18 January 2023

Tuesday 14 February at 2pm

For our first seminar of 2023 CRADLE is pleased to work with Deakin’s Science and Society Network and Monash University’s Associate Professor Mark Davis, to present Professor Klaus Hoeyer of the Centre for Medical Science and Technology Studies, University of Copenhagen. Professor Hoeyer will present an analysis of the politics of intensified data sourcing in healthcare as it unfolds in Denmark.

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• When: Tuesday 14 February at 2pm
• Time: 2pm – 3.30pm (AEDT)
• Where: Online
• Cost: Free

In this talk Professor Hoeyer will share the perspectives of different healthcare stakeholders. From epidemiologists to hospital managers, from patients to physicians, Klaus will analyse the social dynamics set in motion by data intensification. He will call special attention to that which cannot be easily coded in a database.

In contemporary healthcare everybody seems to want more data, of higher quality, on more people, and, to use this data for a wider range of purposes. In theory, such pervasive data collection should lead to a healthcare system in which data can quickly, efficiently, and unambiguously be interpreted and provide better care for patients, more efficient administration, enhanced options for research, and accelerated economic growth. In practice, however, data are difficult to interpret and the many purposes sometimes undermine one another. We need new analytical tools to understand why, and to make better use of data.

The talk serves to present Professor Hoeyer’s new book by the same title (MIT Press, 2023), and will be followed by an interactive Q&A mediated by CRADLE’s Professor Margaret Bearman. The book discusses why healthcare cannot—and should not—become data-driven, despite the many promises of intensified data sourcing.

About Klaus Hoeyer

Klaus Hoeyer has a background in anthropology and is currently Professor of Medical Science and Technology Studies at the University of Copenhagen, Denmark. His research focuses on exchange systems for human biological material and sensitive data. He has recently completed the European Research Council funded project POLICYAID (www.policyaid.ku.dk), on which this talk is based. Klaus will be in Australia on an academic visitation hosted by Monash University in February and March 2023.