Prof Karim Djouani is a full Professor, scientist and technical group supervisor in the domain of pattern recognition, soft computing, networking systems and robotics. He was awarded The South African Research Chairs Initiative (SARChI) chair in Enabled Environment for Assistive Living in January 2015. From June 2012 to July 2016, he served as the Deputy Director responsible for research at the IUT-CV (University Institute of Technology) at the University Paris Est-Creteil (UPEC). Prof Djouani was appointed as a full professor at the French South African Institute of Technology (F’SATI) at Tshwane University of Technology (TUT), South Africa in January 2011. From July 2008 to December 2010, he was seconded to the French South African Institute of Technology (F’SATI) at Tshwane University of Technology (TUT). He heads the SIRIUS team of the LISSI Lab, University Paris Est. He also served as the national and European projects manager at the LISSI Lab until July 2008.
Prof Djouan has experience in the development of industrial project contracts and technology transfer with SMMEs and large industry groups. He has conducted and/or contributed significantly to a number of projects since 1995, contracted directly with the industry or under specific contracts with the industry and support from public institutions [Ile de France region innovation supports, French National Research Agency (ANR) and French Agency for Valorisation of Research (Anvar), Europe and since 2008, the South African National Research Foundation (NRF) and the South African Technology Innovation Agency (TIA)]. His research activity is mainly technology and innovation-oriented. The flagship projects within the Chair include the following:
- Exoskeletons design for assistance and Rehabilitation (NRF/DST SARChI chair)
- Humanoid robots (NRF/DST SARChI chair)
- Pattern Recognition, Riemannian Geometry and Brain Computer Interface (NRF/DST SARChI chair)
- UAVS and drones design and control [Council for Scientific and Industrial Research is South Africa (CSIR)]
- Long Range Wireless Access Point Design [South African Technology Innovation Agency (TIA)]
- Multi-vector Gateway for Internet of Things (Telkom Centre of Excellence in Telecommunication)
- Massive Internet of Things and Cloud AI Platforms (Telkom Centre of Excellence in Telecommunication)
- Smart ID design for security and services in smart spaces [Tshwane University of Technology/French South African Institute of Technology (TUT/F’SATI)]
He authored/co-authored over 300 articles in archival journals and conference proceedings, 18 chapters in edited books, and two books and three patents. He has extensive experience in the supervision of postgraduate students. The developed research concerns assistive living technologies. The newly developed systems adapt their behaviour to the needs of the user and to specific situations. The research activities aim to contribute at different levels in the following domains:
- Robotic systems design and control with human in the loop.
- Pattern recognition techniques for human intention detection.
- Robust control strategies.
- Uncertainties handling in complex system
Prof Djouani’ s current research interest Reasoning systems with uncertainty and optimization for distributed systems, networked control systems, and Robotics. He holds a DSc in Artificila Intelligence and Robotics, PhD in Control Engineering and MPhil in Engineering Physical Sciences from Universite Paris-Est Creteil Val de Marne; and MEng in Mechanics from Université d’Oum El Bouaghi, Algeria.
