The session will shed light on the importance of establishing an AI Ethics approach for research projects funded in this area, to enable the development of human-centric, trustworthy and robust AI. To this end, for Horizon Europe, a first set of specialized guidance notes have been produced followed by a distinctive reference to the use of AI in the Commission’s forms and reports and expert evaluation process. Given the novelty of this set of technologies from a research ethics perspective, the session will discuss the particular needs for guidance, education, training and development of expertise. Furthermore, the ongoing and future challenges that are associated with the upcoming adoption of the EU Artificial Intelligence Act and its possible impact upon the design and implementation of research projects will be discussed. Particular attention will be given to the application of AI in the field of AI health and the special safeguards that may need to be introduced to tackle the relevant challenges. Impacts on the role of research managers will also be noted.

This session will be chaired by James Casey.

Authors

Dr Lisa Diependaele is a Policy Officer at the Ethics and Research Integrity Sector of the European Commission (DG-RTD). Her work is focused on bioethics and ethics of new and emerging technologies in health research context. In this capacity, Lisa has been involved in the elaboration of policy guidelines, procedures and recommendations for Horizon 2020/Horizon Europe applicants and beneficiaries. Before joining the Commission, Lisa was a postdoctoral researcher and assistant academic staff member at Ghent University. She lectured courses in applied ethics and global ethics as well as social and political philosophy. Her research focussed on ethical issues relating to the protection of pharmaceuticals through patents, data exclusivity and trade secrets, intersections with international investment law, and ethical issues pertaining to the use of algorithms in the context of clinical research and decision-making. Lisa obtained a PhD in Philosophy in 2019, and holds Master’s degrees in International and European Law and Moral Sciences (Ethics).

Dr Mihalis Kritikos is a Policy Analyst at the Ethics and Integrity Sector of the European Commission (DG-RTD) working on the ethical development of emerging technologies with a special emphasis on AI Ethics. Before that, he worked at the Scientific Foresight Service of the European Parliament as a legal/ethics advisor on Science and Technology issues (STOA/EPRS) authoring more than 50 publications in the domain of new and emerging technologies and contributing to the drafting of more than 15 European Parliament reports/resolutions in the fields of artificial intelligence, robots, distributed ledger technologies and blockchains, precision farming, gene editing and disruptive innovation. Mihalis is a legal expert in the fields of EU decision-making, legal backcasting, food/environmental law, the responsible governance of science and innovation and the regulatory control of new and emerging risks. He has worked as a Senior Associate in the EU Regulatory and Environment Affairs Department of White and Case, as a Lecturer at several UK Universities and as a Lecturer/Project Leader at the European Institute of Public Administration (EIPA). He also taught EU Law and Institutions for several years at the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) where he obtained a PhD in Technology Law (London School of Economics-LSE) that earned him the UACES Prize for the Best Thesis in European Studies in Europe.