Combining epidemiology with artificial intelligence to examine socioeconomic positions and risk factors trajectories in relation to complications of type-2 diabetes
Principal Investigator
Hanna Brooke
Would you like to describe the project in short with a few sentences?
“In this project we will use high-quality, long-term data from the Swedish National Diabetes Register, in linkage with other national registers and cutting-edge methodologies in epidemiology and artificial intelligence to examine socioeconomic position and risk factor trajectories in relation to complications of type 2 diabetes.”
Would you like to tell us a little about the cross-disciplinary aspects of the project?
“This project will use a cross-disciplinary combination of epidemiological and machine learning methods. Epidemiological data is getting bigger and more complex over time. Utilising methods developed within other fields, such as machine learning, will bring new insights to epidemiological research. These methods will help us to handle the size and complexity of the data in a different way than previously.”
How was the project and collaboration born?
“The project and collaboration was born after I tried to draw a diagram to illustrate the hypothesised relationships between a large number of interacting variables with data collected with high frequency over many years. The diagram got so complex that I felt I needed to look beyond the methods I am familiar with in order to address the research questions in a meaningful way. I contacted Amin Allalou from the IT department, who will be the co-supervisor of the PhD student, to discuss the possibility of using machine learning methods to help – thus the project and collaboration was born!”
How can UDC be of help in your research?
“We look forward to being part of the community at UDC who are tackling important research questions relating to diabetes. UDC will be of particular help for the PhD student we have recruited by providing training and networking opportunities with experts in the field.”
What can UDC do to make the PhD students feel like they belong to the centre?
“UDC can make the PhD students feel like they belong to the centre by organising and advertising relevant events. We look forward to opportunities for the PhD students to present their work to each other; seminars, lectures, and training opportunities relevant for the field; networking/mentoring opportunities with more senior researchers; and social/team-building activities in order for all the PhD students and supervisors to get to know each other at a deeper level and potentially establish new collaborations.”
Which UDC activities will be meaningful for this project?
“Opportunities for the PhD students to present their work to each other; seminars, lectures, and training opportunities relevant for the field; networking/mentoring opportunities with more senior researchers; and social/team-building activities in order for all the PhD students and supervisors to get to know each other at a deeper level and potentially establish new collaborations.”