ESR Fatma Doğan presents her work at Digital Law & Policy Conference

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Between the dates 10-11 September, Digital Law & Policy – Proportionality Principle In IT Regulation Conference was held in Warsaw. The Conference was organized by the University of Warsaw under the patronage of the European Data Protection Supervisor. The program started with the opening speech of the lead coordinator of the conference, Jan Czarnocki in his opening words, he pointed our attention to the fact that proportionality is a concept that is often omitted and ensuring the balance in the law-making process must pay attention.

The European Data Protection Supervisor gave a presentation and mentioned the advisory document published by EDPS, titled: Guidelines for assessing the proportionality of measures that limit the fundamental rights to privacy and the protection of personal data. The first day of the conference continued with the presentations of the valuable speakers.

ESR Fatma Doğan gave a presentation on the topic she worked on with Prof Paul de Hert, titled: A Year After EU Digital COVID Certificate Regulation: An Analysis in Retrospect. In the presentation, she mentioned the proportionality and data protection constraints of the mentioned Regulation, especially from a health data protection perspective. The fact that the Regulation was extended for one more year even though its problematic features make the topic worth discussing further.

ESRs Armend Duzha and Christos Magkos at National Technical University of Athens Researchers’ Night

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On September 30th at the National Technical University of Athens, in the historical Averof building, ESRs Armend Duzha and Christos Magkos together with an associate researcher in LeADS Manolis Alexakis participated in the 2022 Researchers’ Night. An annual event in which all universities and research centers of the Attica region gathered to present the ongoing activities they are involved in. We were present at the “European Corner”, where the MSCA fellows presented their posters, ESRs addressed questions from not only the audience but also other researchers and students of both universities and schools.

 

Researchers were able to learn about ongoing research and innovation in physics, computer science, and chemistry as well as discuss on topics regarding Human Rights, European policy, and the ever-increasing importance of privacy in a digital world.

ESRs Fatma Doğan and Aizhan Abdrassulova at Jagiellonian University’s Researchers Night

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On September 30th, Researchers’ Night is celebrated with various events and activities by Jagiellonian University, the oldest university in Poland. The university opened its doors to show how science is created and prepared many scientific attractions for the guests so that everyone could find something suitable for themselves.

ESR Fatma Doğan attended the “Astronomical Observatory of the Jagiellonian University” event. Unfortunately, due to some unexpected renovation works the event held place online, nevertheless, both ESRs have learned a lot about the mysteries of the universe.

ESR Aizhan Abdrassulova emphasizes the high level of organization of this important event in the scientific world, the university has thought out a system of early registration, ticket issuance, and the opportunity to choose an interesting topic from a wide range of topics presented. Following her personal interests, she attended events about climate problems and the influence of nature on the human body, which were also held online at our university. The events enriched her with new knowledge and gave her the opportunity to discuss her own research with other attendees.

ESRs Louis Sahi and Cristian Lepore at Nuit Europeenne des chercheur.e.s

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On Friday, September 30, more than 170 scientists from all disciplines slip away from their labs and met students at the Cité de l’Espace in Toulouse for an evening under the sign of science. They had more than 6 hours to discover the museum and join researchers from the three universities of Toulouse to discuss their findings, share experiences, and exchange thoughts about original and offbeat animations.


ESRs Louis Sahi and Cristian Lepore who are Ph.D. researchers at the University Toulouse III – Paul Sabatier, got the opportunity to discover the present concerns of astronomy and technological research along with LeADS collaborator Ali Kandi. They also had the opportunity to discuss their research with other participants.

 

LeADS at 2022 Researchers’ Night

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LeADS project will be present at the 2022 Researchers’ Night.

Bright Night – Pisa, Italy

ESRs Tommaso Crepax, Robert Poe, Qifan Yang (from SSSA) and Maciej Zuziak (from CNR) will be present at the event organised by Scuola Superiore Sant’Anna.

More info here: https://www.lider-lab.it/2022/09/22/bright-night-2022-la-notte-della-ricerca/

Researchers’ Night – Toulouse, France

ESRs Louis Sahi and Cristian Lepore (from UT3) will be present at the event organised by the University of Toulouse III.

More info here: https://nuitdeschercheurs-france.eu/?2022

Researchers’ Night – Athens, Greece

ESRs Armend Duzha and Christos Magkos (from UPRC) will be present at the event organised by the National Technical University of Athens.

More info here: https://www.ntua.gr/ntuaren/

Malopolska 2022 – Krakow, Poland

ESRs Fatma Dogna and Aizhan Abdrassulova (from JU) will be present at the event organised by the Jagiellonian University.

More info here: https://nauka.uj.edu.pl/mnn

 

About Researchers’ Night

The European Researchers’ Night is a Europe-wide public event, which displays the diversity of science and its impact on citizens’ daily lives in fun, inspiring ways. This year, the event will take place in 25 countries on Friday, 30th September 2022.

The European Researchers’ Night aims to

  • bring research and researchers closer to the public
  • promote excellent research projects across Europe and beyond
  • increase the interest of young people in science and research careers
  • showcase the impact of researchers’ work on people’s daily lives

 

 

Workshop “Designing Human Rights Attentive AI – An Interdisciplinary Perspective”

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The LeADS project will co-organize a workshop, titled “Designing Human Rights Attentive AI – An Interdisciplinary Perspective” in a hybrid format at the Jagiellonian University, Kraków on Wednesday 21 September 2022.

Program:

13:30 – Welcome Lunch

14:30 – Welcome Speech JU and introductory remarks by Prof. Giovanni Comandé, Scuola Superior Sant’Anna.

15:00 – Session 1 – “Can we trust “fair AI”? Prof. Salvatore Ruggieri, University of Pisa

15:40 – Session 2 – “Privacy attentive AI in consumer markets: Two stories of business adaptation” Dr. Agnieszka Jablonowska,  European University Institute.

16:20 – Session 3 – “Ethical and Legal Issues in Accessing Biobank Data to develop AI”  Dr. Andrea Parziale, Maastricht University

17:00 – Session 4 – “Explaining AI in Cyber Defence” Dr. Marco Antonio Sotelo, INDRA

17:40 – Session 5 – “Explainability: The Example of fintech” Dr. Angelo Dalli, Umnai Malta.

The workshop close with a general discussion regarding the topics previously debated.

 

For registration, please contact segrliderlab@santannapisa.it

This event will be recorded.

European Health Data Space: A New Vision for the Future of Healthcare in the Union

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As a part of the domain-specific common European data spaces[i], proposal for European Health Data Space Act (“the Proposal”) was introduced on 3rd of May. The increasing importance of health data in our current economic and technological environment put the Proposal at the heart of the debate. In this piece, we will briefly explain what the Proposal is offering and what kind of reactions it has received.

 

The purpose of the Proposal  

According to the Proposal’s memorandum, the reason for the emergence of this regulation is to provide a solution to the EU citizens who couldn’t have been able to access and exercise their rights on health data. Additionally, it is mentioned that uneven implication of GDPR among the member states causes legal uncertainties.

The main goal of the Proposal can be summarized as; creating a system which enables patients to have more control over their data. In addition to this, the Proposal also has provisions regarding the secondary usage of health data and a secure environment for data share within EU.

 

Envisions of the Proposal

EHDS mainly upholds the application of the rights in the GDPR to electronic health data. The framework of the Proposal is listed below[ii]:

  • Chapter I of the Proposal is dedicated to the definitions of the terms. Although some terms are defined separately, some referred other legislation such as GDPR, Data Governance Act.
  • In Chapter II, the Proposal brings the rights of the primary use of health data for individuals. With this, natural persons would have the rights of controlling their data such as having access, the right to obtain a copy of the data, overseeing and deciding who will access their data.
  • Chapter III of the Proposal mentions Electronic Health Records (“EHR”). These systems which will comply with the conditions stated in this chapter will be allowed to take place in the market. EHR systems will be the key part of cross-border data sharing while setting the standard of health data processing in EU. Commission’s envision for a database of EHR systems and wellness applications will have a positive impact on transparency and safety concerns of the Regulation.
  • Chapter IV is dedicated to secondary use of health data combined with EHR. This section brings several obligations to the data controllers in terms of data sharing. To maintain the governance of this process, the Proposal introduce a new institution called: “Health data access bodies”. Additionally, an infrastructure for cross-border electronic health data share named “HealthData@EU” is mentioned in this section.
  • Chapter VI mentions additional provisions and a new governmental body called European Health Data Space Board (EHDS Board). It is understood from this chapter that, the Board will be in charge of the implication of EHDS Regulation by member states.

 

The Road Ahead  

It is clear that; EHDS Regulation proposal is up for a hard task and thus it contains ambitious goals. On the one hand, it aims to empower patients, offer potential innovative opportunities and solve researchers’ data access problems and on the other, there are privacy risks and concerns.

As expected, European Data Protection Board and European Data Protection Supervisor published a joint opinion about the Proposal on 12 July 2022. In their analysis, they have rightfully so detected a number of points that need further improvements in the Proposal. One of their major concerns can be put as the interplay problem between the Proposal and previous/future legislation. For instance, the terms introduced by the Proposal such as “data recipient”, “data holder” and “data user” provided new definitions even though they have been defined in the GDPR, Data Act and Data Governance Act. They have mentioned their concerns about creating legal uncertainty if this interplay would not set out diligently. One of the biggest novelties of the Proposal is the secondary use of health data criticized by the EDPB and EDPS for not having detailed explanations for different purposes. It is mentioned in the Opinion that “the Proposal should further delineate these purposes and circumscribe when there is a sufficient connection with public health and/or social security”. Moreover, new administrative bodies are also criticized for the interplay between them and DPAs, also not to mention that these bodies need to have legal expertise on health data.[iii]

European Patients Forum also stated their concerns about the Regulation in their feedback to the Commission. They highlight, patients who are being in charge of their data should be the primary outcome of the Proposal.[iv]

It is stated in EU’s H2020 Program Guidelines on FAIR Data that, data should be “as open as possible, as close as necessary”.[v] The logic behind this principle is to benefit from the data for the public good, it should be accessible, in the meantime, it should be protected to maintain the privacy of individuals. Although the data sharing framework looks promising, EHDS will influence several areas and thus could create legal complexity.[vi] The GDPR has been criticized for not creating an unhindered environment for secondary use of data, therefore, preventing the innovation. The Proposal is an attempt to alter this situation, but we should bear in mind that reactions and feedback to the Proposal will cause fundamental transitions across the EU and in my opinion it’s exciting to witness a transformation of this scale.


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[i] ‘A European Strategy for Data | Shaping Europe’s Digital Future’ <https://digital-strategy.ec.europa.eu/en/policies/strategy-data> accessed 15 August 2022.

[ii] Proposal for a REGULATION OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL on the European Health Data Space 2022.

[iii] ‘EDPB-EDPS Joint Opinion 03/2022 on the Proposal for a Regulation on the European Health Data Space’ <https://edpb.europa.eu/system/files/2022-07/edpb_edps_jointopinion_202203_europeanhealthdataspace_en.pdf> accessed 15 July 2022.

[iv] European Patients Forum, ‘EPF’s Response to the European Commission’s Call for Feedback on the European Health Data Space’ <https://www.eu-patient.eu/news/latest-epf-news/2022/response-to-the-european-commissions-call-for-feedback-on-the-european-health-data-space/>.

[v] ‘H2020 Programme Guidelines on FAIR Data Management in Horizon 2020’ <https://ec.europa.eu/research/participants/data/ref/h2020/grants_manual/hi/oa_pilot/h2020-hi-oa-data-mgt_en.pdf> accessed 17 August 2022.

[vi] Paul de Hert and Anastasiya Kiseleva, ‘Creating a European Health Data Space: Obstacles in Four Key Legal Areas’ (2021) 5 European Pharmaceutical Law Review (EPLR) 17.

Freedom not Fear 2022 Conference

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From the 2nd– 5 September 2022 “Freedom not Fear” Conference took place in Brussels, Belgium, organized and funded by European activists with the aim of discussing the newest trends in digital rights in Europe. ESR Barbara Lazarotto attended the Conference as a participant, taking part in the discussions and networking with MEPs and other participants.

On the first day of the Conference, the topics discussed were the new European CSA Regulation, the collection of data by European Agencies such as Frontex and Europol, the impact of the AI Act on the banning of biometric surveillance apps such as Clearview, and the proposed new European Electronic Identity System, with the participation of EDRi Network, Statewatch, Epicenter.Works, and Digitalcourage.

The second day had the participation of MEP Marcel Kolaja (member of the Pegasus Committee) to discuss the impacts and the measures against surveillance software such as Pegasus in fundamental rights. Assistants of MEP Patrick Breyer hosted a brainstorming session related to the impacts of ChatControl regulation. Amongst concurrent sessions about Data Retention, ESSIF, and eIDAS. In the afternoon, MEP Karen Melchior hosted a session related to the bad and the good opportunities of the new EU Digital Legislation.

On Monday, the group headed to the European Parliament where they were able to have a tour and also meet with MEPs Patrick Breyer and Cornelia Ernst to discuss the further developments of EU Digital Legislation. In the afternoon the group joined another meeting with MEP Saskia Bricmont where they had the opportunity to learn more about her workings at the Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice, and Home Affairs, the Conference ended with the participants watching a session of the LIBE Committee at the EP.

Participation of Armend Duzha at the ARES Conference 2022

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Armend Duzha participated at the 2nd International Workshop on Advances on Privacy Preserving Technologies and Solutions (IWAPS 2022) and the 6th International Workshop on Security and Forensics of IoT (IoT-SECFOR 2022), both held in conjuction with the 17th International Conference on Availability, Reliability and Security (ARES Conference 2022).

Click here for the IWAPS workshop description

Click here for the IoT-SECFOR workshop description

 

ACM FAccT Conference & Doctoral colloquim

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The fifth annual ACM FAccT conference brought together individuals interested in fairness, accountability, and transparency in socio-technical systems. It was held in-person in Seoul, South Korea and online from June 21-24 2022.

Both ESR Xengie Doan attended the conference in person, along with Marietjie Botes from the University of Luxembourg who presented a paper. Xengie applied and was selected to attend the doctoral colloquium.

The doctoral consortium took place in the morning of the 21st. Professor Seth Lazar, with a philosophy background, and Professor Michael L. Littman, with a Computer Science background, began with a conversation about interdisciplinary research. Then, Professor Lazar gave a short introduction of his paper, “Legitimacy, Authority, and the Political Value of Explanations” and ended with valuable insights he learned from doing interdisciplinary research: 1) Don’t focusing too much on trying to have one uber definition to rule them all; 2) beware of false friends in two fields that have fundamental differences. Then the session opened to a Q&A session. Some relevant questions were asked about how to legitimize interdisciplinary research, how to find opportunities, and the mindset to approach research.

After that, the participants had lunch roundtables with mentors, all of whom were distinguished figures in their field. Some were renown professors, some had just spoken on a panel earlier in the day, or some had just found out they won a Distinguished Paper Award at the conference. The mentors were all incredibly kind and willing to give their lunchtime to speak with students.

Following a mentor roundtable, students were put into peer roundtables generally based on topics. Due to my research involving health data, I was put into a group with other PhD students working on health data. There were students in law, AI, and more. We ended up sharing out thesis topics and common issues we were dealing with, such as the opaqueness of ML decisions, the complexity of health data, the overhyping of AI for marketing, and more.

Overall, the FAccT doctoral consortium was a valuable experience that allowed me to meet individuals working on many different fields. It helped me become more knowledgeable and confident working on an interdisciplinary thesis with elements of computer science, privacy, health, and Human Computer Interaction.