ERCIM Forum Beyond Compliance on Digital Ethics 2026

29–30 October 2026 – Porto, Portugal

The 5th edition of ERCIM Forum Beyond Compliance on research ethics in the digital age will be held on 29–30 October 2026 in Porto, Portugal. Beyond establishing ethical norms to comply with, this forum explores digital ethics problems in the practical settings of academia. It provides an inclusive space to interact with international experts, and welcomes anyone concerned with digital ethics in their research activities.

Themes and Speakers

This year the forum will feature three sessions and a keynote, examining how we conduct research on, or with: (i) XAI limitations, (ii) AI in Healthcare, (ii) digital ethics committees, (iv) AI companions and vulnerable publics.

Day 1: Thursday 29 October

XAI Limitations & Vulnerability

What critical gaps remain for uncertainty-aware, meaningful, and understandable use of XAI in healthcare and industry?
Chair: Emma Beauxis-Aussalet (Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, The Netherlands)

9h15-9h30 - Introduction by Emma Beauxis-Aussalet & Laurynas Adomaitis
9h30-10h00 - Talk from Sepideh Pashami (Halmstad University, RISE, Sweden)
10h00-10h30 - Talk from Ajitha Rajan (Edinburgh University, UK), XAI in industrial cases
10h30-11h00 - Panel discussion
11h00-11h15 - Coffee break

Keynote on AI in Healthcare

11h15-12h00 - Keynote by Tugce Schmitt (Maastricht University, Netherlands)
12h00-13h00 - Lunch (provided)

The Need for National Digital Ethics Committees in Europe

What competence should national ethics committees acquire in digital ethics?
How to coordinate national ethics committees with diverse positions?
How to address competing digital ethics policies without leveling down European values?
Chair: Laurynas Adomaitis (RISE, Sweden)

13h00-13h30 - Talk by Maria Axente (AI Strategic Advisor at IEEE Standards Association, Intellectual Forum Senior Research Associate at the University of Cambridge, UK), Making the invisible visible: Building AI governance that works (abstract)
13h30-14h00 - Talk by Yves Moreau (Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Belgium), When digital ethics fails: Misuse of DNA and video tracking data
14h00-14h15 - Coffee break
14h15-15h00 - Talk by Vasiliki Mollaki (National Center for Scientific Research “Demokritos”, Greece)
15h00-15h45 - Talk by Claude Kirchner (Head of National Digital Ethics Committee, France)
15h45-16h00 - Coffee break
16h00-16h15 - Panel opening by Maria do Céu Patrão Neves (President of the National Ethics Council for Life Sciences of Portugal, Vice-President of the European Group of Ethics in Science and New Technologies, Member of the World Commission on the Ethics of Scientific Knowledge and Technology - COMEST, Portugal)
16h15-17h00 - Panel discussion with Vasiliki Mollaki, Yves Moreau, Claude Kirchner, Maria do Céu Patrão Neves, and Frank Beck Lassen (Head of Section at National Center for Ethics, Denmark).

Day 2: Friday 30 October

AI Companions and Vulnerable Publics

How to research their impacts and safety, while conducting safe research?
Chair: Alexei Grinbaum (CEA, France)

9h15-9h30 - Introduction by Alexei Grinbaum
9h30-10h00 - Talk by Jean Gové (Pontifical Gregorian University, Italy), AI and vulnerable populations (bio)
10h00-10h30 - Talk by Angelica Henestrosa (THWS, Germany), The company we keep: A psychological perspective on AI companions (abstract)
10h30-11h00 - Talk by Alexandra Prégent (CEA, France), Artificial Intimacy: Is genuine empathy desirable?
11h00-11h15: Coffee break
11h15-12h15: Panel discussion with Alexandra Prégent, Angelica Henestrosa, and Jean Gové

Venue and Co-Located Events

This event is free of charge, and will be held at INESC TEC in Porto, Portugal. It will be co-located with the ERCIM Fall Meeting , and with an AIOLIA training workshop on 28 October. It will follow the ECSS conference of Informatics Europe, which also includes a workshop on digital ethics.

This event can only be attended in person. No live streaming will be available, but most talks and their summaries will be published online. See previous events and our YouTube playlists. Stay tuned with our mailing list for the videos of the talks.

Subscribe to ERCIM digital ethics mailing list (~3 emails/year)

Organisation

This event is sponsored by ERCIM, INESC TEC, the National Digital Ethics Committee of France (CCNEN). It is organised by the ERCIM Working Group on Digital Ethics, which is currently recruiting new members and curators.

We look forward to seeing you in Porto!

Emma and Laurynas
On behalf of the Organising Committee

Alexei Grinbaum (CEA, France)
Anaelle Martin (CCNEN, France)
Christos Alexakos (ISI/ATHENA RC, Greece)
Claude Kirchner (CCNEN and INRIA, France)
Emma Beauxis-Aussalet (VU, Netherlands)
Gabriel David (INESC TEC, Portugal)
Guenter Koch (AARIT, Austria, and Humboldt Cosmos Multiversity, Spain)
Laurynas Adomaitis (RISE, Sweden)
Michèle Barbier (INRIA, France)
Miriam Santos (INESC TEC, Portugal)
Noémie Dié (Dassault Systèmes, France)
Sylvain Petitjean (INRIA, France)
Vasco Dias (INESC TEC, Portugal)

Maria Axente

AI Strategic Advisor at IEEE Standards Association, Intellectual Forum Senior Research Associate at the University of Cambridge (UK)

Making the invisible visible: Building AI governance that works
As AI systems become more autonomous, interconnected and embedded across organisations, governance is no longer simply about principles, policies or compliance. Drawing on experience across industry, public policy and international standards, I will explore how making hidden assumptions, dependencies, accountability and human decisions visible can provide a practical foundation for AI governance that works and preserves meaningful human accountability.

Angelica Henestrosa

Technical University of Applied Sciences Würzburg-Schweinfurt (Germany)

The company we keep: A psychological perspective on AI companions
Dedicated AI companions and general-purpose AI are built to be there for us, simulating understanding 24/7 and agreeable by design. From a psychological perspective, these are the qualities that make them appealing and risky at the same time. This talk brings together three strands of work. The first is empirical: how people perceive AI-generated content, and how language models respond to their users in ambiguous situations. The second is practical: in the Horizon Europe project AIOLIA, ethical principles are turned into concrete recommendations for AI companions, informed by exchanges with companies that build them. The third is conceptual: an argument about the limits of human oversight, one of the safeguards on which current regulation relies most. The talk closes with what remains unmeasured, and what we would need to design and govern AI companions responsibly.

Jean Gové

Pontifical Gregorian University (Italy)

Bio: Rev. Dr Jean Gové is a Lecturer in the Faculty of Social Sciences at the Pontifical Gregorian University, Rome, and a Visiting Lecturer at the University of Malta’s AI Department. His research focuses on the philosophical foundations of AI systems, the ethics of AI tools, AI manipulation, and the ethical and societal implications of emerging AI and new technologies. At the European level, Dr Gové is a member of the EU’s AI Act Scientific Panel and serves as the Holy See's representative at the Council of Europe, previously on CAI and currently on CDNET. He also serves as Coordinator of the European AI Research Group within the Vatican's Dicastery for Culture and Education, holds advisory positions across AI, ethics, and public policy, including with governmental bodies on digital policy and regulation. Dr Gové is the Diocesan Coordinator for AI at the Archdiocese of Malta, where he designs and leads AI literacy and ethics training programmes for educators, professionals, and vulnerable populations. He holds a PhD in analytic philosophy from the University of St Andrews.