Opportunities

Positions available

Multiple (6x PhD positions)

Remuneration

The successful applicant will receive a research stipend at the current value of approximately $40,000 – $52,000 AUD per annum (tax free). In addition, there are further funding for research support and training.

The opportunities

The release of the Royal Commission into Aged Care Quality and Safety report has given us an opportunity for the government, providers, and the community to explore ways together which we can address the challenges. The need to do so is urgent as our population continues to get older while overcoming challenges in the care workforce will take time. One of the recommendations in the report is to adopt technology to transform the aged care system so that carers’ time can be best used to deliver quality care. The report also noted the use of technology to increase connectedness of older Australians – to one another, their family and carers, and to the broader community as our social structure change. Reimagining the role of technologies in aged care will be critical in ensuring the sustainability of the sector. Our industry partners are driven by these challenges everyday, with issues falling into one of the three key areas: (i) how to help our strained workforce with technology; (ii) how can technology play a role in uplifting the well-being and quality of life of our aged Australians; and (iii) how to improve the patchy digital capability present across the sector.

The candidate

We are looking for multiple candidates to work on various projects in a body of work that seeks to address the challenges of the aged care sector. Successful candidates will undergo research training that leads to the award of a PhD at the end of the program (3 – 3.5years), and the opportunity to deliver solutions that make an impact for our elderly Australians, care workers and our society. 

The successful candidate will have the opportunity to undertake research and solution development in AI, analytics, optimisations and cybersecurity problems. The full list of problems that the program is listed below.

Successful candidates will work closely with RMIT researchers, CSIRO experts and industry stakeholders to ensure that these solutions work in practice.

Requirements

  • Candidates will need to hold suitable work rights in Australia. 
  • Additionally, the candidate must be willing to undertake checks (if required) to work in one or more aged care setting(s). 
  • You will need to have either a Bachelor/Master degree that meets the entry requirements for a PhD at RMIT University. Details of PhD entry requirements is available here: https://shorturl.at/4VfNw.
  • The successful candidate is required to undertake industry placement and/or spend time on-site with one or more industry partners within this program. 
  • The candidate, as part of the research training, will also need to undertake course work at RMIT and at CSIRO throughout the duration of the program.
  • Shortlisted candidates may be interviewed by both the researchers and industry partners. The interview is also an opportunity for the candidate to learn more about the projects.

Projects

  • Developing Secured AI Workflow in Healthcare  This project aims to address security issues associated with AI models. The outcomes of this project will be incorporated into Facere’s AI workflow to service Facere’s customers in the healthcare sector. Facere.ai is one of the industry partners under this program. The output from this project includes (a) comprehensive review of AI model security issues; (b) the development of a contemporary attack model for typical AI systems in the healthcare sector; and (c) developing a utility-preservation mitigation AI solution against inference attacks.
  • Advancing Human-aligned AI The project focuses on developing and deploying Human-Aligned Artificial Intelligence (AI) systems prioritizing ethical considerations, transparency, and alignment with human values to ensure responsible and beneficial integration of AI technologies into Facere’s AI workflow. The successful candidate is expected to undertake a comprehensive review of human-aligned techniques in the field that will form the basis to (a) the design of new human-aligned AI algorithms and (b) test cases that can become the basis for testing AI models in real-world healthcare scenarios.
  • Care Planning using AI methods The successful candidate for this project will get to work in the cutting edge of large language models (LLM). Here, the candidate will develop a deep understanding of care plan developments in the age-care sector as well as LLMs as tge vassu to understand inputs from care workers. The model, together with the inputs from the care worker, will assist with personalized care plans for Baptcare’s homecare stakeholders. Baptcare is another of our industry partner in this program. The research outcomes will need to be integrated into the tech-stack within Baptcare’s IT environment to enable day-to-day care workflow design and continuous improvement in care personalisation.
  • Better Aged Care Reporting with LLM and Anomaly Detection An important aspect of quality care delivery is the effective and efficient management of limited and finite aged care resources. Baptcare’s management is keen to actively monitor their performance and resource allocation, alongside the detailed reports that it needs to provide to its stakeholders. The successful candidate for this project thus has a keen eye for data analytics and is interested in methods to identify anomalies that support better decision making. The candidate will work closely with Baptcare analyst to understand data collection, analysis, report developments and insights to performance and quality improvements protocol to develop advanced analytical solutions addressing Baptcare’s operational needs.
  • Development of AI Safeguards for Care Planning AI The goal for the successful candidate of this project is to ensure the operational safety of Baptcare’s AI models by developing safeguards associated with large language models (LLMs) and other AI models to safeguard Baptcare’s customer details, put in place safety checks for outputs, and protect against potential cybersecurity attacks. The successful candidate working on this project will start by understanding the security and know operating issues of LLMs. Based on this deep understanding, the candidate will develop security and safeguard filters to combat against malicious and problematic prompts. The candidate is also expected to develop methods to secure AI models to protect against sensitive data leakages given the kind of data that Baptcare uses within its systems.
  • An AI-Copilot for Workforce Rostering in Aged Care The project aims to develop an AI-Copilot for optimizing workforce rostering in aged care. The AI-Copilot will help Baptcare manage their workforce by considering costs, risks, compliance, and preferences while maintaining strong employee engagement and retention.  The solution that the successful candidate developeds will be rooted in a number of techniques, including operations research, data analytics and AI. The solution will seek to streamline inputs to scheduling by leveraging a range of new techniques developed in the operations research space. The successful candidate thus will have the opportunity to work on cutting edge research the field of optimisation while delivering an innovative solution to Baptcare to help delivery better outcomes for its clients and its workforce.

How to apply

The interested candidate should complete an EOI using the button below. The form requires that you have the following information on-hand:

  • An up-to-date CV
  • A full statement of academic record, including testamur, and transcripts
  • A full copy of research thesis or project reports
  • Evidence of work rights in Australia
  • Any notable achievements, e.g., Awards, certificates, Github or e-portfolios
Express interest

Enquiries

For any enquiries about this program, please email [email protected].