Personal profile
Biography
Dr Shereen Fouad, PhD (Machine Learning, University of Birmingham - 2013, SFHEA), is a Senior Lecturer in Applied AI and Robotics at Aston University. She leads Aston University’s MSc AI for Health programme and serves as Healthcare and Partnerships Lead within the Aston Centre of Applied AI and Robotics. She is an expert member of the British Standards Institution (BSI) and International Organization for Standardization (ISO), contributing to AI and Machine Learning standards for software in medical devices and post-market surveillance.
Her expertise spans medical imaging analysis, predictive modelling, explainable AI, and responsible AI adoption across healthcare and industrial settings. Dr Fouad works closely with NHS trusts, industry partners, and regulators to bridge gaps between AI development, clinical practice, and governance. These collaborations have delivered peer-reviewed research, funded PhD studentships, funding awards and validated AI prototypes.
Research Interests
- Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning.
- AI in Healthcare
- Medical Imaging analysis
- Explainable AI
- AI Education and Training in Healthcare
Teaching Activity
- Programme Lead of the MSc AI for Health
- (CS2IAI) Introduction to Artificial Intellegence
- (CS2TP) Team Project
- (DG4BIO) AI in Biomedical Imaging
Key research projects
Current Projects as Principal Investigator:
- (April 2026–April 2029, Aston University) PhD+ Studentship: AI-driven venture development. Greater Things Ltd – £50,000. Partner: Greater Things Ltd; AI-native engineering & regional growth.
- (Jan 26 - Nov 26, Aston University) AI Capability Assessment and Adaptive Learning in Medical Imaging (£30,000). Partners: Sandwell Hospital NHS Trust, ACAIRA. Funder: EPSRC IAA Innovation Impact 2026
- (Jan 26 - Jan 29, Aston University) PhD+ studentship. Trustworthy multimodal early warning for pneumonia deterioration in hospital (£50,000). Funder: Sandwell Hospital NHS Trust,
- (Oct 25- July 26) Aston University Impact Growing fund. Develop GenAI tool for improving medical communication skills. (£15,000). Partner: Aston Medical School
- (Sep 25 - Sep 28, Aston University) Biocare KTP. To develop a digital mobile/ web application that utilises the latest advances in AI
to deliver personalised nutrition and lifestyle recommendations. Academic Supervisor (£355,065). Funder: Innovate UK - (Jan 24 - Jan 27, Aston University) PhD studentship. Responsible AI-Driven Decision Support Systems for Enhanced Paediatric Healthcare (£40,000). Funder: Birmingham Women’s and Children’s Hospital
- (Oct 2024 - Feb 2026, Aston University) UKRI IAA Impact Builder Award (£33,120.52): Responsible AI in Medical Imaging: An Interdisciplinary Educational Initiative. Aim: fill in the AI knowledge gap in NHS organisations by developing and delivering bespoke online educational materials for healthcare providers on responsible AI in healthcare, with a focus on medical imaging. Partners: Sandwell Hospital NHS Trust, ACAIRA. Funder: UKRI
Co-Investigator
- (July 2021 – Dec 2025, Aston University) ESRC project “Understanding how servitization can impact UK economic productivity and environmental performance” (www.servitization.ac.uk). Co-investigator - Leverage data analytic methods to understand relationship between servitization, productivity, and environmental performance (£1,512,864). Partners: Aston Business School and Business School, Warwick University. Funder: UKRI, ESRC
- 2024–2027 NHS-funded PhD+ on AI-based 3D scoliosis screening (Contributor). £40k. PI: Adrian Gardner.
- 2025 NIHR Academic Clinical Fellowships (12 posts) (Contributor). PI: Zaki Hassan Smith. Proposed and supervise the Digital Health theme, embedding AI-for-health methods in clinical academic training.
Previous projects:
- 2024–2025 TrackWise: AI-powered personalised virtual health coach for chronic disease management (Co-I). £2k, DFI Pump-Priming Grant. PI: Manolya Kavakli-Thorne.
- (Nov 24 - June 25, Aston University) HLS Teaching Research Fund: Interdisciplinary collaboration to drive innovation in medical education. Co-Principal Investigator (£1,800). Aim: develop an AI Enabled Communication Training Tool for Medical Education using Large Language Models (LLM) – particularly GPT and BART models Funder: College of Health and Life Sciences, Aston University
- (Mar 2022 – Mar 2023, Aston University) RKE pump priming fund. Explainable AI-enabled diagnostic tools for detecting respiratory diseases. The tool was evaluated by 26 NHS medical professionals through an ethically approved user study. Principal Investigator (£14000). Partners: Sandwell Hospital NHS Trust . Funder: Aston University, RKE
- (2019 – 2021, Birmingham City University) The PERSEUS project - Project Perseus led by Jaguar Land Rover. Aim: help JLR and six other car industry partners transition from the manufacturing of diesel/petrol engines to electric vehicles (EV). Birmingham City University's contribution to the project was to develop and deliver purpose-made Continuous Performance Development (CPD) training courses in industry 4.0 and AI technology. Principle investigator (£199,000). Funder: Innovate UK/APC (Advanced Propulsion Centre)
- (2019 – 2021, Birmingham City University) Project leader for Knowledge Transfer Partnership project with 4Net Technologies (£ 210,523). Aim: leverage AI technology to contact centres for personalised interactions with customers Funder: Innovate UK
- (2020 – 2021, Birmingham City University) Academic supervisor for KTP project with MET (£181,788) – July 2020. Aim: develop AI-based solutions for Security Operation Centre to improve threat detection accuracy and speed. Funder: Innovate UK
- (2018 – 2020, Birmingham City University) Academic advisor for Knowledge Transfer Partnership project with Kadfire (£136,487). Aim: develop AI-powered mobile Application for improved train services. Funder: Innovate UK
PhD Supervision
Supervising the following PhD research projects:
- (2026-2029) Trustworthy multimodal early warning for pneumonia deterioration in hospital. Main Supervisor
- (2025 – present) Applying Artificial Intelligence Methods to create a 3D screening tool for Adolescent Idiopathic Scoliosis (AIS) based on a digital photograph. Associate supervisor
- (2025-2028) Responsible AI-Driven Decision Support Systems in ICU for Enhanced Paediatric Healthcare. Main Supervisor
- (2025 – present) Developing a Digital Twin of the Lungs for Enhanced Treatment Simulation in a Metaverse Environment Aston University - second supervisor. Associate supervisor
- (2024 – present) Unlocking sleep patterns with advanced data- driven models. Aston University. Associate supervisor
- (2023 – present) Applications of machine learning in paediatric medical imaging segmentation triaging, Engineering for Health. Aston University. Associate supervisor
Completed PhD supervision:
- Part-time PhD - AI for intrusion Detection for Industrial Control Systems by Machine Learning using Privileged Information. Award received in 2025. Birmingham City University.
- PhD- Machine learning Framework for Intelligent Detection of Phishing Websites. Award received in 2022. Birmingham City University.
Education/Academic qualification
PhD, Ph.D. in Machine Learning - 2013, The School of Computer Science, The University of Birmingham
1 Apr 2010 → 1 Aug 2013
Award Date: 1 Sept 2013
MSc, Computer and Information Sciences - 2005, Ain Shams University
2004 → 2005
Award Date: 1 Jun 2005
BSc, Computer and Information Sciences - 2000, Ain Shams University
1996 → 2000
Award Date: 1 Aug 2000
External positions
IEEE Member, IEEE
Jan 2026 → …
Member of the AI Ambassador Network, AI Ambassador Network
Jun 2025 → …
External Examiner for the Artificial Intelligence Sciences Programme, King Salman International University
1 Jan 2025 → …
Expert member in British Standards Institution (BSI) - Medical Devices & AI, Software and Systems, British Standards Institution (BSI)
18 Dec 2024 → …
Expert member of International Organization for Standardization (ISO)- Risk Management and Post-Market Surveillance for Medical Devices
2024 → …
Senior Fellowship of the Higher Education Academy - 2024, Higher Education Academy
2024 → …
Honorary Research Fellow, The University of Birmingham, College of Clinical Sciences
30 Sept 2019 → 30 Sept 2026
Keywords
- QA76 Computer software
- Machine learning
- Medical imaging
- Data mining
- natural language processing
- Applications of Machine Learning in Business
Fingerprint
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Collaborations and top research areas from the last five years
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A Data-Drive Servitization Intensity Typology for UK Manufacturing: Clusters, Stage-Specific Enablers and Predictive Modelling
Fouad , S., Menon, R., Adem, A., Baines, T., Bigdeli, A., Schroeder, A., Driffield, N., Battisti, G. & Abdelhameed, A., 17 Feb 2026, (Accepted/In press) Proceedings from Spring Servitization Conference. 3 p.Research output: Chapter in Book/Published conference output › Conference publication
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A Dirichlet Distribution-Based Trust-Adaptive Ensemble Approach for Pneumonia Classification from Chest X-Ray Images
Harib, W., Fouad , S. & F. Mahmoud, T., 13 Jan 2026, (Accepted/In press) International Symposium on Biomedical Imaging 2026. IEEEResearch output: Chapter in Book/Published conference output › Conference publication
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Human-Centered User Interface Design for Explainable AI in Chest Radiology: A Multi-Phase Co-Design Approach
Fouad , S., Hakobyan, L., E. Ihongbe, I., Kavakli-Thorne, M., Atkins, S. & Bhatia, B., 26 Jan 2026, In: IEEE Access. 14, p. 12498-12513 16 p.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
Open AccessFile1 Downloads (Pure) -
Integrating Explainability for Sentiment Interpretation, Misclassification, and Bias Detection in Women-in-STEM Social Media
Fouad, S. & Alkooheji, E., 11 Jan 2026.Research output: Preprint or Working paper › Preprint
Open Access -
An Explainable Deep Learning Framework for Mandibular Canal Segmentation from Cone Beam Computed Tomography Volumes
Barzas, K., Fouad , S., Jasa, G. & Landini, G., 22 Feb 2025, Computational Advances in Bio and Medical Sciences - 12th International Conference, ICCABS 2023, Revised Selected Papers: 12th International Conference, ICCABS 2023, Norman, OK, USA, December 11–13, 2023, Revised Selected Papers. Bansal, M. S., Chen, W., Khudyakov, Y., Măndoiu, I. I., Moussa, M. R., Patterson, M., Rajasekaran, S., Skums, P., Thankachan, S. V. & Zelikovsky, A. (eds.). Springer, p. 1-13 13 p. (Lecture Notes in Computer Science: ICCABS proceedings; vol. 14548).Research output: Chapter in Book/Published conference output › Conference publication
Open AccessFile46 Downloads (Pure)
Prizes
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Expert member in British Standards Institution (BSI)
Fouad , S. (Recipient), Nov 2024
Prize: Other distinction
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Honorary Research Fellow, The University of Birmingham, College of Clinical Sciences
Fouad , S. (Recipient), Sept 2018
Prize: Honorary degree
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Going the Extra Mile e-card award from Aston Vice chancellor 2025
Fouad , S. (Recipient), 2025
Prize: Prize (including medals and awards)
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UK Fringe 2024 Successful application (The Alan Turning institute) to host and promote AI co-design workshop
Fouad , S. (Recipient), Feb 2024
Prize: Other distinction
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Press/Media
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Elections to job automation: Five AI trends to look out for in 2024
17/01/24
1 item of Media coverage
Press/Media: Other
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“Bridging the Knowledge Gap in AI Technology Among Healthcare Practitioners”.
21/02/25
1 Media contribution
Press/Media: Research
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Co-organising First artificial intelligence and healthcare summer school to take place in Birmingham
3/09/24 → 11/09/24
1 item of Media coverage, 1 Media contribution
Press/Media: Research