Panel

Data for AI: From Readiness to Ethics

16 September 2025| 16:15

81/R-003C - Science Gateway Auditorium C

Moderator

Are We AI-Ready?

Bridging Gaps in Data, Ethics, and Governance As AI reshapes research, how can we ensure readiness across policy, data, and workforce? This panel shares key insights from RDA and Microsoft-led workshops on AI governance, data standards, and ethical frameworks—highlighting new guidance on consent, review, and rights. Join us to explore what responsible, human-centered AI means for Europe’s research future and beyond.

As Artificial Intelligence becomes increasingly integrated into the research lifecycle and transforms the research landscape, achieving AI readiness is a key priority. Ensuring high quality, accessible data and workforce preparedness are fundamental to enabling responsible AI-driven innovation. However, gaps remain in data readiness, standards, and AI-specific training.

Alongside initiatives addressing the question of data readiness for AI, efforts have been underway to support those in policy and governance to respond to AI developments. This panel will discuss the key findings and recommendations on AI readiness drawing from a series of workshops organised by the Research Data Alliance (RDA) and roundtable discussions held in coordination with RDA and Microsoft. It will highlight the series of publications from the AI and Data Visitation Working Group, an RDA TIGER-supported Group, which has provided detailed, implementable AI-related guidance on informed consent, ethical review, and a framework for an AI Bill of Rights.

The discussion will address these key topics and respective findings while providing insights into ongoing developments in the ethical, human rights, and regulatory contributions to AI governance in the European digital research environment, with particular reference to the European Commission’s ‘A European strategy for AI in science’ within its overall AI Continent Action Plan. The discussion will show how these contexts are related to cross-border and cross-regional developments in AI governance with inclusion of the recent ACHRP’s ‘Study on human and people’s rights and artificial intelligence, robotics, and other new and emerging technologies’.

Panelists

Alexandra Delipalta

Alex Delipalta is the Director of RDA Europe, the regional office of the Research Data Alliance tasked with supporting the European RDA community and providing the link between global and regional initiatives. Alex holds a BA in English Language and Literature from the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, and an MSc in Developmental Liguistics from the University of Edinburgh. She worked as a Research Assistant at the Centre for Speech Technology Research (CSTR), Edinburgh University for three years before joining the Digital Curation Centre, where she held multiple roles over six years, including those of Research Project Specialist and Strategy and Operations Specialist. Alex was appointed Director RDA Europe in December 2023.

Natalie Meyers

Natalie Meyers serves as Professor of the Practice in the Lucy Family Institute for Data & Society at the University of Notre Dame and serves as a Computational and Data Science Research Specialist at the San Diego Supercomputer Center, University of California San Diego (UCSD) in the USA. Meyers's research focuses on FAIR data management and software preservation for model driven research. Prior to joining Notre Dame, she was co-owner of Content Innovations, LLC a California certified woman-owned small business in San Francisco. Meyers was previously a programmer analyst and GIS specialist at UC Berkeley where she also received her Masters in Library and Information Systems (MLIS) with a concentration in Systems Analysis and Database Design. She also holds an MA in English from University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee.

Perihan Elif Ekmekci

Perihan Elif EKMEKCI graduated from the Medical Faculty of Ankara University in 1995. She had her Ph.D. in History of Medicine and Ethics from Ankara University in 2014. Currently, she is an associate professor and head of the History of Medicine and Ethics department at TOBB ETU School of Medicine. She was a research fellow at Imperial College, London, UK in 2006. She has been a Fogarty Fellow at Harvard University and had her Fogarty/NIH Program Master's Certification in Research Ethics in 2014. She has been a fellow of WIRB International IRB Western Institutional Review Board Research Ethics Training Program, Seattle Washington (USA) in 2016. She served as the head of the EU relations department of the Ministry of Health Turkey (2007-2016) and developed several projects in alliance with the EU. She was the Turkish representative for the European Center for Disease Control Advisory Board and served in this position between the years 2011-2016. Currently, she is the chair of the International Unit in Bioethics/ WMA Cooperation Center and deputy dean of TOBB ETU School of Medicine. She is chairing the Intuitional Review Board of TOBB ETU, and she is a member of the open science committee of TOBB ETU. She is a member of the World Association for Medical Law and the International Forum of Teachers of the International Unit in Bioethics. She has several publications in distinguished journals on ethics and the history of medicine. Dr. Ekmekci is the co-author of the book titled “Artificial intelligence and Bioethics” published by Springer in 2020. She is teaching undergraduate and postgraduate courses on the history of medicine and ethics.