First artificial intelligence and healthcare summer school to take place in Birmingham

Aston University is to host Birmingham’s first ever summer school about artificial intelligence (AI) and healthcare.

Aimed at the next generation of AI leaders, it will be taking place between 11 and 13 September.

The event has been organised by the Aston Centre for Artificial Intelligence Research and Application (ACAIRA), with support from the University’s Engineering for Health Research Centre (E4H).

The summer school is mainly aimed at postgraduates with a background in AI, data science, machine learning, healthcare or related disciplines. They will benefit from finding out about some of the latest methods and technologies in machine learning with a focus on healthcare.

Data science and AI are being developed to bring together innovation and patient care and have the potential to transform how healthcare will be delivered in the future. 

The three days will involve lectures by guest speakers on topics including ethical AI, AI applications in healthcare and healthcare in the real world. Participants will be able to benefit from mentorships to improve teamwork and developing project proposals.

The event is open to anyone studying for a relevant MSc or PhD and is free of charge with lunch included.

Dr Ulysses Bernardet (pictured), one of the organisers and a lecturer in computer science said: “Birmingham has a lot of expertise across the topics of AI and healthcare, and we are delighted to offer the first such event in the city.

“Those who attend the summer school will benefit from the expertise at Aston University and our guest speakers. The event will have real-world relevance as participants will be asked to develop and pitch their own project ideas to create AI-powered solutions for pressing problems in healthcare.

“The three days will contribute to achieving one of the University strategic aims for 2030 which is to be recognised as a leading digital enterprise in the region.”

One of the speakers will be Dr Arvind Rajasekaran, consultant respiratory physician at Sandwell And West Birmingham NHS Hospitals Trust.

He said: “I am looking forward to an engaging discussion with the participants around the challenges and opportunities that AI brings to healthcare systems worldwide.

“As a front-line respiratory physician, I bear witness to the mounting challenges posed by rising health care demands, ageing population and rising multi-morbidity.

“As a digital health leader, I am acutely aware of the potential for health care AI to positively impact this health eco-system.

“And as a student of healthcare AI, however, I have to admit, there is much to be done to enable responsible deployment of health AI at scale.

“Events such as this promote the value of interdisciplinary collaboration and it is a pleasure to be part of the summer school.

"I have had the chance to collaborate with ACAIRA members on a number of research projects looking at explainable AI in chest radiology and pleased to be able to say, one such collaboration with the team led by Dr Shereen Fouad will be published in print soon."

Although attendees are expected to be early career researchers or advanced undergraduate students with relevant backgrounds, there is no requirement to have specific coding skills.

Spanning over three full days the event will be hosted at the Design Factory Birmingham which is on Aston University’s campus near the city centre.