tanya Stott
• Logistics: Mrs Suezette Opperman
• Sponsors: Prof Eduan Kotzé
• Treasurer: Dr Rouxan Fouché

For inquiries, contact the Conference Programme Chair (NelL@ufs.ac.za) or the Conference Chair (BothaBS@ufs.ac.za).