Towards Trustworthy and Accountable AI in Medical Decision Support Systems

The goal of this Ph.D. project is to develop a framework that ensures the trustworthiness and accountability of AI systems used in medical decision support. This involves addressing issues related to transparency, interpretability, robustness, and ethical considerations.

Key Components and Research Directions:

1. Interpretability and Explainability: Investigate methods for making AI models in medical decision support systems more interpretable and explainable. This includes developing techniques to provide transparent insights into the decision-making process of complex models, especially in critical medical scenarios.
2. Robustness to Adversarial Attacks: Explore ways to enhance the robustness of AI models against adversarial attacks, which are especially critical in medical applications where the consequences of errors can be severe. This involves developing methods to detect and mitigate potential attacks on the system.
3. Ethical Considerations and Human-in-the-Loop Approaches: Investigate ethical considerations in deploying AI in medical decision support and explore human-in-the-loop approaches. Develop models that incorporate human feedback, ensuring that decisions align with medical ethics and human values.

Expected Contributions: The project aims to contribute to the field by providing a comprehensive framework for developing trustworthy and accountable AI systems in medical decision support. The research outcomes can have a significant impact on the responsible adoption of AI in healthcare, addressing concerns related to transparency, fairness, and ethical considerations. The project will evaluate the approach and model's performance on benchmark datasets and its application potential in collaboration with industry partners.

The Department of Computer Science has an excellent research record in AI, machine learning, robotics, computer vision and data science. The successful candidate will have access to robotics and AI laboratories, high-spec computing facilities (e.g., GPUs, A100), HPC, and £5.8M DigLabs, complementing a £9m investment in research and teaching. You will have regular supervision meetings and work with a strong AI research team including over 30 PhDs/PDRAs/academic staff in the department. You will also have opportunities to join our ongoing research projects funded by UKRI, EPSRC, and industry and work closely with our academic and industry collaborators. You will take part in various outreach and impact generation activities, and develop your career profile throughout your PhD study.

94% of Loughborough’s research impact is rated world-leading or internationally excellent. REF 2021

Supervisors

Name of primary supervisor: Prof. Baihua Li

Primary supervisor email address: [Email Address Removed]

Primary supervisor telephone number: +441509222672

Entry requirements

Applicants should have, or expect to achieve, at least a 2:1 Honours degree in computer science or a related science and engineering subject. A relevant Master’s degree, experience in machine learning, deep learning and computer vision, strong programming skills, and passion in interdisciplinary research and innovation will be advantages. 

English language requirements

Applicants must meet the minimum English language requirements. Further details are available on the International website.

How to apply

All applications should be made online. Under programme name, select Computer Science. Please quote the advertised reference number: CO/BL-Un2/2024 in your application. To avoid delays in processing your application, please ensure that you submit a CV and the minimum supporting documents. The following selection criteria used by the academic School to help them make a decision on your application, will be the same as we use for funded studentships.

Please note, applications for this project are considered on an ongoing basis once submitted and the project may be withdrawn prior to the application deadline, if a suitable candidate is chosen for the project.

We support excellent applicants from China to apply for China Scholarship Council (CSC) funding for PhD projects starting from October 2024. Applications would need to be made by 31st January 2024, to be eligible for funding. Further details on how to apply and associated application deadlines are available on our research degree funding webpage.

Apply now