On 1st October, the UKRI Centre for Doctoral Training in Artificial Intelligence for Healthcare (AI4Health) welcomed the first cohort of PhD students

The 1st October 2019 saw the launch of the new Centre for Doctoral Training in AI for Healthcare, a doctoral programme funded by UKRI (United Kingdon Research and Innovation) which will train up to 100 doctoral researchers over the next 5 years.

Unique Training Programme

The doctoral students will benefit from an integrated training, enabled by a co-creation process. Each PhD student will work with two supervisors: a clinician for a focus on healthcare, and a researcher in AI. They will also benefit from collaboration with industry and healthcare partners. The Centre collaborates closely with three NHS Trusts, treating over 2 million patients annually (Imperial Healthcare NHS Trust, Royal Brompton & Harefield NHS Foundation Trust, and Royal Marsden NHS Trust), the  AHSC-Academic Health Science Centre, CATO-Clinical Academic Training and Office and Institute of Global Health Innovation, and Imperial BRC and Great Ormond Street Hospital BRC as NIHR Biomedical Research Centres.

The PhD training programme will develop in three phases that provide underpinning skills (Foundation phase), research expertise (Research phase) and finally drive PhD impact (Impact phase). 

The PhD cohorts will consist of researchers and clinicians of various background. Thanks to this diversity, they will be able to learn from each other and combine their various skills and expertise to develop and apply AI technology to healthcare problems.

The Centre’s director, Dr Aldo Faisal, says "We're very pleased to finally be able to turn our vision into practice with the first cohort of researchers. Our ultimate vision is to improve patients' care and well being. Artificial intelligence offers incredible opportunities for both patients and healthcare professionals and we are looking forward to exciting developments"