The AICCELERATE research consortium, led by Helsinki University Hospital (Finland) and consisting of 16 partners from various European countries, has received a research grant through the European Union programme H2020-DT-ICT-12-2020.

The AICCELERATE consortium will develop a Smart Hospital Care Pathway Engine (SHCP) toolset for scalable Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Robotics solutions to improve hospital efficiency and the quality of patient care. From the toolset, hospitals can select the tools and required data management schemes applicable to their use case and thus AICCELERATE introduces an approach for scaling-up AI solutions beyond a single application. The tools will be developed and tested in three pilots:

1. Patient flow management for the emergency room and surgical units

2. Care for Parkinson’s disease

3. Care and patient workflow for palliative and chronic pediatric diseases.

As part of this project ESHPM will be involved both during development and the evaluation of the SHCP. During development, preferences of relevant stakeholders will be elicited using discrete choice experiments to inform AI development. Results from the experiments will assist in developing AI tools of which results from predictions are communicated in a user-friendly manner, aligned with stakeholder preferences. Differences between countries and between the different pilots will be considered when performing the experiments. ESHPM will also be involved in the clinical and economic evaluation of the pilots. Here, care with the AICCELERATE solution will be compared to care without the AICCELERATE solution. The outcome measures differ according to the pilots but include for instance utilization of operating rooms, number of surgeries performed vs planned, quality of life,  length of stay and intensity of follow-up. Results from these pilots will eventually be combined with relevant sources from the literature and cost-effectiveness models to assess the potential impact on health and costs of the AICCELERATE solutions. Relevant comparators and perspectives will depend on the pilot and country. Through this PhD position, ESHPM aims to attract excellent new staff to work on discrete choice experiments and economic evaluations for developing artificial intelligence and robotics. 

The PhD candidate will work at ESHPM under the supervision of ESHPM senior staff members and be primarily responsible for the execution of the tasks defined in the project proposal. These tasks will include conducting discrete choice experiments, organising expert meetings, doing systematic literature reviews, preparing and executing pilot evaluations and designing and analysing cost-effectiveness models. All activities and results will be reported to the consortium and published in peer-reviewed scientific journals.

Besides work related to the AICCELERATE project, the PhD candidate may be involved in contract research projects and teaching as part of the health sciences bachelor and the master programme Health Policy and Law (HEPL), the NIHES research master and the international master programme of Eu-HEM. Depending on the candidate’s interest, this will represent approximately 10% of the contract. In addition, budget is reserved to enable the PhD candidate to take courses to improve his/her knowledge and skills.

We are looking for an enthusiastic candidate with an MSc degree in health care policy and management, (health) economics, econometrics, biomedical sciences, biostatistics, or similar, preferably with experience in cost-effectiveness research, and/or discrete choice experiments. The candidate should have demonstrable familiarity with quantitative research methods, surveying, cost-effectiveness modelling studies, and literature reviews. In addition, the candidate should possess strong communicative skills in English, and preferably in Dutch as well. The candidate should be able to work independently, take initiative and stick to deadlines. (S)he should like to travel within Europe and collaborate with researchers from different countries.

Fixed-term contract: 4 years.

We offer a position as PhD student at Erasmus University Rotterdam, starting as soon as possible but no later than January 31, 2021.

PhD students are appointed for a period of 4 years, starting with a temporary contract for 1.5 years and followed by a second temporary contract for 2.5 years.

Remuneration will be in accordance with the PhD scale set by the Collective Labour Agreement for Dutch Universities (CAO NU). Fulltime work will pay € 2,395 before taxes in the first year, increasing to € 3,061 in the fourth year. EUR offers a set end-of-year bonus of 8.3% and, as noted above, offers generous opportunities for further education.

Erasmus University Rotterdam (EUR)

The expertise of Erasmus University Rotterdam (EUR) is concentrated in the fields of Business Administration, Economics, Medicine and Health Sciences, Law, Social Sciences, History, Culture and Communication, and Philosophy.

In addition to the initial degree programmes and scientific research, the University offers specific postgraduate study programmes and courses. Erasmus University has around 25,000 students and some 2,700 staff members.

Erasmus School of Health Policy & Management (ESHPM)

Erasmus School of Health Policy & Management (ESHPM) of Erasmus University Rotterdam is leading in the Netherlands with its educational and research activities targeted at policy and management issues in health care.

ESHPM offers a bachelor programme, two master programmes and post-academic education. In addition, ESHPM also offers several post-academic educational programmes and courses for master programme graduates. Research and educational activities at ESHPM are closely intertwined. Knowledge and experience in various scientific disciplines such as economics, law, social-medical sciences, organisational science and public administration are brought together and applied to the health care sector. This multidisciplinary approach to education and research is unique.

Internationalisation is valued highly at ESHPM. The numbers of students, teachers and researchers from abroad has increased significantly over the past years, thereby enriching the institute’s research and education programmes, and this trend is expected to continue.

This position is offered within the research group of Health Technology Assessment (HTA), which distinguishes itself through independent and excellent research in HTA, health economics and health outcomes research.