
From its inception, the Human Brain Project has pursued questions of data governance, and is in the process of refining a set of data policy principles and practices that foster research collaboration in accordance with principles and practices of responsible research and innovation (RRI). The Data Governance Working Group of the HBP, in collaboration with the UK ORBIT Project, hosted a two-day conference that brought together international expertise and cutting-edge research on the topic of data governance in large collaborative neuro-ICT projects. Our purpose in doing so was to clarify current practice, identify obstacles and barriers, and propose future ways of organising data governance, particularly in the context of the GDPR coming into effect.
Professors Marina Jirotka and Bernd Stahl introduced the ORBIT Project, and welcomed attendees and speakers to the conference. The opening keynote by Professor Karen Rommelfanger considered the role of ethics in transnational neuroscience data collaboration and raised the thematic issue of cross-cultural variance in perceptions of minds/brains/souls and personhood with respect to neuroscience. Jeff Muller, the HBP Technical Coordinator discussed ongoing developments in Data Policy and Infrastructure in the Human Brain Project, and was followed by Dr Greg Farber of the NIH and US Brain Initiative, who discussed the research utility of federal data repositories and differing approaches to data governance across these. Dr Steven Newhouse (EMBL-EBI)spoke on secure data management, analysis, infrastructure and policy in an international context, and Professor Jan Bjaalie (Leader of the Neuroinformatics Subproject of the HBP) closed the day with a lecture encapsulating the history of neuroscience data sharing, with some lessons for present-day and future data sharing.
The second day began with a plenary by Dr Yoko Yamaguchi (RIKEN), which demonstrated the systems and processes in place for data sharing and knowledge integration in the Brain/MINDS Project. Saila Rinne of DG-CONNECT discussed the wider context of the European data economy, touching upon another thematic issue of the conference: the opportunities and challenges presented by attempting to balance Open Data with Data Protection and privacy concerns. The closing keynote by Professor Alan Evans introduced the Canadian Open Neuroscience Platform, and shifted discussions toward considering what a truly global neuroscience data infrastructure might look like, and how that could responsibly be achieved. Dr Hannah Maslen, Deputy Director of the Oxford Uehiro Centre for Practical Ethics chaired a panel of HBP Ethics Management members, which focussed mainly on how we responsibly approach the future of collaborative, international neuroscience research and data sharing.
Speaker Talks
Professor Marina Jirotka
Welcome to ORBIT
Dr. Karen Rommelfanger
Ethical consideration in transnational neuroscience data collaboration
Jeff Muller
Data Policy and Infrastructure in the Human Brain Project
Dr. Greg Farber
Data Governance in Two Different Data Archives: When is a Federal Data Repository Useful?
Dr. Yoko Yamaguchi
Neuroinformatics infrastructure for Data sharing and knowledge integration in Brain/MINDS
Saila Rinne
European data economy, data privacy and free flow of data
Professor Bernd Stahl
De Montfort University
Professor Alan Evans
Canadian Open Neuroscience Platform
Jeff Muller
Human Brain Project
Call for Papers
We would like to invite you to contribute to a Special Issue of Orbit, the Journal for Responsible Research and Innovation in ICT that will be dedicated to questions of data governance of international collaborative activities, with a special interest in the link between neuroscience and ICT. The special issue follows on from the conference on Data Governance in International Neuro-ICT Collaborations, jointly hosted by the Human Brain Project and the ORBIT Project at Oxford University in March, 2018 but is open to anybody who would like to contribute.
The overarching goal of this Special Issue is to bring together contributions from the international expertise, including those represented at the conference, on the topic of data governance in large collaborative neuro-ICT projects. Issues of relevance include the technical, social, and ethical aspects of current practice, identification of obstacles to collaboration, discussion of neuroscience-specific data governance topics, and proposals for future ways of organising data governance.
Potential topics could include:
- Principles of data governance and/or data management
- Challenges of international collaboration
- Intellectual property, acknowledgment, and attribution
- Specific issues of data governance in neuroscience
- Technical drivers and obstacles
- Cultural aspects of data governance
- Regulation, legislation, and compliance
- Misuse
- Policy and interpretation of data governance
All submissions will undergo full double-blind peer review. We are aiming for the Special Issue to be published early in 2019, and thus would ask that your papers be submitted before October 31st, 2018 using the ORBIT journal submission system by clicking here.
For questions please contact Bernd Stahl at bstahl@dmu.ac.uk.