Hosted by the Elizabeth Blackwell Institute, this interdisciplinary workshop will bring together researchers at the University of Bristol and colleagues working in the NHS and other organisations with an interest in socio-digital transformation, ethics and governance issues of embedding AI in health research. 

The aim is to build on existing expertise across disciplines and explore opportunities for new collaborations with a view to enhancing capacity to develop ideas for and apply for programme grants. The workshop will also be an opportunity for researchers to think of ideas for projects intending to make future use of Isambard AI.  

The workshop will address the areas that include but are not limited to:

Socio-Digital Transformation
•    Integration of AI in Healthcare: Exploring how AI can be seamlessly integrated into existing healthcare systems to improve efficiency and patient outcomes
•    Digital Health Tools: Discussing the development and implementation of digital health tools like wearable devices platforms
•    Patient Empowerment: Examining how AI can empower patients through personalized medicine and real-time health monitoring
•    Digital divide: Investigating how AI designed to work in healthcare systems of high-income countries can be adapted to work safely and efficiently also in low- and middle-income countries 

Ethics
•    Bias and Fairness: Addressing the risk of algorithmic bias and ensuring AI systems are fair and equitable for all patient groups and healthcare workers – including distribution of benefits.
•    Privacy, confidentiality and consent: ensuring patient data is consented and protected, , maintaining trust between patients and healthcare providers
•    Trust, authenticity and the therapeutic relationship: Including the threats posed, and opportunities offered, by the use of human-like AI in a clinical setting, and the challenges posed by language.

Governance
•    Regulatory Frameworks: Developing robust regulatory frameworks to oversee the use of AI in health research and healthcare, ensuring safety and efficacy
•    Transparency and Explainability: Ensuring AI systems are transparent and their decision-making processes can be explained to patients and healthcare providers
•    Accountability and safety: Establishing safety and clear lines of accountability for AI-driven decisions and outcomes in healthcare, especially if harm eventuates. 

Who is it for: 
The workshop is open to all colleagues in the University of Bristol with an interest and/or expertise in socio-digital transformation, ethics and governance of AI in health as well as colleagues in the NHS and other organisations. We particularly welcome participation of engineers, data scientists and experts in machine learning or other colleagues whose AI-related skills could be applied to the area of governance and ethics of AI. 

Format:
The interdisciplinary workshop will be held in-person over lunch. Light lunch will be provided and participation is free. 

Registration:

To register to attend please complete this online form by midday Wednesday 30 April.

Confirmed speakers:

• Caroline Green, Director of Research, Institute for Ethics in AI, Oxford University
• Emanuele Ratti, Lecturer in Philosophy of Science and Artificial Intelligence, Department of Philosophy, University of Bristol
• Jonathan Ives, Professor of Empirical Bioethics and Head of Population Health Sciences, Bristol Medical School, University of Bristol
• Nirav Ajmeri, Senior Lecturer, School of Computer Science, University of Bristol
• Ruzanna Chitchyan, Professor of Software Engineering for Sustainability, School of Computer Science, University of Bristol