Professor Jane Kaye, Director of The Centre for Health, Law, and Emerging Technologies (HeLEX) at the University of Oxford, in collaboration with Professor Beverley Yamamoto of Osaka University in Japan has convened the interdisciplinary team which includes researchers from social science, medicine, life science, and ethical and legal backgrounds.
The research will adopt a mixed-methods approach and aims to investigate effective strategies to support a platform for stakeholder engagement and involvement in the development and implementation of AI technologies in healthcare settings. Alongside the empirical research, the project will recruit a patient and public involvement panel to contribute to the project activities.
"With AI increasingly being used within the NHS and in future potential applications, it is critical that patients and the public are involved as we develop the governance and privacy issues around this new technology," said Kassim. "As a clinician who has implemented AI in the NHS setting, I will be contributing to the clinical aspects as well as supporting the patient co-development of the outputs."
The research will focus on:
- What are the current and anticipated uses of AI technologies in treatment, diagnostic decision-making and precision medicine;
- Understanding the issues that stakeholders perceive will influence the adoption and implementation of AI in healthcare;
- Identifying the types of engagement mechanisms, safeguards and regulatory controls they would like to see in place; and
- How to development a platform for engagement that can address issues of trust, responsibility, accountability and transparency, and influence normative practices in the implementation of AI technologies in healthcare.
The project is one of six which have been funded through UK Research and Innovation's (UKRI) Fund for International Collaboration (FIC) in a joint UK-Japan initiative. The Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) and the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC), both part of UKRI, contributed £2.4m via FIC, while the Japanese Science and Technology Agency (JST) contributed ¥180m.