CANCELLED - Future Health and New Technologies: Opportunities and Responsibilities

COVID-19 Update

After much consideration we have decided to cancel our forthcoming virtual conference (21-23 July 2020).  We hope to be able to host our next conference, live and at Keble College Oxford from 7-9 September 2021.  

Original Conference Plans

From algorithms to gene-editing, new technologies are transforming the way we see ourselves, what it means to be a patient, and how healthcare is regulated and organised. Increasingly, novel public/private partnerships are driving technological innovation and will determine the nature of learning healthcare systems for generations to come. Technological change promises great opportunities but also creates challenges as existing clinical relationships, responsibilities and obligations are reconfigured. The emergence of new global partnerships and collaborations questions established practice, norms, laws and regulation, with significant implications for patients and healthcare professionals.

The HeLEX Centre 2020 conference had hoped to bring together scholars interested in exploring the ethical, legal and social implications of technological innovation in biomedical research and healthcare across the world. Within an interactive conference programme, we will consider the future of healthcare delivery and the responsibilities of different actors within this context, addressing questions such as:

*   What are the challenges for socially responsible research and innovation raised by new technologies and how might these be resolved?
*   To what extent are current frameworks for accountability being challenged by institutional and organisational changes?
*   What new roles are emerging for clinicians, researchers, companies and regulators?
*   When are we considered ‘patients’, ‘consumers’ or ‘research participants’ in this new context?
*   How do systems of governance affect the success or failure of new technologies?
*   Will new technologies enable us to have a just and inclusive healthcare system, or will they lead to further inequalities?

Within an interactive conference programme, we will consider the future of healthcare delivery and the responsibilities of different actors within this context. To tackle questions around these roles and responsibilities within a changing regulatory and technological landscape, and how this will influence the advancement of health, we invite contribution from interdisciplinary scholars: for example legal academics, philosophers, social scientists, data scientists and others.

In particular, we welcome work that examines:

-        the views of different stakeholders, including (but not limited to) patients, regulators, clinicians, policy makers

-        the underlying principles or developing new perspectives for enquiry

-        technological and practical solutions for future health

Types of contribution:

Panel discussions:

Abstracts were to be considered from a group of individuals to provide a complete panel session, or from individuals who had wished to take part in a panel.

Short talks:

Short talks would have allowed researchers to share their projects or ideas in a 15 minute presentation – accompanied with power-point slides.

‘Rapid-Fire’ breakout sessions:

Participants were invited to deliver a quick overview of their research, either:

-        a PechaKucha (a concise and fast-paced storytelling style where speakers deliver 20 slides that progress at 20 second intervals – 6 minutes and 40 seconds in total)

-        or a ‘chalk-and-talk’ (presenters deliver 10 minute talks with the aid of a white board to explain/draw ideas as they go).

Posters: Participants were invited to contribute a poster to the poster session which would have been held during the Wednesday lunch break. This would have given participants the opportunity to discuss their research findings with other conference attendees.

For further details please contact: helex@law.ox.ac.uk