#EBW26 Previews: 10A – Ethics Café
The Ethics Café is an established event of the Europe Biobank Week conferences in which all stakeholders come together in an informal setting to voice their thoughts on the role that ethics frameworks play in the context of biomedical innovation.
This year, the Ethics Café brings together expert perspectives on AI-driven health data use and EHDS governance. Short inputs will be followed by facilitated audience discussion, inviting participants to reflect on practical challenges, stakeholder engagement and responsible data stewardship in everyday biobank operations.
Prof. Ricard Martínez Martínez will lead in an interactive section on the following topic:
Health Data, EHDS and AI: What Could Possibly Go Wrong?
The European Health Data Space (EHDS) and the rapid uptake of Artificial Intelligence are transforming how health data from biobanks are accessed, reused and governed across Europe. For biobank professionals, this shift is not abstract — it directly affects data access procedures, secondary use decisions, collaborations and stakeholder relationships.
How does AI change the ethical landscape of health data reuse? What new responsibilities arise under EHDS for biobanks as data holders and facilitators? Where do transparency, engagement and societal expectations fit into evolving access frameworks?
Join the conversation to explore how biobanks can navigate AI-enabled data use while maintaining legitimacy, accountability and public confidence.
This session will be chaired by:
Assoc. Prof. Anto Čartolovni, PhD
Assoc. Prof. Anto Čartolovni, PhD is the new Head of the ELSI Department at BBMRI-ERIC, having recently joined from the European Research Council (ERC). An expert in bioethics, AI ethics and governance, he has extensive experience managing national and international projects focused on the ethical, legal and social implications of digital transformation in healthcare.
Valentina Colcelli, PhD
Valentina Colcelli, PhD is a Senior Researcher at the Italian National Research Council (CNR). Her main research interests focus on the interaction of domestic and European law in shaping rights and interests and market regulation. She is also interested in a general reflection on personal and non-personal data beyond the EU legal system, internal market regulation, personal data protection, data circulation, legal and ethical issues in research and innovation activities and Artificial Intelligence and adequate judicial protection of biodiversity considering fundamental rights.
Session details:
- Date: Friday 22 May
- Time: 9:00 – 10:30