SHINE 2Europe had the privilege of participating in an exciting discussion on “Ethical Challenges in European Projects and End User Involvement” that took place at the Geneva Summer School in Switzerland. Represented by researcher Natália Machado, SHINE had the opportunity to present the OneAquaHealth and RadioVal projects.

The session took place on July 6 at the Center for Informatics (CUI) – Quality of Life Technologies of the University of Geneva, with an audience composed of Summer School students ranging from PhD students, post-docs, junior researchers and other professionals interested in exploring the intersection between technologies, quality of life and healthy aging.

Within OneAquaHealth, SHINE demonstrated the ethical challenges encountered in the project’s innovation process. OneAquaHealth aims to improve the sustainability and integrity of freshwater ecosystems in urban environments. As coordinator of the Citizen Science and Ethical Sustainability Work Module and responsible for the Ethical Guidelines, SHINE presented the project’s objectives and expected impacts. Natália Machado also addressed several ethical principles, such as respect for the environment, respect for citizens themselves during research and about justice. OneAquaHealth is led by the University of Coimbra and receives funding from the European Commission’s Horizon Europe program.

SHINE also presented the RadioVal project, in order to raise awareness of the ethical challenges in the field of Artificial Intelligence (AI). RadioVal is a Horizon Europe-funded project, led by the Universitat de Barcelona, which aims to validate an artificial intelligence solution to support breast cancer treatment decision. The central focus of the conversation was ethics and building trustworthy technologies, with particular emphasis on including end-users in the development process. In this project, SHINE leads the dialog work with doctors, patients, artificial intelligence (AI) researchers, ethics and legal officers and other experts in order to understand the exact needs of all stakeholders.

Students actively participated in the discussions and recognized the importance of extending ethical considerations beyond legislative frameworks. The need for continued collaboration and dialogue among project partners to comprehensively address ethical dimensions involving society, legislation, technology and people was emphasized.