by Jack Cooper
An artist’s illustration of AI, created by Twistedpoly as part of the Visualising AI project launched by Google DeepMind.
A new Google DeepMind Academic Fellowship, hosted by the Fleming Initiative at Imperial College London.
As part of Google DeepMind’s Academic Fellowship Programme, which aims to support groundbreaking postdoctoral research in Computer Science and artificial intelligence (AI) by providing opportunities to early-career researchers to develop their academic and leadership skills, the appointed fellow will be encouraged to pursue any research direction that helps drive progress at the intersection of AI and antimicrobial resistance (AMR).
Their research and career development will benefit from Imperial’s Department of Computing’s world-leading research environment, the interdisciplinary AMR expertise of the Fleming Initiative, as well as the offer of support from a senior Google DeepMind Mentor.
Following the Department of Computing’s prior appointment of Dr Shamsuddeen Muhammad as a Google DeepMind Academic Fellow, this will make Imperial the first institution to have two concurrent Google DeepMind Academic Fellows.
AI is a key focus area for Imperial, with its Science for Humanity Strategy recognising that AI technologies offer unparalleled potential to reshape industries and society. Imperial has the combined power of over 1,000 researchers across all faculties and disciplines working to accelerate the safe and productive development and deployment of AI.
Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) occurs when microbes such as bacteria and fungi adapt and become resistant to the drugs we use to kill them and treat infections. Drug-resistant infections are more difficult to treat, meaning common infections and minor injuries can become life-threatening.
Widespread misuse and overuse of antibiotics and other antimicrobial drugs, from the food industry to the doctor’s surgery and the hospital bedside, has led to the global spread of these drug-resistant microbes.
If we don’t tackle the problem of AMR, drug-resistant infections have the potential to become a global humanitarian crisis, responsible for at least 8 million lives lost yearly by 2050.
AI-powered technologies could be transformative in the AMR crisis, from enabling clinicians to make rapid diagnosis at point of need and helping discover new drugs that can tackle emerging resistant infections, to predicting the spread of resistant bacteria.
However, as a joint report from the Fleming Initiative and Google DeepMind previously highlighted, AI systems will be far from delivering on this potential without investment in the necessary infrastructure, including data and robust evaluations; computing power; and in particular, training for those working in this critical area.
Supporting the development of interdisciplinary skills will be key to unlocking the potential of AI solutions across the AMR landscape, as well as helping to sustain the pipeline of talent in this area.
Fleming Initiative’s launch of a new Google DeepMind Academic Fellowship is an important early step in developing the interdisciplinary capability needed to realise the potential of AI in tackling antimicrobial resistance.
It is also key that the fellowship, being part of Google DeepMind’s Academic Fellowship Programme, aims to support groundbreaking research in Computer Science and AI by providing fully-funded support, open to all early-career researchers in relevant fields.
Lord Ara Darzi, Executive Chair of the Fleming Initiative, said: “As health systems across the globe increasingly harness the transformative power of AI, it is vital that we apply these advances to one of the most urgent public health challenges of our time: antimicrobial resistance.
“Through this fellowship, we are proud to showcase the shared commitment of the Fleming Initiative and Google DeepMind to building the interdisciplinary expertise needed to unlock AI-driven solutions for AMR.
“I look forward to celebrating the pioneering work of our appointed Fellow and the inspiring example they will set for the future of AI and AMR innovation.”
Agata Laydon, Life Sciences Lead, Google DeepMind Impact Accelerator, said: “Early career opportunities are crucial to help build the AI research leaders who will shape our future.
“We’ve been thrilled to see many prior Google DeepMind Fellows go on to achieve remarkable success in academia, and are proud to support Imperial College London and the Fleming Initiative to launch this pioneering Fellowship.
“By bringing the transformative capabilities of AI to bear on the global challenge of AMR, we can empower brilliant minds to drive new breakthroughs against this urgent threat.”
Professor Alessandra Russo, Head of the Department of Computing and Co-Director (Convenor) of the School of Convergence Science in Human and Artificial Intelligence, said: “Our Department is dedicated to advancing cutting-edge research in computing and artificial intelligence, and applying this knowledge to address pressing global challenges.
“Antimicrobial resistance is one such challenge — without solutions, it is set to become a global humanitarian crisis with a disproportionate effect on the world’s most vulnerable populations. Computing, through data-driven modelling and machine learning, has a critical role to play in understanding, mitigating, and ultimately solving this complex problem.
“We are proud to support this pioneering fellowship. Having had the privilege of hosting Dr Shamsuddeen Muhammad as our first Google DeepMind Academic Fellow, we have seen first-hand the excellence in research and outreach that we can expect from the newly appointed fellow.”
Public engagement and involvement are central to the Fleming Initiative’s work, with the Initiative recognising that antimicrobial resistance is not simply a scientific problem requiring scientific solutions. It is an issue in which public understanding, human behaviour and collective action can play a significant part in its resolution.
In alignment with this ethos of the Fleming Initiative, the successful applicant to the fellowship will have an interest in and commitment to outreach activities aimed at encouraging participation in Computer Science and AI.
Applications are open until July 1st. More details on the Google DeepMind Academic Fellow, hosted by the Fleming Initiative at Imperial College London, and how to apply are available here.
Imperial’s culture works towards equality of opportunity, eliminating discrimination and creating an inclusive working environment. We encourage applications from all backgrounds, communities and industries, and are committed to employing a team that has diverse skills, experiences and abilities.
Imperial was a founding member of the 2005 Athena Swan Charter, is a Disability Confident Leader and a member of the Race Equality Charter. It supports a diverse, inclusive and collaborative work culture with various staff networks and resources to support personal and professional wellbeing.
Jointly established by Imperial College London and Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust, the Fleming Initiative brings together scientists, policymakers, clinicians, commercial partners and the public to provide equitable solutions to antimicrobial resistance at a global scale.
Discover more at www.fleminginitiative.org
Google DeepMind is a world-leading AI research lab with British heritage and an international team, committed to building AI responsibly, delivering scientific breakthroughs, and creating products that improve billions of lives.
The unit’s breakthroughs over the last decade include AlphaGo – the first computer program to defeat a Go world champion, Transformers – neural networks that underpin all modern language models, AlphaFold – an AI model that can accurately predict the structure of proteins, DNA, RNA, ligands and more, and how they interact, and Gemini, a family of versatile AI models built from the ground up for multimodality, seamlessly combining and understanding text, code, images, audio and video.
Article text (excluding photos or graphics) © Imperial College London.
Photos and graphics subject to third party copyright used with permission or © Imperial College London.
Jack Cooper
Institute of Global Health Innovation
Global-health, Artificial-intelligence, Antibiotics, Bacteria
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