David Archard is Emeritus Professor of Philosophy at Queen’s University Belfast, having previously taught at the Universities of Ulster, St Andrews and Lancaster. He has published extensively in applied ethics, political philosophy, and philosophy of law, especially on the topics of children, the family, sexual consent, and the public role of philosophy. His book 'Children. Rights and Childhood', now in its 3rd edition, was the first book philosophically to analyse the moral and political status of children. 

He has been Honorary Chair of the Society for Applied Philosophy and is its Vice-President. For twelve years he was a Member of the Human Fertilization and Embryology Authority, and latterly its Deputy Chair. He is currently Chair of the Nuffield Council on Bioethics, the United Kingdom’s de facto national ethics committee, Chair of the Ethics Advisory Group of the ‘Every Story Matters’ exercise of the UK’s COVID Public Inquiry, and a Member of the Clinical Ethics Committee of Great Ormond Street Hospital.

Dr Peter Arlett is Head of the Data Analytics and Methods Taskforce at the European Medicines Agency. Prior to taking up this post in 2020, he held leadership roles within the EMA in the areas of pharmacovigilance and epidemiology, and risk management. Before this, he worked for the European Commission’s Pharmaceuticals Unit from 2003 to 2008, was UK delegate to the European Committee for Human Medicinal Products, and an assessor and manager at the UK’s Medicine’s Control Agency (now MHRA). He has a medical degree from University College London, and began his career as a hospital physician.

In addition to his role at EMA, Dr Arlett is currently Co-Chair of the HMA-EMA Big Data Steering Group, and Honorary Professor at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. He is also a Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh.

Noreen Doyle is an entrepreneur and experienced Chief Executive Officer working in the food production industry. A graduate of Dún Laoghaire Institute of Art, Design and Technology, her professional expertise spans business development, customer service, marketing strategy, social media, and business management. She is currently CEO of Haynestown Meats Ltd and co-founder and CEO of the Irish Biltong Company, an award-winning snacking company based in Naas, County Kildare. 

Ms Doyle is a mother of four children ranging in age from 20 to 15, two of whom are childhood cancer survivors. She is a patient advocate for the Galway University Institute for Clinical Trials, and a former board member with Bumbleance – Children’s Ambulance Service Ireland.  

Fidelma Dunne is a Personal Professor in Medicine at University of Galway Ireland, and Consultant Endocrinologist at Galway University Hospitals. She is a member of the Diabetes in Pregnancy Study Group of the European Association for the Study of Diabetes, and past President of the International Association Diabetes in Pregnancy Study Groups (2016-2022). She was a Fulbright scholar (2014-2015) at Columbia University New York, and is currently Adjunct Professor at Steno Diabetes Research Centre in Odense, Denmark (2020-2025), President of the Irish Endocrine Society (2021-2024) and National Specialty Director for Endocrinology training (2023-2026). 

Prof Dunne’s research interest is in diabetes and pregnancy, with over 240 peer review publications, 11,300 citations, H index of 56 and over €22 million in grant funding. Her research group is conducting a number of studies as part of the ATLANTIC DIP programme. She has completed a randomised controlled trial of Metformin in pregnancies complicated by gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM), has investigated the utility of a biomarker (CD59) for GDM diagnosis and follow up, and has completed a 10-year follow-up of women with prior GDM. In addition, she has been involved in international studies including an EU-funded trial on prevention of GDM (DALI) and the JDRF-funded CONCEPTT trial of continuous glucose monitoring in pregnant women with Type 1 diabetes. More recently she has been the Irish lead for a pan-European cohort study examining pregnancy outcomes of women with Type 1/Type 2 diabetes using levemir insulin (EVOLVE) and the EXPECT study examining insulin Degludec (Tresiba) in women with Type 1 Diabetes in pregnancy. She is principal investigator of the Health Research Board All Ireland Collaborative Clinical Trial Network in Diabetes (2021-2026). 

Dr Kate Gajewska is the Clinical Manager for Advocacy and Research at Diabetes Ireland, the only national charity in Ireland that supports, educates and motivates people with diabetes, raises awareness and funds for diabetes research and advocates for better diabetes services. She joined Diabetes Ireland after working as a Lecturer in Epidemiology and Public Health at RCSI: University of Medicine and Health Sciences, and as a Postgraduate Researcher at the School of Public Health, University College Cork. Before completing her PhD in 2020 with a thesis on “Accessing insulin pump therapy by adults with type 1 diabetes in Ireland: A multiphase mixed methods study” at RCSI, she worked as a research data manager and psychologist in paediatric diabetes clinics in Poland and Ireland. She is an active member of many international and national diabetes associations (ISPAD, IES, IDF), working groups, and an author and co-author of many scientific papers and clinical guidelines. As a person with type 1 diabetes herself, she supports many diabetes-focused patient-led groups, encourages peer support, and advocates for the optimum diabetes care and opportunities for any person with diabetes, with the main focus on access to technology and psychological care. 

Professor Andrew Green is a clinical geneticist in the Department of Clinical Genetics at Children’s Health Ireland at Crumlin, Dublin since 1997, and is Professor of Medical Genetics at University College Dublin (UCD). His holds a medical degree from UCD and a PhD from Cambridge University, where he studied with Nobel Laureate Sydney Brenner, completed his clinical genetics training, and held a consultant/ lecturer post. He has been a qualified specialist in clinical genetics since 1995.

Today he works as a full-time clinical geneticist, seeing families affected by or at risk of genetic disease. His numerous research interests include the genetics of tuberous sclerosis, the genetics of autism, genetic diseases in the Irish Traveller population, and the implementation of new genetic testing into clinical service. He has been a principle investigator on the international autism genome project and is an author on over 250 scientific papers, including publications in the journals Science and Nature.

He has a longstanding interest in medical ethics and genetics, and has been a member of the Irish Council for Bioethics, the Commission for Assisted Human Reproduction, numerous health service committees, and has been chair of the research ethics committees in Our Lady’s Children’s Hospital Crumlin and UCD. He is currently a member of the National Research Ethics Committee for Clinical Trials.

Dr Avril Kennan serves as the CEO of Health Research Charities Ireland (HRCI), an organisation dedicated to supporting a thriving a community of more than 40 charities to engage in all aspects of health research, while also acting as their national advocate. Under her leadership, HRCI runs the Irish Health Research Forum, bringing together all stakeholders to improve health research in Ireland. She also oversees HRCI’s management of the Joint Funding Scheme, in a partnership with the Health Research Board, which to date has funded 154 research projects aligned with the missions of HRCI’s member charities. Avril plays a leading role nationally in patient and public involvement (PPI), research impact, health data, research funding, genetics and genomics and rare diseases.  

Avril’s academic background includes a PhD in genetics and subsequent years working as a molecular biologist. In previous roles in DEBRA Ireland and DEBRA International, she drove a range of patient-centric global initiatives. She’s a passionate advocate for the transformative power of research to improve lives.

Dirk Lanzerath is Professor of Ethics and Research Ethics at the University of Bonn, Germany, Secretary General of the European Network of Research Ethics Committees (EUREC), and Director of the German Reference Centre for Ethics in the Life Sciences (DRZE). A graduate in biology, philosophy and education, with a PhD and venia legendi (habilitation) at the faculty of philosophy of the University of Bonn, he is also honorary professor at the Centre for Ethics and Responsibility at University of Applied Sciences Bonn Rhein-Sieg. He is a member of the board of the Central Ethics Committee at the German Physician Association, a member of the Ethics Committee of the Medical Association North Rhine, and a member of the Ethics Committee of the University of Maastricht. In addition, he sits on the Editorial Board of the journal "Research Ethics Review", and is study abroad professor for ethics/bioethics/environmental ethics/research integrity/ethics and the arts at the Study Abroad Program of the Loyola Marymount University, Los Angeles, Ca. (USA) at the Academy of International Education (AIB). 

Professor Sally Ann Lynch has been a Consultant Clinical Geneticist at Children’s Hospital Ireland (CHI) at Temple Street and CHI at Crumlin Dublin since 2004. She has published over 200 academic papers, many on rare disorders including work on inequity in genetic health services. She is the Irish co-ordinator of the ERN-ITHACA European Reference Network and is hosting their board meeting in December 2023. In 2022 she was presented with the Health Research Charities Ireland Inaugural Research Impact award, and won Irish Hospitals’ best research paper of the year award (and was short-listed in the same category in 2020 and 2021). 

Prof Lynch set up the Clinical Genetics Medical Training scheme in the Republic of Ireland in 2012. She is a member of the IRDiRC diagnostic scientific committee and the European Society of Human Genetics educational committee. She has established a microsite giving information on genetic disorders and hosts educational animation videos (available via European Society of Human Genetics) on inheritance patterns, consanguinity, pericentric and paracentric inversions, variant of unknown significance and copy number variation. Collectively the videos have had more than 1,750,000 views. 

Deirdre Madden BCL, LLM, BL, PhD, MRIA is Professor of Law at University College Cork, specialising in healthcare law and ethics. In addition to her textbooks and peer-reviewed articles across the area of health law, Prof Madden has authored/co-authored reports on assisted human reproduction, post-mortem practice and procedure, patient safety and quality assurance, and the role‎ of voluntary organisations in health and social care. She has been a member of many national advisory committees, expert working groups and regulatory bodies in the areas of bioethics, patient safety, and healthcare regulation including the Medical Council, the Health and Social Care Professionals Council, the Health Information and Quality Authority, the National Advisory Committee on Bioethics, the Expert Group on the Implementation of the ABC v Ireland judgement, and the Expert Advisory Group to the Citizens’ Assembly on the 8th Amendment to the Constitution. She has been an ethics reviewer for the European Commission for over 20 years and has been a visiting professor in the UK, US, and Australia. She was elected as a Member of the Royal Irish Academy in 2020 and is currently Deputy Chair of the Board of the Health Service Executive. 

Dr Michaela Th. Mayrhofer is a social scientist by training.  Her academic career led her to various positions and stays at the Centre de Recherche Médecine, Sciences, Santé et Société, the University of Vienna, the Institute of Technology and Society Studies at the Alpen-Adria-Universität Klagenfurt/Vienna/Graz, the Technical University of Vienna, the Fondation Brocher and the Medical University of Graz. She retained a Research Fellowship at the Institut für Technik-und Wissenschaftsforschung at the Alpen-Adria-Universität Klagenfurt as well as at the University of Newcastle; in addition, she is a former member of the editorial staff of the Austrian Journal of Political Science (2013-2017). She has been working for BBMRI-ERIC since 2013, where she served as Co-Interim Director General (Feb-Aug 2020) and is Head of ELSI (ethical, legal and social issues) Services and Research since 2019. Here she leads a team of multidisciplinary ELSI experts who are involved in 23 research projects (with 9 being work package leads). Her research interests are the governance of the life sciences and ethics of AI.

Laura Merson’s early career was spent in Sri Lanka, Canada and Vietnam, focused on the design and implementation of clinical studies in low-resource settings. She has managed studies across six continents, including therapeutic trials in Ebola virus disease, influenza, bubonic plague, mpox, dengue and thalassemia. As the Head of Oxford University’s Clinical Trials Unit in Vietnam, Laura focused on building clinical trials capacity across Asia and developed her research interests in changing the paradigm of public health emergency response to integrate rapid, collaborative clinical research. She later co-launched and served seven years as Associate Director of the Infectious Diseases Data Observatory (IDDO), an initiative enabling sharing of data across the research, humanitarian and public health communities. She created the Ebola Data Sharing Platform and co-led the design and launch of the Health Data Research West Africa platform. Now based at the University of Oxford as Head of Data for ISARIC, Laura works in partnership with the World Health Organization and the network of ISARIC collaborators building standards in data collection, governance and analysis during outbreaks. She led the design and implementation of the ISARIC Data Platform, a project that is now the world’s largest international collection of accessible data on individuals hospitalized with COVID-19. 

Professor Derek O’Keeffe is a Physicianeer, holding dual first-class honours degrees and doctorates in engineering and medicine.  He was a Fulbright Scholar at Harvard, a Green Templeton Scholar at Oxford and is a graduate of the Endocrinology Clinical Fellowship at the Mayo Clinic, USA. As well as multiple academic publications, he holds biomedical patents and several international research prizes. He has previously worked with NASA placing a sleep experiment onboard the International Space Station and was their flight surgeon for a NEEMO Aquarius mission. He has explored over 100 countries, volunteered extensively and was awarded The Outstanding Young Person of the World by Junior Chamber International. He is a Black Belt Taekwondo Instructor, Qualified Pilot, Advanced Scuba Diver & Triathlete. In 2022 he designed an award winning Cardiovascular themed garden for Bloom in the Phoenix Park. He was recently awarded a first-class honours MBA degree, and is the new HSE National Clinical Lead for Diabetes. He is a Consultant Physician (Endocrinologist) at University Hospital Galway and is the Professor of Medical Device Technology at the University of Galway. 

Professor Barry O'Sullivan is an award-winning academic working in the fields of artificial intelligence, constraint programming, operations research, AI/data ethics, and public policy. He contributes to several global Track II AI diplomacy efforts at the interface of military, defence, intelligence, and AI. He is a full professor at the School of Computer Science & IT at University College Cork and a member of its Governing Body. He is founding Director of the Insight SFI Research Centre for Data Analytics at UCC and Director of the SFI Centre for Research Training in AI. He is an Adjunct Professor at Monash University. Prof. O'Sullivan is a Fellow and a past President of the European AI Association (EurAI), a Fellow and member of the Executive Council of the Association for the Advancement of Artificial Intelligence (AAAI). Moreover, he is chair of the Advisory Board of the GRACE project at Europol, and advises the Leuven.ai institute (KULeuven, Belgium) and the Computational Sustainability Network (Cornell University, USA). In July 2018 Professor O'Sullivan was appointed Vice Chair of the European Commission High-Level Expert Group on AI. In 2021 he was appointed by the Minister for Health as Chair of the National Research Ethics Committee for Medical Devices. 

Dr David Shaw is Associate Professor of Health Ethics and Law at the Care and Public Health Research Institute at Maastricht University and Senior Research Fellow at the Institute for Biomedical Ethics at the University of Basel. He graduated with an MA in Philosophy and English Literature from the University of Glasgow in 1999, and an MSc in Philosophy from the University of Edinburgh in 2001. He obtained his PhD at the University of Lausanne in 2005 and went on to work in the philosophy department at the University of St Andrews and the medical school at the University of Glasgow. In 2011 he obtained a Masters in Medical Law. He is interested in all areas of bioethics, but particularly research ethics, public health ethics, and shared decision making, and has participated in several European research ethics and integrity projects, including ENERI and iRECs.