Public Programs And Events

The second annual conference of the Independent Panel on Global Governance for Health will take place in New York (USA), and is co-organized by the Centre for Development and the Environment (University of Oslo) and the The Julien. J. Studley Graduate Programs in International Affairs (The New School).

About the Conference

Emerging technologies in the realms of artificial intelligence or digital worlds have a considerable transformative potential to address global health problems. However, these innovations are not neutral in their social impacts and raise a number of challenges, including reproducing and deepening inequalities. Whether technological innovations produce opportunities or constraints depends fundamentally on what technology is developed, for whom, by whom, and for what purposes.

This conference seeks to examine the global governance challenges to harness digital innovation for the public good, avoid harmful consequences and combat the political origins of health inequity.

It will bring together researchers, policymakers and activists from around the world who are engaged in cutting edge work on issues related to the theme of the conference.

Preliminary Programme

Friday, November 1, 2019

09:00 - 09:15  Welcome

• Mary Watson, Executive Dean, The New School
• Inger Scheel, Chair, Independent Panel for Global Governance for Health

09:15 - 10:00 Keynote address: Human Rights and the Digital Welfare State

Chaired by Sidsel Roalkvam

• Philip Alston, UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights and Extreme Poverty John Norton Pomeroy Professor of Law, NYU Law School

10:00 - 11:15 Introduction - Roundtable on key themes of the conference

Chaired by Sakiko Fukuda-Parr

• Kelley Lee, Professor and Canada Research Chair, Simon Fraser University
• Manjari Mahajan, Associate Professor, The New School
• Mickey Chopra, Global Solutions Lead for Service Delivery in Health, Population and Nutrition, The World Bank

Discussant: Antoine de Bengy Puyvallée

11:15 - 11:30 Coffee break

11:30 - 13:00  Session 1: Artificial Intelligence as social practice: ideology, ethics and human rights

Chaired by Desmond McNeill

• Elizabeth Gibbons, Senior Fellow, Harvard School of Public Health

• Xi Lin, Associate Professor, Institute of Advanced Studies in Social Sciences, Fudan University

• Kadija Ferryman, Assistant Professor, Tandon School of Engineering, New York University

Discussant: Peter Asaro

13:00 - 14:00  Lunch break

14:00 - 15:30  Session 2: Digital technology and technology for the poor: infrastructure, access, inequality

Chaired by Anne Emanuelle Birn

• Marine Al Dahdah, IFRIS post-doctoral fellow, Cermes3 (Centre de recherche médecine, sciences, santé, santé mentale, société)
• Rajiv Mishra, Researcher, Centre for Studies in Science Policy, Jawaharlal Nehru University
• Nora Kenworthy, Assistant Professor, School of Nursing and Health Studies, University of Washington Bothell

Discussant: Jashodhara Dasgupta

15:30 - 16:00  Coffee break

16:00 - 17:30 Session 3: Data & knowledge: ownership; public-private; knowledge; who gathers, owns, uses data; algorithms and treatment of data; market expansion and commercialization

Chaired by Katerini Storeng

• Susan Erikson, Professor of Global Health, Faculty of Health Sciences, Simon Fraser University
• Mary Ebeling, Associate Professor and Director, Women's and Gender Studies, Drexel University
• Sridhar Venkatapuram

Discussant: Sonja Kittelsen

 

Saturday, November 2, 2019

09:00 - 10:30 Session 4: Financing new technologies: actors, geographies, financialization of global health

Chaired by José Antonio Ocampo

• Megan Zweig, Director of Research, Rock Health
• Susan Sell, Professor, School of Regulation and Global Governance, Australian National University

Discussant: Ayanda Ntsaluba

10:30 - 10:45 Coffee break

10:45 - 12:15 Session 5: Governance: public goods and private ownership, regulation and incentives, international cooperation and solidarity

Chaired by Sakiko Fukuda-Parr

• Peter Asaro, Associate Professor of Media Studies, The New School
• Elizabeth Kaziunas, Researcher, AI Now, New York University

Discussant: Jomo K. S.

12:15- 13:00  Closing: Political determinants of health inequities: technology in the digital age – for whom, by whom and for what?

TBA

Presented by the Julien J. Studley Graduate Programs in International Affairs at the Schools of Public Engagement