Dear EUPHA Digital Health and AI subscribers,

Welcome to the second EUPHA Digital Health and Artificial Intelligence (DH&AI) newsletter of 2025! As we move into the middle of the year, we’re excited to share updates from our section and highlight upcoming opportunities in digital health and AI within public health.

This quarter, we’ve been focusing on fostering collaborations and exploring innovative applications of AI to address pressing public health challenges. We encourage you to stay connected with us through our social media channels and email, where we regularly share insights and opportunities for engagement.

As always, we’d love to hear from you! If you have ideas, events, or publications you’d like to share with our network, or if your organisation is interested in collaborating, feel free to reach out to us at euphadhai@gmail.com.

Best regards,

The EUPHA DHAI Team

1. Editorial

If the past decade introduced AI to public health, 2025 is the year it’s taking over the conversation. We are witnessing a technological acceleration so rapid that long-standing paradigms—how we detect outbreaks, communicate risk, deliver services, and govern health data—are being fundamentally reimagined.

AI is no longer just a promising tool for research or a distant aspiration for healthcare planners. It is a dynamic, evolving force that is reshaping public health at lightning speed. Just go and have a look at the incredible array of scientific material presented at the recent Artificial Intelligence in Public Health Symposium by the ZKI-PH (Robert Koch Institute – Artificial Intelligence in Public Health) in Berlin. 

This disruption is not just technological; it’s strategic. As public health professionals, we are called to rethink what’s possible. Can we forecast mental health crises with the same urgency as infectious disease outbreaks? Can personalised nudges, powered by ethically governed AI, help prevent the next wave of non-communicable diseases? Can we finally break down silos between clinical data, environmental exposures, and social determinants of health?

A particularly promising development in this regard is the growing collaboration between the openEHR and HL7 FHIR communities. After years of parallel progress, these two complementary standards are now actively working towards interoperability and semantic alignment. This convergence is a quiet revolution—enhancing our ability to link datasets across systems, institutions, and borders with fidelity and purpose. For public health, this means stronger surveillance, faster response, and richer insights derived from integrated data streams.

The truth is: we must move quickly and wisely. The speed at which these tools evolve means the window for shaping their trajectory—for health equity, ethical alignment, and community benefit—is narrow. As regulations like the EU AI Act and European Health Data Space Regulation begin to take shape, the public health voice must be present, loud, and informed.

At EUPHA DH&AI, we believe this moment is not just about adoption—it’s about influence. The voices shaping how AI and digital tools are deployed in healthcare must include public health expertise. That’s why we’re investing in conversations, collaborations, and capacity building—highlighted in our upcoming pre-conference in Helsinki and across our growing network of experts and contributors.

Public health is at a turning point. Let’s not just adapt to AI—let’s direct it.

Dr. Stefan Buttigieg

2. Our section at the European Public Health Conference – 11th to 14th November 2025

We are proud to announce the pre-conference “Getting practical with AI in public health: real-world applications, challenges, and ethical considerations“, taking place on Tuesday 11 November 2025 in Helsinki (09:00–17:00). This full-day event will offer hands-on sessions, real-world case studies, and critical discussions on AI’s integration into public health practice, including legal, ethical, and regulatory aspects—especially in light of the EU AI Act.

We hope many of you, section members, will join the discussion and contribute your expertise. For more information, feel free to contact the organizer, Dr Laura Maaß (laura.maass@uni-bremen.de).

More information and the detailed program are available here.

Further, we are excited to announce that our section has submitted four successful workshop proposals in cooperation with other organizations and EUPHA sections.

1. In cooperation with the EUPHA sections Health technology assessment, Global health, Public health monitoring and reporting, Law and public health, and the Public health policy and politics section as well as with the ASPHER, our workshop “EU regulations with impact on digital public health: A Roadmap to navigate the evolving landscape” has been accepted as a full workshop. 
2. Additionally, our submission in cooperation with the ASPHER Digital Public Health Taskforce on “Defining digital competencies for public health education and training” has been accepted as a Pecha Kucha session. 
3. “Evaluating the value of digital health technologies: experiences and new developments” was co-organized with the EUPHA Health Technology Assessment section and was accepted as a 60-minute session
4. “Innovating the oral health workforce: pathways to universal health coverage”. This roundtable, co-organised with EUPHA-OH, explores how digital health, interprofessional collaboration, and innovative workforce models can improve access to oral care and support universal health coverage. 

More information on our workshops to follow once the abstracts are available here. 

3. Spotlight on AI & Public Health – recent publications worth reading

A new journal has recently been launched: npj Digital Public Health, part of the Nature Portfolio. The journal is intended to serve as a platform for research at the intersection of computational methods and applied public health. It focuses on the development, implementation, and evaluation of digital tools and methods in a variety of public health contexts, including communicable and non-communicable diseases, health equity, and the social determinants of health. More info at: https://www.nature.com/npjdigipubhealth/ 

4. Special Issues – Call for Papers

We’re pleased to highlight two open calls for papers on Artificial Intelligence in Public Health, both aligned with the mission of our section and of great interest to members working on digital and AI-based public health innovations:

> Public Health (Royal Society for Public Health)

Special Issue: Artificial Intelligence and Public Health – this issue explores how AI can shift public health toward prevention through early detection, risk forecasting, behavioural nudges, and addressing social determinants  – Submission deadline: 31 May 2026

Guest Editors: Dr Alisha Davies, Dr Samantha Field, Dr Elliott Roy-Highley

> Frontiers in Digital Health

Research Topic: Artificial Intelligence in Public Health – Following the 2024 EPH Conference in Lisbon, a Research Topic is being launched to collect innovative contributions on the use of AI in public health practice. – The Editorial Team is currently gathering expressions of interest. Authors will be contacted to confirm participation and will have approximately 8 months to submit their manuscripts.

Guest Editors: Dr Alessio Pitidis

Express your interest via this form: https://forms.office.com/e/DFXynMm1iH

5. Contribute to the section newsletter and social!

Thank you for reading the second edition of our renewed newsletter. As your Communication Pillar, I’d love to hear your thoughts and suggestions on this evolving format. We want the newsletter to become a dynamic and valuable resource for everyone in our section. If you come across interesting articles, upcoming conferences or webinars, job opportunities, or if you have any feedback to share, please don’t hesitate to get in touch!

Dr. Francesco Baglivo