The Centre for West African Studies (CWAS), in proud affiliation with the University of Electronic Science and Technology of China (UESTC), is thrilled to announce and celebrate a remarkable achievement by one of its team member and outstanding young scholar, Tamimu Mohammed Gadafi, who has been awarded the Best Paper Award at the PA-AISS 2025 conference.

The prestigious recognition was conferred for the paper titled “Multi-Stream Attention-Enhanced Deep Learning Framework for Cocoa Leaf Disease Detection and Classification in Ghana,” co-authored by Tamimu Mohammed Gadafi, Professor Liang Decui, Ansu Badjie, and Toufic Seini. This groundbreaking work exemplifies the fusion of cutting-edge artificial intelligence with urgent agricultural challenges in West Africa, offering scalable, data-driven solutions to support smallholder farmers and enhance food security in Ghana, a leading global cocoa producer.

As a doctoral candidate in Management Science and Engineering at UESTC’s School of Economics and Management, Chengdu, China, and a dedicated researcher at CWAS for many projects under the mentorship of Professor Zhao Shurong, Tamimu continues to distinguish himself through interdisciplinary research that bridges computational intelligence, sustainable development, and African socio-economic realities.

Tamimu academic journey has been marked by consistent excellence in academic research. His research area spans mathematical modeling, multi-criteria decision-making (MCDM), machine learning, optimization, intelligent systems and business analytics with a strong emphasis on applications that address real-world challenges in West Africa. This latest accolade at PA-AISS 2025, where his work rose above a competitive field to claim the top honor, underscores his growing influence in the global scientific community. The paper’s innovative use of multi-stream attention mechanisms to improve early detection of cocoa diseases demonstrates not only technical sophistication but also deep contextual awareness of agricultural vulnerabilities in Ghana. Such work aligns seamlessly with CWAS’s mission to generate actionable, locally grounded knowledge through transnational collaboration.

The Centre for West African Studies celebrates Tamimu Mohammed Gadafi not only for this well-deserved award but also for embodying the spirit of scholarly excellence, social responsibility, and pan-African vision. His achievements reflect the transformative power of education, the importance of South–South academic partnerships, and the immense potential of African youth in shaping a technology-enabled, sustainable future. We are immensely proud of you, Tamimu, and eagerly anticipate your continued contributions to science, development, and digital transformation across Africa and beyond. Congratulations on this outstanding milestone.