Cynthia Chen, a UWA Master of Information Technology student, spent 100 hours of her summer break developing a tool to enable more efficient malaria research.
Looking to gain experience before her final semester, Cynthia applied for an internship with the McCusker Centre for Citizenship, and was matched with her role with The Kids Research Institute Australia (The Kids).
“I worked on the OpenMalaria chatbot project; OpenMalaria is a software tool used to simulate and study malaria transmission and assess the impact of different intervention strategies,” Cynthia explained.
“The software has very complex documentation, and researchers often spend a lot of time finding specific definitions or information. It also requires programming knowledge, which makes errors during data input more likely.
“To help overcome these challenges, I developed an AI chatbot that could help researchers quickly find relevant definitions and documentation using natural language processing, as well as checking XML file inputs for errors and providing suggestions for corrections.”
Working on an internship project with clear aims and outputs gave Cynthia the opportunity to put what she was learning into practise in a real-world application, with clear potential to benefit public health.
“My biggest takeaway was learning how to break down complex problems into smaller, manageable steps and solve them systematically. I enjoyed making use of what I have learnt at UWA, for example, software design principles from one of my units was directly relevant to designing and implementing chatbot features iteratively,” Cynthia said.
Chitra Saraswati, Research Officer in the Intervention and Infectious Diseases Modelling team at The Kids, said that Cynthia’s contributions made a meaningful difference to the team.
“Cynthia was an outstanding intern. We only expected a research plan, not a fully working prototype, which is incredibly useful for the OpenMalaria community. Cynthia was also a great team member and was eager to learn. It was amazing to see how much she accomplished in her internship period, and it was a pleasure to have her around.” Ms Saraswati said.
Along with delivering meaningful outcomes through her internship, the experience was full of rich learning for Cynthia.
“Previously, I didn’t realise the global impact of malaria. Through this experience I learned how serious the disease is for public health and how important the team’s work is. I also saw the powerful combination of technology and medicine, which can help solve health issues and improve people’s lives.
“I improved my programming and analysis skills, gained a better understanding of local work culture, and expanded my professional network, while the McCusker Centre seminars allowed interns to share our experiences and learn about social justice and sustainable development.”