PhD AI in ultrasound imaging for endometriosis and adenomyosis

Endometriosis and adenomyosis affect millions of women worldwide and are often associated with chronic pain, infertility, and reduced quality of life. Despite their prevalence, diagnosing these conditions remains difficult. Patients currently wait an average of 9 to 11 years for an accurate diagnosis.

Ultrasound offers a promising, non-invasive diagnostic method, but interpreting these scans requires highly specialised expertise that is not widely available. In this PhD project, you will contribute to the development of AI-supported ultrasound diagnostics that can help bring expert-level support into everyday clinical practice.

You will work within the WomAIn lab at Amsterdam UMC and contribute to Dutch4AI, a national consortium focused on high-quality gynaecological ultrasound datasets for AI research. Your work will span the full research pipeline: from building data infrastructure and developing computer vision models to contributing to clinically usable AI tools.

The project is embedded in both national and European research networks, including the WomAIn European consortium with collaborators across more than 17 countries.

Would you like to know more about the different phases within the PhD trajectory? You can read more about this on this page.

As a PhD candidate, you will work on the development and evaluation of AI models for detecting and characterising endometriosis and adenomyosis in ultrasound imaging. You combine technical AI research with close collaboration with clinicians and consortium partners.

Your work includes:

• developing and improving data collection pipelines, data quality standards, and annotation workflows for multi-centre ultrasound datasets;
• designing, training, and evaluating computer vision models for ultrasound-based diagnostics;
• contributing to research protocols, ethics applications, and data-sharing procedures within the Dutch4AI consortium;
• collaborating with clinicians, researchers, and external partners across the Netherlands and Europe;
• contributing to the development of clinically relevant AI-assisted diagnostic tools for point-of-care use.

In addition, you will write scientific publications, present your work at national and international conferences, and actively contribute to consortium meetings and collaborative research activities.

We are looking for a motivated and collaborative researcher with a strong interest in clinical AI and women’s health.

You have:

• a Master’s degree in artificial intelligence, computer science, medical data science, bioinformatics, engineering, or a related field;
• hands-on experience with Python and computer vision methods;
• affinity with medical imaging, machine learning, and applied AI research;
• strong analytical and organisational skills, with the ability to work independently within interdisciplinary collaborations;
• excellent written and spoken English communication skills.

Experience with medical image analysis, multi-site datasets, data engineering, or clinical AI is considered a plus.