Associate Professor: Software Engineering
Namibia University of Science and Technology (NUST)
ResearchGate: https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Colin-Stanley-2/stats
ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3011-3236
Google Scholar: https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=g337JV4AAAAJ&hl=en
Leadership and Professional Service
| Year | Role / Service |
|---|---|
| 2025 | Board Member and ICT Expert, Agricultural Bank of Namibia (Agribank) |
| 2024 | Community Track Co-chair, Participatory Design Conference (PDC) |
| 2023 | Member, Namibian Government Green Hydrogen Negotiating Team |
| 2022–Date | Member, National Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR) Research and Development Workstream |
| 2021 | General Co-chair, International Conference on Data Science, Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence (DSMLAI) |
| 2021 | General Chair, International Multidisciplinary Information Technology and Engineering Conference (IMITEC) |
| 2020 | Research Leader, Indigenous Knowledge Management System research sub-cluster; Principal Investigator, Digitalisation of Cultural Heritage Project |
Biography
Prof Colin Stanley is the Deputy Vice-Chancellor: Research, Innovation and Partnerships at the Namibia University of Science and Technology and an Associate Professor in Software Engineering. He is a strategic academic leader committed to strengthening research, innovation, entrepreneurship and partnerships to position NUST as a research-intensive and nationally responsive institution.
His leadership portfolio includes the facilitation of the NUST Lüderitz research-focused satellite campus, the revision of research-related policies approved by Council, the advancement of the NUST Science Technology Parks proposal, and the editing of the NUST Annual Research Report. He has also spearheaded major institutional partnerships, contributed to the feasibility study for a Civil Aviation Centre of Excellence in Namibia for Africa, initiated the Partnerships Agreement System and eduroam access at NUST, and led the InfoRange research project valued at NAD 54 million.
Prof Stanley is recognised as the visionary behind flagship innovation initiatives such as the Technology Transfer Office for intellectual property management, the Science and Technovation Park Concept, the postgraduate-focused Technovation Park in Lüderitz, and the High-Tech Transfer Plaza Select (HTTPS), which brings together academia, industry, entrepreneurs, students and development partners to co-create solutions in emerging fields such as fintech, telemedicine, artificial intelligence and green hydrogen.
As a scholar, his work is distinguished by research in Community-Based Co-Design of software applications for safeguarding Indigenous Knowledge. His approach is grounded in Afrocentric epistemology and prioritises humanness, ethics and meaningful engagement in the co-design process. He has an established research profile, with an h-index of 13, more than 450 citations, and over 30 peer-reviewed publications.
Qualifications
Research Focus Areas
Teaching
Undergraduate
- Algorithm and Design
- Programming 1A and 1B
- Database Programming
- Software Analysis and Design
- Software Quality and Testing
- Enterprise Web Application Development
Postgraduate Supervision and Research Mentorship
Prof Stanley has supervised and mentored postgraduate research in areas such as low-resourced language technologies, machine learning applications for gender-based violence prediction, virtual cultural heritage, genealogy tools, and digital frameworks for safeguarding Indigenous Knowledge. He is also involved in PhD supervision in Indigenous Knowledge systems, adaptive software interfaces for indigenous communities, and participatory co-production for ocean heritage preservation.
Community Development Activities
Selected Publications
- Mbinge, U., Stanley, C., Kandjabanga, I., Muashekele, C., Koruhama, K. A., Kapuire, G. K., Maasz, D., & Winschiers-Theophilus, H. (2025). Co-creating digital representations of indigenous knowledge: an ovaHimba curated digital repository. International Journal on Digital Libraries, 26(1), 7.
- Winschiers-Theophilus, H., Zaman, T., & Stanley, C. (2017). A classification of cultural engagements in community technology design: introducing a transcultural approach. AI & Society.
- Stanley, C., Cabrero, D. G., Winschiers-Theophilus, H., & Blake, E. (2017). Challenges in designing cultural heritage crowdsourcing: tools with indigenous communities. In Cultural Heritage Communities.
- Becker, K., Meyer, M., Stanley, C., & Gamundani, A. M. (2023). A Global Intercultural Project Experience (GIPE): Reflections on combining online and onsite project-based learning across four continents.
- Taapopi, N., Stanley, C., & Azeta, A. A. (2023). Strategies for Developing Acoustic Model to Pronounce Names in Low-Resourced Languages.
- Shifidi, P. P., Stanley, C., & Azeta, A. A. (2023). Machine Learning-Based Analytical Process for Predicting the Occurrence of Gender-Based Violence.
- Blake, E., Mbinge, U., Winschiers-Theophilus, H., Maasz, D., Stanley, C., Muashekele, C. P., & Kapuire, G. K. (2021). Going beyond empowered design by scaffolding inter-community engagement.
- Stanley, C., Winschiers-Theophilus, H., Blake, E., Rodil, K., & Kapuire, G. K. (2015). Ovahimba community in Namibia ventures into crowdsourcing design.
- Stanley, C., Winschiers-Theophilus, H., Onwordi, M., & Kapuire, G. K. (2013). Rural communities crowdsource technology development: A Namibian Expedition.
