Why is it so hard to get rid of unhealthy behavior? According to the theory of behavioral health economics, unhealthy behaviors are partly due to cognitive biases that adversely affect decision-making. The corresponding public health strategy is to identify these biases and design interventions that address them. Based on practical examples like diabetes management or physical activity, we discuss successful health promotion strategies based on the combined insights of economics and psychology.

This event is organized by the Department of Socioeconomics

• In this panel we will discuss the risks of bias, AI-driven discrimination, and unfair differentiation in the health sector. Is there something specific to discrimination risks in the health sector?

• Are the trade-offs between the benefits and risks of AI different in this sector as opposed to other sectors?

• Is there a health sector-specific notion of fairness? If so, are sector-specific rules needed for AI in health?

• Should legal protection against AI-driven discrimination and unfair differentiation be improved and who should attend to this: non-discrimination scholars or bioethicists?

We aim for a lively discussion panel: no presentations and no slides, but a discussion among the panelists and with the audience. The panel will be made up of experts from different disciplines and backgrounds.

Moderator:

Frederik Zuiderveen Borgesius iHub & iCIS Institute for Computing and Information Sciences, Radboud University Nijmegen (NL)

Speakers:

Minna Ruckenstein Tena Šimonović Einwalter Equinet (HR)

Carlos Castillo Universitat Pompeu Fabra (ES)

Tamar Sharon iHub, Radboud University Nijmegen (NL)

The 17 Sustainable Development Goals are defined in a list of 169 SDG Targets. Progress towards these Targets is agreed to be tracked by 232 unique Indicators. Here is the full list of definitions. This new version of our SDG-Tracker was launched on 28th June 2018. We will keep this up-to-date with the most recent data and SDG developments through to the end of the 2030 Agenda. For many Indicators data is available, but major data gaps remain. If you are aware of high-quality data we have yet to include please notify us. We hope that this collaborative approach allows us to support the United Nations in developing the most complete and up-to-date sources for tracking global progress to 2030.

caesar is part of a cluster for neurosciences in the Bonn-Cologne region and has multiple ties with the University of Bonn and University of Cologne. In collaboration with the Max Planck Florida Institute for Neuroscience, the University of Bonn and Florida Atlantic University, caesar runs the International Max Planck Research School (IMPRS) for Brain and Behavior. This first transatlantic IMPRS graduate program aims to train students in a large range of cutting-edge techniques which are currently instrumental in the quest for understanding brain circuit function in the whole animal and its role in defining behavior.

The institute is operated by a non-profit foundation under private law. The president of the Max Planck Society chairs the foundation board. Trustors are the Federal Republic of Germany and the Federal State of North Rhine-Westphalia. caesar is evaluated by a scientific advisory board. The evaluation is effected according to the procedures and criteria of the Max Planck Society.

Recommended resources:

• MediaManipulation.Org
• Donovan, J. 2020. “Thank You for Posting: Smoking’s Lessons for Regulating Social Media. MIT Technology Review.
• Donovan, J. 2020. “Covid Hoaxes Are Using a Loophole to Stay Alive—Even after Content Is Deleted.” MIT Technology Review. 2020.
• Donovan, J. 2020. “Trump’s Viral Flu Tweet Proves America Is Losing the Battle against Covid Misinfo.” NBC News.
• Donovan, J., and boyd, d. 2019. “Stop the Presses? Moving From Strategic Silence to Strategic Amplification in a Networked Media Ecosystem” American Behavioral Scientist, September.

Misinformation about COVID-19 has led to severe harms in multiple instances: as an example, a rumor that drinking methanol would cure the virus resulted in hundreds of deaths. While end-to-end encryption is an important privacy safeguard, this encryption prevents platforms such as WhatsApp, Signal, and others from employing centralized interventions and warnings about misinformation. Several options, however, from user interface changes to tip lines to having more intelligence on client devices offer hope.

In this presentation Dr Scott A. Hale will discuss how text similarity algorithms are being used to help fact-checkers locate misinformation, cluster similar misinformation, and identify existing fact-checks in the context of tip lines on platforms with end-to-end encryption. The presentation will detail research at the Oxford Internet Institute and Meedan, a global technology not-for-profit developing open-source tools for fact-checking and translation, that is actively being used by fact-checkers to improve the information available online.

Under the title “Zukunft Gesundheitsdaten — Wegweiser zu einer forschungskompatiblen elektronischen Patientenakte” (Future health data — a guide to a research-compatible electronic patient file), the iRights.Lab developed a comprehensive study on the subject of eHealth on behalf of Bundesdruckerei (federal printing house). It shows which challenges have to be mastered so that Germany can also use the potential of digitalization in the field of eHealth.

Here the study can be dowloaded in German.

Leopoldina Lecture by Nobel Laureate Prof. Dr. Ada Yonath The event is open to all interested parties.

The Leopoldina and the Academy of Science of South Africa (ASSAf) will organize the symposium “Global Mental Health in the Era of Sustainable Development: Research and Policy Priorities” from 30 to 31 May 2019 in Pretoria, South Africa, in order to discuss recent advances in mental health research. The participants will explore topics ranging from neuroscience and genetics to public mental health and epidemiology as well as intervention research.

The scientific coordinators of the symposium are Professor Frank Rösler ML, University of Hamburg, on the side of Leopoldina, and Professor Crick Lund, University of Cape Town, on the side of ASSAf. The event is open for everyone interested.

The Methodological Convention for Estimating Environmental Costs 3.0 included a large number of parameters to calculate the costs of environmental pollution. This included the costs of restoring damaged building and infrastructures, of the market value of crop losses and production losses, as well as the sum which people would be prepared to pay for the avoidance of damage to their health. The Methodological Convention 3.0 helps to compare and contrast the costs of environmental pollution and the costs of environmental protection.