This may be of interest to some allstat list members. Please reply to Dr Buckingham rather than to me.
EPSRC CASE PhD Studentship
Location: Aston University, under the supervision of Dr Christopher Buckingham
in the Computer Science department (email [log in to unmask]).
Grant: About 15,000 pounds per year, tax free.
Starting: As soon as possible.
Background: The CASE PhD studentship will be linked with and use data
from an ongoing research project funded by the Department of Health
for 275,000 pounds. The goal is to produce a decision support system
(DSS) that assesses risks associated with mental-health problems using
a psychological model of clinicians' risk-assessment expertise. For
more information, see the project web site at www.galassify.org/grist.
Aims of proposed project: The main aim is to enhance the DSS by
providing mathematical tools for analysing risk data that complement
the risk assessments based on human expertise. A secondary aim is to
improve the quality of risk assessments within the collaborating
organisation, Birmingham and Solihull Mental Health Trust
(BSMHT). Specific objectives are to investigate: how Bayesian belief
networks might be both informed by and inform expert knowledge
structures; the creation of optimum belief-net structures that
complement the mental-health expertise; how changes in patient data
over time affect event probabilities; the relationship between the DSS
judgements and those given directly by mental-health practitioners;
pattern recognition tools that do not rely on domain structure
inherent within the patient data set; how the DSS can validate
higher-level judgements given by clinicians, with the intention of
detecting inconsistent judgements for patients; matching of patient
information profiles, both for data validation purposes and to
simulate case-based reasoning; current methods of risk assessment
within the Trust, including the influence of workplace procedures and
the influence of information technology (IT); and how the analyses of
risk data should best be presented to clinicians to maximise the
chances of the DSS being adopted.
Outcomes: The general outcome will be a web-based risk-assessment DSS
that includes both human expertise and sophisticated mathematical
prediction tools. This combination will greatly enhance confidence of
clinicians in the outputs, encouraging both mental-health Trusts and
front-line services to adopt the DSS, and increasing the public's
access to mental-health advice and help. The research will help
develop innovative ways of processing and disseminating mental-health
risk information, making it readily available through IT and easily
accessible to both clinicians and those without a mental-health
background. The proposed work will inform best practice for IT tools,
including empirical evidence for the data that should be collected. It
will provide crucial input to the National Programme for Information
Technology currently being implemented within the NHS.
If you are interested, please contact:
Christopher Buckingham TEL: 0121-204-3450
Lecturer in Computer Science, email: [log in to unmask]
University of Aston, Fax +44 (0)121 204 3681
Aston Triangle, Birmingham B4 7ET home page: www.galassify.org/cdb
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