These words, from Michael Gove, date to the time of the Brexit referendum but have continued to resonate in the intervening years. The pandemic response, in particular, has highlighted the wide range of challenges inherent to communication of science and public engagement in the 21st Century. With our third Northern Data Debate, our panellists address fundamental and timely questions around public trust, the nature of “expertise”, and the potential perils—and vital importance—of science and public engagement.

Data-driven healthcare represents a paradigm shift for medicine, with huge potential for personalised, preventive healthcare and for early interventions. This is enabled by the progressive integration of digital health records with multi-omics data and medical imagery, as well as with self-monitoring data coming from personal wellness wearables—and all alongside advances in our capacity to manage, analyse and extract insights from the data at scale.

However, these technologies also bring new and old challenges to the fore, around privacy, ethics, and ownership of personal information. In this Northern Data Debate, a panel of experts unpack the latest developments, and debates the myriad promises and challenges that surround innovations in healthcare and data

A networking and upskill event aimed at equipping North East based businesses with the knowledge & tools they need to recruit top tech talent.