Postgraduate research project

Trustworthy Autonomous Systems in Health (TASH)

Funding
Competition funded View fees and funding
Type of degree
Doctor of Philosophy
Entry requirements
2:1 honours degree View full entry requirements
Faculty graduate school
Faculty of Engineering and Physical Sciences
Closing date

About the project

As advances are made in Artificial Intelligence (AI), the technology is being applied to health-related problems. For example, how we evaluate the trustworthiness of these systems in the health context.

This project will push the boundaries of our understanding of trustworthy autonomous systems in health through a mix of computer science and sociotechnical research, driven by the implementation of a real system.

The project will develop and expand an existing autonomous system for early detection of deteriorating health in hospital patients. We will be using the safety, reliability and acceptability of a machine learning clinical deterioration score (CARDS) in comparison to the existing extensively used basic Early Warning Score (NEWS2). 

Using this system, and existing trustworthy autonomous frameworks, the project will first develop a further understanding of the healthcare ecosystem into which the system will be deployed along with the practical, professional and societal hurdles to its implementation. The project will then identify variations and extensions required by medical autonomous trustworthy systems leading to the development of a framework for trustworthy systems. It will focus on the specific needs of the health ecosystem, including organizational requirements, clinical interactions, user interfaces and regulatory bodies.

Working within the Southampton Biomedical Research Centre, the project sits within a world-leading digital ecosystem centred around translating cutting-edge tools and technologies to improve patient outcomes. The University of Southampton boasts a nationally leading compute cluster. The University Hospital Southampton is recognised as a global digital exemplar. The project will implement and test AI techniques including what trustworthiness means, on rich, real-world patient data. The CARDS algorithm itself has been developed by collaborators in the University of Cambridge who will also be supporting this work.