George Sichinga — Data Scientist & Applied Researcher

Applied Data Scientist

Conference · MAREN-LUANAR 2025

CNN Tomato Disease Detection

3 days → <2 hrs via HPC

HPC Presenter

Community · RUsersMalawi

R & Python Facilitator

Researchers & students · LUANAR

Active Facilitator

GEORGE

SICHINGA

Data Scientist Agricultural Economist Lilongwe, Malawi

MSc Applied Data Science · LUANAR · georgesichinga31@gmail.com

georgesichinga.github.io

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Machine Learning✦ Climate Modelling✦ Agricultural Economics✦ Satellite Data · AOD✦ SHAP Explainability✦ Random Forest · LSTM✦ Python · R · Stata✦ HPC Computing✦ Survey Design✦ Geospatial Analysis✦ Machine Learning✦ Climate Modelling✦ Agricultural Economics✦ Satellite Data · AOD✦ SHAP Explainability✦ Random Forest · LSTM✦ Python · R · Stata✦ HPC Computing✦ Survey Design✦ Geospatial Analysis✦

Background

#	Institution	Period	Degree / Qualification	Status
1	Lilongwe University of Agriculture and Natural Resources (LUANAR)	2024 – Present	MSc Applied Data Science (Environment and Climate Modelling)	Ongoing
2	Lilongwe University of Agriculture and Natural Resources (LUANAR)	2020 – 2024	BSc Agricultural and Applied Economics	Graduated with Credit

Certifications → Machine Learning Fundamentals (2024) · Data Science & Applied Data Science Fundamentals (2024) · Aspire Leadership Programme (2024)

Programming Languages

Python

SQL

C++

PHP

ML / Data Science

Scikit-learn

TensorFlow

Pandas

NumPy SHAP Geopandas

Data Tools

Power BI STATA

RStudio Excel

Streamlit

Web / Backend

NestJS

Next.js

MySQL USSD API

Research Methods

Survey Design · Statistical Analysis · Geospatial Analysis · Remote Sensing · ML Modelling

Other Technical

GitHub HPC (MAREN) · Report Writing · Stakeholder Engagement

Languages

English (Proficient) | Chichewa (Native) | Chitumbuka (Native)

Training & Facilitation

R Facilitator — RUsersMalawi Consortium
Python Facilitator — LUANAR

Projects

#	Project	Period	Stack	Link
1	PM2.5 Air Pollution Forecasting, Lilongwe MSc Thesis. ML-based urban air quality forecasting using satellite AOD and meteorological data. SHAP for interpretability.	2025 – Present	Python TensorFlow Random ForestLSTMSHAP	repo coming soon
2	Tomato Leaf Disease Detection (CNN) Co-developed CNN model for tomato leaf disease classification. 3 days → <2 hrs training via HPC. Presented at MAREN-LUANAR 2025.	2024 – 2025	Python TensorFlow CNNHPC	repo coming soon
3	USSD Market Linkage Platform — Smallholder Legume Farmers USSD platform connecting smallholder legume farmers to formal markets in Malawi.	2024 – 2025	PHP MySQL USSD API	repo coming soon
4	Malawi News Analytics Pipeline & Sentiment Dashboard End-to-end NLP pipeline scraping Times.mw with interactive Streamlit sentiment dashboard.	2024	Python Streamlit NLP	GitHub →
5	Student Records Management System Full-stack student records system.	2024	NestJS Next.js MySQL	GitHub →
6	Machine Learning in R — RUsersMalawi Workshop Workshop materials for ML in R, developed and delivered for RUsersMalawi Consortium.	2024	R TidyverseCaret	GitHub →
7	Data Mining Using A Priori Algorithm — Movie Rentals Association rule mining applied to movie rental data.	2024	R ArulesData Mining	GitHub →

Experience

#	Period	Organisation	Position	Key Responsibilities
1	Sep – Oct 2025	MAR Phiri and Associates	Research Assistant	Collected, compiled and validated household and farm-level data for the AGRA Value Chain Survey. Programmed Survey Solutions questionnaires and checklists. Preliminary data analysis using STATA. Report writing.
2	Oct – Nov 2024	Centre for Agricultural Research and Development (CARD), LUANAR	Field Supervisor	Supervised enumerators across multiple field sites. Managed data quality assurance, training, and performance feedback. Ensured timely and accurate delivery of survey data.
3	2023	SDE Consulting Malawi	M&E Intern	Collected and analysed economic and operational data for performance tracking. Assisted in writing proposals, EOIs, and inception reports. Supported data collection in agricultural development projects. Conducted farmer and stakeholder interviews.
4	2022 – Present	EmpowerBros	Content & Outreach Specialist	Managed social media content to promote urban youth programmes across Lilongwe. Coordinated community workshops. Analysed performance metrics to refine engagement strategy.