Congratulation for Ms. N. Nurul Qomariyah Ph.D as Newton Fund 2021 Grant Awardee

The Newton Fund in Indonesia, referred to as the UK-Indonesia Science and Technology Fund, was launched in 2014.

Indonesia is a diverse archipelago nation of more than 300 ethnic groups and the most populous country in Southeast Asia. Despite experiencing significant economic growth since overcoming the Asian financial crisis of the late 1990s, Indonesia faces several development challenges. Its geographical location makes it particularly vulnerable to natural disasters such as earthquakes, volcanic eruptions and tsunamis, and the severity and frequency of disasters is increasing due to climate change. (World Bank, 2020)

The Newton Fund builds research and innovation partnerships with 18 partner countries, including Indonesia, to support their economic development and social welfare, and to develop their research and innovation capacity for long-term sustainable growth. It has a total UK Government investment of £735 million up until 2021, with matched resources from the partner countries.

This year 2021, one of our Faculty Member in Computer Science Program, Ms. N. Nurul Qomariyah, Ph.D, has successfully received a research funding from Newton Fund Institutional Links Grant Program. Ms. Nurul and her team proposed a research proposal with title “AI-based Telemedicine for COVID-19 Patients”.

Here is an abstract of the research project:

This project aims to contribute to the global effort against the COVID-19 pandemic through the (1) collection of patients’ data that would support (2) the development of Artificial Intelligence (AI) algorithms capable of pinpointing patients at an increased risk of severe complications through automated monitoring at a distance. The AI involved also has the potential to identify aspects of the patients’ condition that can inform medical decisions even without the use of computers. The project will then (3) consult all stakeholders on the design of a use case maximising the expected benefits of such AI-based telemedicine to patients and health care providers in terms of medical outcomes and health costs.

The project is of global importance and the need for it is pressing. The associated partner, RSUD Pasar Minggu Hospital, is at the forefront of treating COVID-19 patients in Jakarta. Indonesia, along with much of the world is in the grip of this pandemic, with 1240 daily cases on 9 June 2020 and a rising trend. Despite the impressive achievements of the National Health System in Indonesia which has managed to provide essential health coverage to the whole population in recent years, it is under huge pressure from COVID-19 and qualified staff and facilities are at a premium. The project aims to relieve some of the pressure on medical staff, develop a movement-based mechanism for continuous monitoring of patients without the need for complex and expensive equipment, and potentially make it possible to distil medical expertise from a centre of excellence and make it available in many other locations in the form of an automated, and remotely accessible platform.

Keyword: supervised machine learning, AI-based telemedicine, health application

Congratulations for Ms Nurul and team, and good luck for the research which could bring better impact for better Indonesia in the future.