PhD Global Excellence and Mobility Scholarship (GEMS 2027) – Explainable AI for Early-Onset Heart Failure Risk Stratification

About the project

About the Project Project Description This project will develop and validate clinically interpretable risk-prediction models using de-identified longitudinal electronic medical record data from adults with early-onset heart failure or cardiomyopathy receiving care at Institut Jantung Negara. The models will assess how demographic and routinely collected clinical indicators—including laboratory, medication, ECG, and cardiac imaging variables—contribute to the risk of disease progression, hospital readmission, major adverse cardiovascular events, and mortality, thereby supporting earlier and more targeted clinical intervention. Machine-learning approaches will be benchmarked against standard regression-based models, including logistic regression and Cox proportional hazards models, and evaluated for discrimination, calibration, clinical utility and transportability. Model interpretability will be assessed using transparent feature-attribution and related explanation methods, enabling clinicians to understand how key variables contribute to individual and subgroup predictions.. Particular attention will be given to interpretability, handling missing data, and fairness across sex, age, and Malaysian ethnic groups. Working with clinicians, the candidate will identify actionable predictors and co-design a prototype risk-stratification framework suitable for future evaluation within IJN workflows. For enquiries, please contact Dr Syafiq Asnawi Zainal Abidin For more information about this project, please visit our GEMS website. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- How to Apply When you apply for admission into your preferred degree program you will be able to select your scholarship type. No separate application is required. By clicking on a course , you will be directed to further information, including details on ‘How to Apply’. However, before applying for a GEMS, it is recommended that you first contact the main supervisor for this GEMS research topic. Please provide details of your academic background and achievements to the supervisor so that they can assess your suitability for the GEMS research topic you are interested in. Main Supervisor (Malaysia): Dr Syafiq Asnawi Zainal Abidin Associate Supervisor (Malaysia): Dr Nur Alia Johari , Brig. Gen. Prof. Datuk. Dr Mohd Arshil Moideen (Rtd) Associate Supervisor (Australia): Professor Emmanuel Stamatakis , Associate Professor Matthew Ahmadi , Dr Nicholas Koemel , Dr Lizhen Qu Associate Supervisor (External): Dato Sri Dr Azmee Mohd Ghazi (Senior Consultant Cardiologist, IJN, Malaysia)

Research areas