Being an expert in his field, Dr Haider Raza, Post-Doctoral Research Fellow, School of Computer Science and Electronic Engineering (CSEE) at University of Essex shares what led him to choose computational methods for healthcare and bio-medics as his research area with Brainfeed Higher Education Plus
Q. What is the role of Data Analytics in healthcare?
AI is today positioned to play a major role in healthcare as data are being generated at such a rapid pace. Every process is getting digitalized now from medicines to laboratory tests. Data can easily help us to predict diseases at a very early stage or warn you of a certain disease that you can develop because of your symptoms.
Q. What are the opportunities in Data Analytics sector?
There are immense opportunities bubbling up in this sector. The Business Analytics course we have commenced will be very helpful if you have a family business or if you are a budding entrepreneur. We understand the fundamentals of business – that it is not about a large number of people; it is about getting the results you want and you can now secure high profit margins by optimising your resources and doing the same work with fewer man hours.
Q. What inspired you to choose computational methods for healthcare and bio-medics?
When I was in my third year of my Bachelor’s Degree at Lucknow I received a book on AI as a gift from my father and being an avid reader, that book was enough to spark my interest. I was really fascinated by the preface and acknowledgement in the book. I came to know about Stuart J Russell and Peter Norvig and I got so engrossed by the topics that I read it three times in six months!
This helped me in college and that was the moment when I decided that this will be my area of expertise. Companies such as Accenture and Infosys were very engaged with my college and I was not eligible to sit in their interviews due to the shortlisting criteria moreover, on the other hand, I had found my passion and lure of money was not going to deviate me from my goals! I did my Masters and moved to Ethiopia, Africa to teach AI and expert systems in a village and spent almost a year on a job followed by a PhD scholarship offered by the University of Ulster, UK to persue my dream in Machine learning and its application to Brain-Computer Interface.
Q. How did Brexit effect student’s decision of choosing UK as a study destination?
Indian students are still captivated by the opportunity to study in the UK and the quality of education on offer in the UK. With or without Brexit, we are expecting demand to continue. The UK Government says it is looking to open up the UK to talent from around the world and this will open up more opportunities for Indian students. The University of Essex is urging the Government to maintain strong links with Europe while it is also working hard to foster new partnerships with other countries like India and China.
Our Vice-Chancellor is also backing calls for a new visa to allow qualified international students to work in skilled jobs for a period after graduation so that the UK can continue to attract talented Indian students. We think Indian students will be putting more time in choosing the right university for them and we are developing a partnership with universities which share our strengths and focus to support our efforts to attract quality students.
