Useful links
Unit of study_
BMET9925: AI, Data, and Society in Health
2025 unit information
Unprecedented growth in computing power, the advent of artificial intelligence (AI)/machine learning technologies, and global data platforms are changing the way in which we approach real-world healthcare challenges. This interdisciplinary unit will introduce students from different backgrounds to the fundamental concepts of data analytics and AI, and their practical applications in healthcare. Throughout the unit, students will learn about the key concepts in data analytics and AI techniques, and obtain hands-on experience in applying these techniques to a broad range of healthcare problems. At the same time, they will develop an understanding of the ethical considerations in health data analytics and AI, and how their use impacts society: from the patient, to the doctor, to the broader community. A key element of the learning process will be a team-based Datathon project where students will deploy their knowledge to address an open-ended healthcare problem, in particular developing a practical solution and analysing how it's use may change things in the healthcare domain. Upon completion of this unit, students will understand and be able to enlist data analytics and AI tools to design solutions to healthcare problems.
Unit details and rules
Managing faculty or University school:
Engineering
| Study level | Postgraduate |
|---|---|
| Academic unit | Biomedical Engineering |
| Credit points | 6 |
|
Prerequisites:
?
|
None |
|---|---|
|
Corequisites:
?
|
None |
| Prohibitions:
?
|
BMET2925 |
| Assumed knowledge:
?
|
Familiarity with general mathematical and statistical concepts. Online learning modules will be provided to support obtaining this knowledge |
At the completion of this unit, you should be able to:
- LO1. Discuss the importance of data and AI for modern society in health, including how these may be implemented in specific healthcare contexts, using appropriate literature to explain their reasoning.
- LO2. Articulate the challenges in working with real-world health datasets and select an appropriate data analytics or AI solution for a given health problem, with sufficient justification for the choice.
- LO3. Develop administrative and communication skills such as contacting, planning and conducting interviews/surveys with a variety of healthcare stakeholders in order to understand how AI models could benefit their contexts.
- LO4. Characterise the impact of AI and data analytics solutions on different health stakeholder groups, in terms of technical, legal, ethical, economic, and social benefits and limitations.
- LO5. Apply machine learning techniques such as support vector machines and neural networks to solve problems on health datasets.
- LO6. Understand and apply fundamental data analytics processes such as problem definition, data collection, data cleaning, exploratory data analysis, modelling, and visualisation.
- LO7. Use code libraries and toolboxes for simple data analysis and machine learning tasks in health.
- LO8. Communicate the results of a data analytics pipeline in an oral and written form to an audience that may comprise non-experts.
- LO9. Understand how recent publicly available AI models, particularly generative AI, could be used to enhance the process of engineering design thinking, while realising its limitations.
Unit availability
This section lists the session, attendance modes and locations the unit is available in. There is a unit outline for each of the unit availabilities, which gives you information about the unit including assessment details and a schedule of weekly activities.
The outline is published 2 weeks before the first day of teaching. You can look at previous outlines for a guide to the details of a unit.
Find your current year census dates
Modes of attendance (MoA)
This refers to the Mode of attendance (MoA) for the unit as it appears when you’re selecting your units in Sydney Student. Find more information about modes of attendance on our website.
