PhD Study : Chatbots for decision support and reporting in healthcare

Apply and key information

Summary

Chatbots are conversational interfaces where the user interacts with an intelligent agent using natural text. Chatbots have become a friendly pervasive technology since there are no cumbersome graphical user interfaces and they utilize natural human-human interactions. Chatbots can also be text based conversations or voice based conversations using Google Assistant or Amazon Alexa devices.

This project aims to explore how a chatbot can be designed and evaluated in order to support conversations for people with mental health and wellbeing concerns. Conversational data will be analysed in order to determine key conversational interaction metrics for example, turn taking in conversations, number of words spoken, complexity of sentence structure etc. Machine learning models will be developed based on this conversational training data and metrics.

This project has a series of funded projects that can support the research, including MENHIR (H2020 funding, a Mental Health Chatbot), Clinical Decision Support and Patient Safety (INTERREG funding), ChatPal (EU NPA funding, a Mental Health Chatbot for rural areas), Verbal Arts (Chatbot for Bibliotherapy, KTP) and Inspire (ESRC funded KTP, Chatbot for mental health support in workplaces).

Related research publications:

Cameron, Gillian, David Cameron, Gavin Megaw, Raymond Bond, Maurice Mulvenna, Siobhan O’Neill, Cherie Armour, and Michael McTear. 2019. “Assessing the Usability of a Chatbot for Mental Health Care.” In Internet Science, edited by Svetlana S Bodrunova, Olessia Koltsova, Asbjørn Følstad, Harry Halpin, Polina Kolozaridi, Leonid Yuldashev, Anna Smoliarova, & Heiko Niedermayer, 121–32.

Cham: Springer International Publishing, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-17705-8_11.

Cameron, G., Cameron, D., Megaw, G., Bond, R. R., Mulvenna, M., O'Neill, S., ... McTear, M. (2018). Best practices for designing chatbots in mental healthcare – A case study on iHelpr.

In: Bond, R., Mulvenna, M.D., Wallace, J.G., Black, M., (eds.) (2018) Proceedings of the 32nd International BCS Human Computer Interaction Conference (HCI-2018), BCS Learning & Development Ltd. Swindon, UK, 1509 pp., http://dx.doi.org/10.14236/ewic/HCI2018.129.

Cameron, G., Cameron, D., Megaw, G., Bond, R. R., Mulvenna, M., O'Neill, S., Armour, C., McTear, M. (2018). Back to the Future: Lessons from Knowledge Engineering Methodologies for Chatbot Design and Development,

Cameron, G., Cameron, D., Megaw, G., Bond, R., Mulvenna, M., O'Neill, S., Armour, C. and McTear, M., 2017, July. Towards a chatbot for digital counselling. In Proceedings of the 31st British Computer Society Human Computer Interaction Conference (p. 24). BCS Learning & Development Ltd.

Essential criteria

Applicants should hold, or expect to obtain, a First or Upper Second Class Honours Degree in a subject relevant to the proposed area of study.

We may also consider applications from those who hold equivalent qualifications, for example, a Lower Second Class Honours Degree plus a Master’s Degree with Distinction.

In exceptional circumstances, the University may consider a portfolio of evidence from applicants who have appropriate professional experience which is equivalent to the learning outcomes of an Honours degree in lieu of academic qualifications.

Sound understanding of subject area as evidenced by a comprehensive research proposal

Desirable Criteria

If the University receives a large number of applicants for the project, the following desirable criteria may be applied to shortlist applicants for interview.

Publications record appropriate to career stage
A comprehensive and articulate personal statement
Applicants will be shortlisted if they have an average of 75% or greater in a first (honours) degree (or a GPA of 8.75/10). For applicants with a first degree average in the range of 70% to 74% (GPA 3.3): If they are undertaking an Masters, then the average of their first degree marks and their Masters marks will be used for shortlisting.

Funding and eligibility

The University offers the following levels of support:

Vice Chancellors Research Studentship (VCRS)

The following scholarship options are available to applicants worldwide:

Full Award: (full-time tuition fees + £19,000 (tbc))
Part Award: (full-time tuition fees + £9,500)
Fees Only Award: (full-time tuition fees)

These scholarships will cover full-time PhD tuition fees for three years (subject to satisfactory academic performance) and will provide a £900 per annum research training support grant (RTSG) to help support the PhD researcher.

Applicants who already hold a doctoral degree or who have been registered on a programme of research leading to the award of a doctoral degree on a full-time basis for more than one year (or part-time equivalent) are NOT eligible to apply for an award.

Please note: you will automatically be entered into the competition for the Full Award, unless you state otherwise in your application.

Department for the Economy (DFE)

The scholarship will cover tuition fees at the Home rate and a maintenance allowance of £19,000 (tbc) per annum for three years (subject to satisfactory academic performance).

This scholarship also comes with £900 per annum for three years as a research training support grant (RTSG) allocation to help support the PhD researcher.

Candidates with pre-settled or settled status under the EU Settlement Scheme, who also satisfy a three year residency requirement in the UK prior to the start of the course for which a Studentship is held MAY receive a Studentship covering fees and maintenance.
Republic of Ireland (ROI) nationals who satisfy three years’ residency in the UK prior to the start of the course MAY receive a Studentship covering fees and maintenance (ROI nationals don’t need to have pre-settled or settled status under the EU Settlement Scheme to qualify).
Other non-ROI EU applicants are ‘International’ are not eligible for this source of funding.
Applicants who already hold a doctoral degree or who have been registered on a programme of research leading to the award of a doctoral degree on a full-time basis for more than one year (or part-time equivalent) are NOT eligible to apply for an award.

Due consideration should be given to financing your studies. Further information on cost of living