The biennial UNILISA Conference is organised to stimulate critical dialogue on transforming and repositioning Information Science, so that it remains relevant in Industry 5.0. This theme aligns with the University of South Africa’s (UNISA) catalytic niche area, namely Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR) and Digitalisation, which promotes transformative approaches aimed at capacitating both academia and industry practitioners to digitally transform their services in ways that contribute to the development of Society 5.0.