Artificial Intelligence (AI) & Digital Public Health SIG
SIG Background
Digital technologies and AI offer profound opportunities to improve health and wellbeing, while also generating new and exacerbating known health harms, and raising challenging ethical and policy questions. All areas of public health practice (security, promotion, and healthcare) have the potential to be radically changed.
The AI and Digital Public Health SIG was established to provide Faculty of Public Health leadership in this area. It seeks to develop broad cross-cutting perspectives of the impact, opportunities, and issues of new technologies across the entirety of public health practice.
SIG aims
- Bring together members from across the Faculty working in this space to increase impact, share learning and resources, and act as an expert resource to the FPH, its members, and the public.
- Seek to build active collaborations and innovative partnerships to advance our three workstreams and extend FPH influence in digital spaces.
- Develop CPD resources for FPH members to keep up to date, or develop specialist expertise, on AI and Digital for Public Health.
SIG workstreams
- Accelerate the application of safe, responsible, and ethical AI and digital solutions to public health problems.
This worksteam aims to support the safe, effective, and equitable adoption of digital technologies and AI in population health practice.
We will build understanding, capacity, and collaboration across public health disciplines by 1) creating a network for people and programmes to share knowledge and best practice and 2) briefing members on novel technologies, their transferability to population health practice, and the opportunities and challenges these pose for improving health and reducing inequalities
- Advocate for public health principles in the advancement of AI and frontier technologies.
This workstream aims to provide the public health voice and leadership in the development and regulation of safe, ethical, and responsible AI and digital tools. This includes identifying, preventing, and mitigating the potential harms associated with the use of digital tools, including the potential to exacerbate health inequalities.
We will achieve this by 1) supporting partnerships and engagement between the Faculty and providers, regulators, government, industry, and the public and 2) influencing policy and regulation for using AI and digital tools responsibly in healthcare through consultation, research, and advocacy.
- Support digital and AI literacy across the public health workforce
This workstream aims to upskill the public health workforce on digital and AI-specific considerations for core public health competencies through CPD events, resources, and curricula review. It also aims to develop the next generation of public health technologists by supporting specialist placements and pathways.
Contact us
The co-chairs of the SIG are:
- Alisha Davies: adavies@turing.ac.uk
- Samantha (Sam) Field: samanthafield@nhs.net
- Elliot Roy-Highley: Elliott.Roy-Highley@nhs.net
The AI and Digital Public Health SIG reports to the Health Improvement Committee (HIC).
Join the SIG
FPH members can join this SIG by logging into their FPH members’ portal account, selecting the ‘Committees/SIGs’ button and choosing the correct SIG. You will then be asked to provide a few details, following which your application will be automatically approved. Further details on FPH membership are available here.
Webinar recordings
Hosted by the FPH AI and Digital Public Health SIG, this Alan Turing Institute's AI UK 2024 Fringe Event brought together members of the public health community alongside the AI research community, who are interested in the potential application of AI in public health.
The event showcased AI developments and the potential application in public health, with space for structured discussion amongst attendees on the opportunities and challenges to the development and deployment of AI across the different domains of public health.