Join us in Rotterdam for the 2026 IPDLN Conference!
Join us in Rotterdam for the 2026 IPDLN Conference!
Special Interest Groups (SIGs) give IPDLN members the opportunity to connect around shared research interests, build collaborations, and exchange knowledge in a more focused setting.
Special Interest Groups are created and run by the IPDLN community and provide a space for members with multiple overlapping interests to network and collaborate on a more targeted scale.
Groups manage their own activities, with basic organisational and promotional support from the IPDLN Coordination Team.
Proposals are reviewed to ensure alignment with IPDLN’s objectives.
Unstructured Data and AI Privacy Special Interest Group
Lead: David Copeland
Unstructured data is increasingly being used in healthcare, social research, finance, law and education. This has been enabled by advances in natural language processing (NLP), computer vision, and other AI tools. These data types contain rich insights but pose novel challenges for privacy, standardization, and linkage.
Unstructured data is highly variable and often contains latent identifiers that resist traditional de-identification. AI tools, while powerful, can inadvertently reconstruct identities or infer sensitive information.
Across the world, institutions are exploring how to extract value from unstructured sources. Legal and ethical frameworks are uneven and evolving, especially as AI capabilities outpace current governance models.
Linking unstructured data (e.g., free-text pathology reports) with structured datasets opens doors for richer insights in population health — but only if done safely
This SIG would foster methods, standards, and collaborations that make such linkage feasible and privacy-preserving. It would be a forum to connect domains and share tools, lessons, and policy guidance for AI-based analysis.
Improving Transparency Around Linkage Outputs
Privacy and Governance in Genomic Data Linkage
Get in touch with the IPDLN Executive Committee by sending an email to info@ipdln.org.
The IPDLN Executive Committee will review the proposal and make a decision about establishing the group.
After approval launch your Special Interest Group and run it with the basic support from IPDLN Coordination Team.
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