For the past 4 years I have served on the Nordic committee for bioethics. The committee operates under the umbrella of Nordforsk, and its mandate is to foster discussion and debate about bioethical questions and topics of relevance to the nordic countries.

Later this month will the committee host a workshop at the NeIC (Nordic electronic infrastructure collaboration) conference in Umea (May 29-June 1). The topics of the workshop are:

"New technologies enable the accumulation of large amounts of genetic data, biometric data, health records and socio-economic data about individuals. These data are increasingly being gathered and mined by companies for research and commercial purposes. The proper handling, security and use of such data is important to protect individuals while enabling the use of the data for the benefits of society, research or business. This workshop aims to investigate key ethical and societal issues concerning the large-scale collection, storage and sharing of data about individuals."

Full schedule of talks is available at the website of the conference.

Bioethics of Databanks and Datasharing