My Work Trip to South Africa 22-26 June 2025
Connection, Culture, Care, Personhood & Miracles
There were moments even down to the wire that this trip might have not happened. Fortunately stars aligned and I have so many people to thank who helped make this very heartfelt trip come true.
During my trip, I worked with many incredible and inspiring people. I loved every moment. I explored many topics from African perspectives including technology, AI, mental health and wellbeing, socioeconomic factors, culture, heritage, policy and regulation of AI and technology, education, philosophy, law, ethics, social justice, music, neuroscience, and much more. Very importantly, I learned a lot about the paramount importance of diversity, culture, context, connections and personhood while working with various leaders and community members. I was also able to respectfully carry out brain scanning sessions with members of the public while they engaged in their own chosen moments. Some real-time real-world-firsts happened.
One: Forum on Regulating AI in Mental Health
i CO-hosted A FORUM as part of my volunteer work with the IEEE STANDARDS ASSOCIATIOn
As a volunteer and Co-Chair of the IEEE Standards Association Program on Ethical Assurance of Data-Driven Technologies for Mental Healthcare, I co-hosted an in-person all-day Forum on Regulating AI in Mental Health at RoamWork in Cape Town, South Africa, on the 24th June 2025. Maria Palombini, MBA from IEEE Standards Association joined us remotely. I am extremely grateful for all she did behind the scenes to help make this event. A huge thank you to Scott Unwin and Camille Casteyln for helping me run the event and another huge thank you to all of the delegates that took time out of their busy lives to be present in person!
A special mention and thank you to the incredible Prof. Madiba for opening our Forum with a very inspiring, thought-provoking Keynote! At this Forum, speakers, moderators, and all delegates shared perspectives on approaches to safety, quality and improved protection of people, especially the most vulnerable, when working with AI-enabled technologies specifically in mental health and wellbeing spaces in Africa.
First Forum Output coming soon: Based on this Forum, many delegates are now working together to write-up the Forum discussions as a publication in partnership with IEEE SA to gather and share knowledge from the Forum that covered many topics, including the need for more nuanced approaches in diverse cultural landscapes in Africa with the aim to align with the needs of the environment, culture, and value systems of individuals, communities, and societies in Africa.
Two: Mind, Machine, Meaning & Miracles: Ethics, Creativity, and Care in AI-Driven Mental Health Innovation
i was kindly invited to give a keynote talk at The University of the Western Cape Mental Health Colloquium 26th june 2025
I am extremely honoured to have given this Keynote Presentation on 26th June 2025. The Conference venue was at Krystal Beach Hotel, Gordon’s Bay. Absolutely stunning. I will cherish this. A sincere and warm thank you to everyone involved with this Colloquium and especially so to Professor Matete Madiba Deputy Vice-Chancellor: Student Development & Support, University of the Western Cape, South Africa and her excellent colleagues Naythan Kayser, Coordinator, Office for Leadership and Social Responsibility at University of the Western Cape, and Faeza Khan, Student Development practitioner at University of the Western Cape, and Candice Seale Higher Education Specialist | Doctoral Researcher in Student Mental Health | Intervention Designer, University of the Western Cape. They all did a fantastic job and they are such a strong supportive team. World class!
I was also able to make some big announcements about WYSA 3.0. WYSA uses Neurosymbolic AI for Mental Health. It combines both natural language capabilities and explainable, safe logic, which is used by Wysa to deliver clinically grounded, emotionally intelligent support. It felt great to share some of the very latest updates!
I stayed for both days of the Colloquim 26-27th June in order to learn as much as possible. I was blown away by the Day 2 Keynote speaker, Professor Anita Padmanabhanunni - her words resonated deeply. This was my very first trip to South Africa and I knew very little about the culture in advance; however, I started to notice I could understand the incredible points she was making. This was through my parallel awareness and scholarly work involving a book I wrote called Money, Mental Health Hip-Hop and through a book I am currently writing commissioned by Nature Springer called The Ethics Of Global Digital Mental Health.
Delegates from many universities across South Africa attended. I learned so much it felt incredible. I also did some incredible brain scanning while I was at the Colloquium, which I will discuss in the next section.
Three: Real-World Real-Time Brain Mapping of the South African Human Experience
The Lαβ had its debut ‘your moment’ Pop-ups in multiple spaces while I visited South Africa.
23 june - bertha house
Scott Unwin and Wisasal Abrahams have been so incredibly considerate, passionate, and extremely knowledgeable. They safely and respectfully helped me to connect in authentic and trustworthy ways with local communities to explore people ‘s chosen moments. We collaborated on the 23rd June scanning members of the Malay Choir, always at the pace of trust and with culture and heritage at the heart of it all. Photo below right Scott Unwin also engaging with his own experience.
Project Balance: Anonymous Participant Data & Their Chosen Moment to Internally Reflect on Life’s Balance
This data image is just a snapshot, but a much deeper dive was performed including the time stamping events like when words were written on paper by the participant, what words were written while the person internally reflected, and other behavioural and environmental changes like music changes in the backdrop. The yellow colour above represents when the right frontal cortex was active and the red colour represents when the left frontal cortex was active. The person was going back and forth with two particular styles of thinking hence the red and yellow are interchanging. After over a half hour the participant wanted to see if they could consolidate both ways of thinking in order to achieve mental balance. This Anonymous person is a member of the Malay Choir, but for respect and privacy purposes nothing more will be shared here.
26 - 27 June - Krystal beach hotel, gordon’s bay
As part of The Lαβ, I will also be popping-up during the University of the Western Cape Colloquium 26-27th June 2025 in Gordon’s Bay, South Africa. We are very open to scanning participants to explore their chosen moments, very similar to how we did our Singapore Pop-up in October 2024.
I brain scanned numerous people, some were very playful wanting to listen to nostalgic music they loved, others wanted to safely, internally reflect on a previous trauma, while others wanted to explore what they want to do in life. All experiences were amazing and great feedback was provided.
Brain Scanning Participants engaging in a VR Experience Dedicated to Wellbeing, Gratitude, Relationships, Culture, and Heritage
more background about the lab
visit our web page
Step into 'The Moment' with The Lαβ where we fuse science with creativity and personal reflection. We are always ethically guided by what people want to explore about themselves and their choose meaningful moments. Through EEG brain activity technology and our bespoke human-centred methodologies, we can visualise these moments, offering opportunities for both internal and external reflection. We collaborate with anyone from the general public to explore the dynamic interplay between creativity and the mind, investigating how different personal experiences impact our brains. We always prioritise ethics, and we are always guided by individuals and their chosen moments. We're an inclusive community, embracing people of all backgrounds and abilities.
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US at The Lab have teamed up with incredible legal and ethics experts to write academic papers within South African contexts on these topics below (both currently under review)!
In the build-up to my trip to South Africa, knowing that I would be working on regulation of AI in mental health and also doing brain scanning sessions with local heritage and technology leaders in culturally sensitive ways, I also teamed up with legal and ethical experts based in South Africa to write some academic papers (below). These manuscripts are currently under review and I will be meeting with one of the co-authors at our Forum while I am in South Africa to discuss how our modified consent form for our brain scanning sessions can be culturally adapted by working with our community and heritage experts with local communities!
“Contextualising Mental Privacy in South Africa: Legal, Ethical, and Socio-Cultural Considerations with Policy Recommendations.” Full author list: Marietjie Wilhelmina Maria Botes; Melodie Labuschaigne; Camille Castelyn; Becky Inkster; Mark Sheppard
"Decoding the Brain, Respecting the Person: A Neuroethical Inquiry into Consent and Cognitive Liberty in South Africa". Full author list: Marietjie Wilhelmina Maria Botes; Melodie Labuschaigne; Camille Castelyn; Becky Inkster; Mark Sheppard