Dr Alessandra Mileo awarded Research Ireland Frontiers for Future funding
Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science, James Lawless TD has today announced €23.6 million to support 23 research projects focused on tackling challenges in AI, healthcare, agriculture, energy, and transport.
Insight Principal Investigator and Assistant Professor at the School of Computing at DCU Dr Alessandra Mileo has been awarded over €715,000 for her project Holistic and Human-centred neural-cognitive learning and reasoning to enHance eXplainable Artificial Intelligence in clinical diagnostics from MEDical imaging.
Dr Alessandra Mileo’s research concerns the use of artificial intelligence in medical diagnostics, the use of machine learning to categorise scans for instance. However, rather than simply looking at whether this use of AI is possible, Dr Mileo goes a step further in ensuring that diagnoses made using this technology are explainable to clinicians. Doctors and medical professionals have a responsibility to explain diagnoses and medical outcomes to patients. If diagnoses are supported by artificial intelligence which medical professionals themselves have trouble understanding then this is a big issue as it can raise serious ethical concerns along with accountability issues. The ensuing phenomenon whereby the process and steps followed by the system to go from input to output aren’t distinguishable or comprehensible even to the user is known as a “blackbox.” Dr Mileo’s research seeks to break open the blackbox in instances where AI is used to aid diagnostic processes.
The Research Ireland Frontiers for the Future Programme funds high-risk, high-reward research programmes and innovative, collaborative research with the potential to deliver economic and societal impact.
Announcing the awards, Minister Lawless said: “The Research Ireland Frontiers for the Future programme supports the development of world-class research across a range of disciplines. The awardees – spanning 9 research institutions nationwide – have brought forward novel and innovative ideas with strong potential to deliver impactful solutions for major challenges facing society today. The programme itself promotes gender balance and provides opportunities for emerging investigators returning to research. I look forward to seeing the awardees’ progress over the coming years.”
Welcoming the announcement, Celine Fitzgerald, Interim Chief Executive of Research Ireland, commented: “Our Frontiers for the Future Programme is driven by feedback from the research community and represents a strong commitment to developing future talent in key areas. These 23 awards will fund a total of 86 research positions, comprising Postdocs, PhDs, Research Assistants and support staff. I’m very pleased with the opportunities that this targeted investment is creating, and greatly encouraged that crucial research on pressing issues will be facilitated as a result.”