Open Science practices to advance digital health/AI research: Balancing ethical and legal hopes and fears

Speaker: Dr. Olga Perski, Marie Skłodowska-Curie Postdoctoral Research Fellow UC San Diego  & Tampere University (Finland)

The much-discussed reproducibility crisis in psychology and health research can partly be counteracted by using ‘Open Science’ practices – i.e., the open exchange of scientific ideas and practices. While progress is being made, it is not yet standard practice in digital health/AI research to pre-register study protocols and analysis plans, or to routinely share intervention materials, data, source code, and analytical code. This session will first provide an overview of the scientific and ethical values (‘hopes’) underpinning the Open Science movement. Next, key ethical and legal challenges (‘fears’) which act as barriers for digital health/AI researchers to embed Open Science practices in their day-to-day work will be discussed, including the sharing of intensive longitudinal or in-depth qualitative patient data and the commercialisation of algorithms and digital health interventions. Practical examples of how to overcome these barriers in digital health/AI research, alongside available Open Science resources, will be provided.

Learning objectives

Through participating in this session, attendees will gain:

•  A better understanding of Open Science practices;

•  A better understanding of key ethical and legal considerations when using Open Science practices in digital health/AI research;

• A greater awareness of available resources for further developing Open Science skills.