Recent joint policy workshop on Genomics and Artificial Intelligence

The Royal Irish Academy was delighted to partner with the Academy of Medical Sciences to deliver a policy workshop on genomics and artificial intelligence.

Held on 27-28 November and jointly organised by the Academy of Medical Sciences and Royal Irish Academy’s Life and Health Sciences Committee, this workshop convened stakeholders from Ireland and the UK to expand our understanding of the current practices of implementing AI in genomic medicine and to explore how this process should be governed and regulated. Participants had the opportunity to hear from researchers, policy advisors and clinical practitioners working at the forefront of this field. The two-day event was structured around four sessions exploring AI and genomics from the viewpoint of current practices, ambitions and future potential, and ethics and regulation.

The aims of the workshop were to:

• Enhance understanding and share best practices and learnings in the topic of regulation, ethics and governance of the application of AI to genetic testing
• Contribute to public discourse on the topic and identify gaps in research
• Contribute to the public policy debate on the topic and inform future policy engagement activities led by the Academy and the RIA
•  Strengthen professional ties between the Academy and the RIA

We are grateful to all the speakers for their brilliant presentations and to the participants for contributing to this important conversation, in particular during the breakout sessions on the second day. During the final plenary session led by the workshop Co-Chairs, Professor Helen Firth and Dr Olga Piskareva, the workshop participants collectively identified a list of research priorities and policy next steps that can be taken forward to contribute to the implementation of AI in genomic medicine. We look forward to publishing these in the new year.

Reflecting on the event, Mary Doyle, RIA Secretary for Policy and International Relations said:

It is great to see an event like this taking place and from the perspective of the RIA Policy and International Committee I welcome the collaboration between the Royal Irish Academy and the Academy of Medical Sciences. Global Building and developing inter-academy relationships is a key part of our strategy. There is a lot we can learn from bringing international expertise together and there is a lot we can learn from each in terms other in terms of ways of working. We look forward to building further on this important relationship pin the coming years.

Workshop Programme

Session 1: Setting the context for the workshop

Chaired by Professor Anneke Lucassen, Nuffield Department of Medicine

Professor Ian Simpson, Professor of Biomedical Informatics & Director UKRI Artificial Intelligence CDT in Biomedical Innovation.
Through the Looking Glass and What AI Found There.

Dr Peter Mills, Director, PHG Foundation.
AI for Genomic Medicine

Dr Daniel Murphy, Assistant Professor in Bioinformatics at the School of Biology and Environmental Science, University College Dublin.
The Human Reference Genome.

 Session 2: What is currently possible

Chaired by Natalie Frankish, Genetic Alliance UK

Walter Kolch MRIA, Director of Systems Biology Ireland (SBI), University College Dublin.
Precision oncology using digital models.

Professor Aedín Culhane, Director of the Limerick Digital Cancer Research Centre, Lead of the All-Island eHealthHub for Cancer.
From isolated data silos to federated learning: the potential of collaborative cancer research.

 Professor Eamonn Sheridan, Consultant in Clinical Genetics, Leeds Teaching Hospitals and University of Leeds
Current implementation in NHS & Genomics England and future plans.

Session 3: How we can leverage AI’s potential

Chaired by Dr Catriona Inverarity, King’s College London, and James Dickinson, Genomics Artificial Intelligence Network (GAIN)

Dr Michael Yates, Senior Clinical Research Fellow, University of Edinburgh.
AI-driven phenotype mining with application to diagnostics.

 Professor Damien Woods, Professor at the Hamilton Institute, Maynooth University.
Intelligent molecules: Building molecular computers out of DNA

Harry Farmer, Senior Researcher, Ada Lovelace Institute.
Predicting: The Future of Health?

Session 4: Ethics, regulation and barriers to implementing AI

Chaired by Professor Thérèse Murphy, Queen’s University Belfast

Professor AnnekeLucasson, Professor of Genomic Medicine, Nuffield Department of Medicine and Director of the Centre for Personalised Medicine, University of Oxford
Utilising AI in genomics- some ethical issues

Dr Heike Felzmann, Senior Lecturer in Philosophy/Ethics, University of Galway
AI & genomics: ethical challenges, trustworthiness and societal context

 Dr Derick Mitchell, Chief Executive, Irish Platform for Patient Organisations, Science and Industry (IPPOSI).
Involving patients and the public in decision making around AI and Healthcare.