Optimising Cancer follow-up using mathematical models and AI at EUR

Medical Delta Living Lab Better In Better Out; Baxter (TN); On-site; USD 41,000 - 52,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Research environment

Interdisciplinary collaboration

Job summary

Erasmus University, together with TU Delft and Erasmus Medical Centre, invites applications for a PhD candidate to design and evaluate a risk-based follow-up model for cancer care. The role blends data analysis, participatory design with patients and clinicians, and the development of AI-assisted decision tools to optimize surveillance strategies.

The project aims to tail surveillance intensity to individual recurrence risk, with rigorous modelling and pathway feasibility assessments across

Qualifications

• PhD candidate to develop and evaluate a mathematical model and algorithm for risk-based follow-up after cancer treatment.
• Strong quantitative and modelling expertise and willingness to work with patients and clinicians.
• Experience with data analysis from clinical registries and applied modelling.

Responsibilities

• Develop and evaluate a mathematical model and algorithm for risk-based follow-up.
• Analyse data from clinical registries and perform evidence synthesis.
• Engage patients and clinicians in participatory research and implement AI decision-making components.
• Collaborate across European partners to transfer findings to health services.

Skills

Quantitative analysis

Modelling (POMDP)

Data analysis

Interdisciplinary collaboration

Education

PhD in a relevant field (cancer modelling/OR/CS)

Tools

POMDP modelling

Python

R

AI concepts

Job description

Erasmus University, TU Delft and Erasmus Medical Centre have established a partnership through interdisciplinary research and education. As part of the work in the alliance, we are looking for a PhD candidate to develop and evaluate a mathematical model and algorithm to better tailor (risk-based) follow-up after cancer treatment. The role is highly impactful for ensuring sustainable cancer care in the future, and we are looking for an exceptional candidate with strong quantitative, and modelling (e.g., POMDP) expertise combined with the interest to work with patients and clinicians on improving cancer care. In the role you will combine data analysis using clinical registries, evidence synthesis, participatory research with patients and clinicians, applied modelling, and development of AI decision-making algorithms to answer a question that health services across Europe are struggling with: how much surveillance is enough, for whom, and delivered by whom?

Job Description

Background

Follow-up after primary cancer treatment is, in several tumour streams, more intensive than the evidence currently supports. Where the aim is recurrence detection, frequent and intensive surveillance shows limited benefit for clinical outcomes while imposing psychological burden and out-of-pocket costs on patients and consuming scarce professional capacity.

These pressures are intensifying. Survivor numbers are rising, early-onset cancers extend the survivorship horizon, treatment is shifting from surgery towards systemic therapy, and complex care is concentrating in fewer specialised centres. Deciding where surveillance capacity is best spent has therefore become a question of workforce sustainability as much as one of clinical effectiveness.

Aim and objectives

The project aims to use modelling to propose risk-based follow-up strategies that match surveillance intensity to individual recurrence risk. It pursues three objectives.

Optimising follow-up. Determining when, for how long and in what form patients should be seen, and identifying the factors — age, tumour stage, molecular profile, treatment received — on which stratification can be based. Given clinical and molecular characteristics of many tumours, a Partially Observable Markov Decision Process (POMDP) is a preferred approach.

Defining successful implementation. Engaging patients to understand their concerns and preferences, and assessing the clinical feasibility of alternative follow-up arrangements, including nurse-led, physician-led and online delivery, with attention to professional roles, responsibilities and workload.

Data and model requirements. Identifying suitable data sources such as the cancer registry, specifying the model along clinical, operational and organisational dimensions through participatory design, and building an extrapolation framework that transfers findings from large datasets to low-volume tumour streams.

You can view the full job vacancy here.

Application deadline: 30 september 2026