Should researchers have unhindered access to health data? How can we contain fatal epidemics using research? These are the titles of Health's events at Denmark's Political Festival on Bornholm.

2017.06.15 | Henriette Stevnhøj

The good ship Aurora is the setting for AU's events at Denmark's Political Festival on Bornholm. Photo: Lars Kruse/AU.

What is most important – the individual citizen's right not to allow researchers (or others) access to their health data, or research into personal medicine that improves the health of the population and boosts growth in the life science industry? This is the dilemma – overstating a little perhaps – that participants at Health's panel discussion will put into perspective and discuss. 

The debate revolves around one of the hottest topics in health research; access to health registers, which is currently enjoying a great deal of attention from both health researchers and politicians. In May 2018, Denmark must comply with the EU’s data protection regulation, and this could result in limitations of researchers' access to health data for research use.

The panel comprises: Anne Kaltoft, chair of the Danish Heart Foundation; Henrik Ullum, chair of the Organisation of Danish Medical Societies; Thomas Ploug, member of The Danish Council on Ethics; and Henrik Toft Sørensen, professor and chair of the coordinating body for register-based research.

Read more about the panel debate here: Should researchers have access to your health data?

Love, mineral water and cholera – they’re all contagious.

There will also be drama, though of a more tangible kind, when Professor Lars Østergaard from the Department of Clinical Medicine invites the audience on an exciting and frightening journey into all kinds of epidemics – from the past, present and future. Lars Østergaard will provide examples of how infections can be expedited and curbed, and he will talk about how science can prevent global epidemics.

Both of the Health events will be held on the deck of the AU research vessel Aurora, which will be berthed in Allinge Harbour during Denmark's Political Festival. The vessel is the focal point for all of AU's activities during Denmark's Political Festival.

Event on epidemics: Love, mineral water and cholera - they’re all contagious: 

Denmark's Political Festival formally opens on 15 June and ends on Sunday 18 June.