Drawing on the power of artificial intelligence, Deakin researchers are pioneering a world-first approach to mental health treatment. Known as adaptive experimental design, their concept has the potential to fast-track findings, leading to faster and more personalised health treatments.
Adaptive experimental design is a ground-breaking technique based on a sophisticated algorithm that uses machine learning and ‘lean data’ to fast-track findings that are equal in accuracy to traditional clinical trials, but obtained in a fraction of the time.
Complex health problems require multi-strategy, multi-target interventions. With the help of super computers, sophisticated mathematical formulae and probability theory, options for treatment are refined to identify the most effective treatment for individuals.
Deakin researchers are already putting adaptive experimental design into practice through a three-year trial aimed at optimising treatments for psychological distress. Around 1000 Deakin University students are expected to participate – trialling the effectiveness of four different interventions (and in various combinations) and providing online feedback that will allow researchers to identify the most effective interventions (or treatments) for individuals.
The interventions have been selected with input from researchers at the Black Dog Institute – Australia’s only medical research institute investigating mental health across the lifespan – and include strategies such as mindfulness, sleep, diet or exercise programs. The effectiveness of these interventions on specific groups, determined by gender, demography, age or other characteristics, will be analysed.
The findings will allow more personalised treatments for individuals experiencing psychological distress in the future.
The concept of ‘adaptive experimental design’ was developed by ARC Laureate Fellow Deakin Distinguished Professor Svetha Venkatesh and her team at Deakin’s Applied Artificial Intelligence Institute (A2I2).
Led by Deakin’s world-leading artificial intelligence experts, this research has huge potential to accelerate the time it takes new drugs and treatments to reach the public. Instead of taking years to complete a clinical trial, pharmaceutical companies and other treatment providers could achieve the same results in months with adaptive experimental design. This would result in major cost savings and better treatments reaching the public sooner.
This transformative medical research has the potential to take health care a step closer to personalised medicine. With several successful projects behind it, the current project is a further test case of adaptive experimental design, focussing on treating psychological distress, but in a few years its use of game-changing applied artificial intelligence technologies is likely to improve the ways medical professionals prevent, diagnose and treat a wide range of health conditions, to achieve significant health benefits for Australians and globally.
Adaptive experimental design isn’t limited to mental health. It could revolutionise treatments for conditions like diabetes, neurological disorders and addiction by cutting the time and cost needed to identify the most effective care strategies.
A 2019 Deakin research project – a seven-week trial aimed at increasing discussions around physical activity between general practitioners and their patients – provided the inspiration for the current project with the Black Dog Institute.
One in five Australians will experience symptoms of mental illness in any given year. Mental health problems, such as psychological distress, are the largest of all health disorders globally. Psychological distress, characterised by depression and anxiety, can in some cases indicate the beginning of major depressive disorder, anxiety disorder or other clinical conditions.
Effectively tackling psychological distress and mental health disorders requires the selection of the right treatments with the most efficacy. Applying artificial intelligence techniques can help determine the most effective treatments without trial and error – personalising treatments to individual characteristics from the very first consultation.
This research will uncover the best therapeutic interventions for distress, anxiety and depression for individuals and shorten the time people are provided with mental health treatments that don’t help them, because feedback is provided so quickly.
The AI developed for this project can be used in significant health challenges where time and cost in identifying which care strategies work best are an issue.
Deakin Distinguished Professor Svetha Venkatesh
Co-Director, Applied Artificial Intelligence Institute (A2I2)
Adaptive experimental design is not only transforming mental health treatment but also proving invaluable in diverse industries. One notable success is its application in the textile sector with HeiQ Australia in 2017, based on Deakin's Waurn Ponds Campus. By using adaptive experimental design, Deakin researchers helped HeiQ Australia develop their first product, HeiQ Real Silk, which is now part of the global textile market.
‘Adaptive experimental optimisation allows us to be a hundred to a thousand times faster than conventional “design of experiment” methods,’ said Associate Professor Alessandra Sutti, from Deakin’s Institute for Frontier Materials, who worked with HeiQ Australia on the project.
Dr Murray Height, CEO of HeiQ Australia, added, ‘The collaboration was inspired by the challenges of industrial innovation.
‘We needed to efficiently generate knowledge about a novel technology with very tight timeframes, to bring a product to market. Adaptive Experimental Design has given us a fast and powerful way to accelerate product development and implement advanced manufacturing processes. This methodology has clear potential to benefit material and process-oriented industries seeking efficient and nimble innovation.’
Beyond textiles, adaptive experimental design has broad applications across sectors like manufacturing, materials science and more, where it can optimise new products or systems with speed and precision, reshaping industries globally.
This research project is being funded through a $4,995,434 grant from the Australian Government’s $20 billion Medical Research Future Fund (MRFF), through its Applied Artificial Intelligence Research in Health Investment program.
Alongside Professor Venkatesh, Deakin’s research is jointly led by Scientia Professor Helen Christensen AO, Director of the Black Dog Institute. Professor Venkatesh, one of the top 15 women working in artificial intelligence globally, is supported by her A2I2 team on this project, including Associate Professor Sunil Gupta, Associate Professor Santu Rana, Associate Professor Truyen Tran, Dr. Thomas Quinn, Professor Kon Mouzakis (A2I2 Co-Director) and Professor Rajesh Vasa.
The project is also in collaboration with the University of NSW, Macquarie University’s Centre for the Health Economy, Australian Psychological Society, The Garvan Institute and the Australian Medical Association.
If you want more information on this project, contact Professor Svetha Venkatesh.
