Call for experts: Technical Advisory Group on Artificial intelligence for Health (TAG-AI)

2025/January/191

Issued on: 29 January 2025

Deadline: 14 February 2025

WHO is seeking experts to serve as members one of the Technical Advisory Group on Artificial Intelligence for Health. This “Call for experts” provides information about the advisory group in question, the expert profiles being sought, the process to express interest, and the process of selection.

Background

The Empowerment through Digital Health flagship initiative is a key component of the European Programme of Work, 2020–2025 – “United Action for Better Health” (EPW). Through its data, evidence and digital health (DDH) programme, this initiative provides technical and policy guidance on the safety and efficacy of digital health solutions, including technologies based on artificial intelligence (AI). Its goal is to advance universal health coverage, protect public health during emergencies and enhance overall health and well-being.

In September 2022, the Member States in the WHO European Region adopted the Regional Digital Health Action Plan for 2023–2030. The Action Plan outlines four strategic priorities to achieve its vision:

1. setting norms, providing evidence-based technical guidance and supporting decision-making in digital health through the development of standards and direction;
2. enhancing country capacities to better govern digital transformation in health and advancing digital health literacy;
3. building networks and fostering dialogue to facilitate collaboration among partners, stakeholders and the public, to drive innovation in digital health; and
4. conducting horizon scanning and landscape analysis to identify patient-centred, scalable digital health solutions that can shape public health and health systems in the digital era.

As fostering innovation in predictive analytics for better health through big data and artificial intelligence is a key focus area of the Action Plan, the WHO Regional Office for Europe, through its DDH programme, provides technical guidance and expertise to Member States on strengthening the responsible and ethical implementation of AI in health, including good practices for advancing its use. This encompasses current and emerging domains of AI when applied across various health contexts, including clinical diagnosis and decision support, care delivery, health promotion, health systems, health information systems and public health.

The Technical Advisory Group on Artificial Intelligence for Health (TAG-AI) serves as an advisory body to WHO, providing expert guidance to promote the responsible and ethical use of AI in health across the European Region. TAG-AI will contribute to the work of the WHO Health Information Network, the Strategic Partners Initiative for Data and Digital Health (SPI-DDH), the Technical Advisory Group on Building an Innovation Ecosystem for Public Health (TAG-BIEFPH) and the Access to Novel Medicines Platform (NMP).

Functions of TAG-AI

In its capacity as an advisory body to WHO, TAG-AI shall have the following functions.

1. It will provide technical and policy advice to the WHO Regional Office for Europe on integrating ethical principles and effective governance of AI for health through expert review of current or proposed national AI strategies, policies and action plans; governance mechanisms and models; and regulations and legislation.
2. TAG-AI will provide expert advice and support the development of capacity-building activities, research protocols, research articles, technical documents and policy recommendations on current and emerging domains of AI. This includes but is not limited to machine learning, deep learning, natural language processing, computer vision, expert systems, robotics and data science. TAG will focus on their application across diverse health contexts, such as: clinical diagnosis and decision support, care delivery, health promotion, mental health, health systems, the health workforce, health information systems, the quality of care and patient safety, genomics and personalized medicine, and equity and public health.
3. TAG will provide technical advice and expertise on the development, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of AI activities, projects and applications, ensuring their integration into existing health systems and public health environments. It will identify challenges, opportunities and potential solutions for scaling AI-based technologies in health care.
4. In line with WHO strategic documents and specific requests, TAG will advise WHO on advancing the use of AI for health across the Region, including through increased visibility and advocacy-related activities.

Operations of the Technical Advisory Group on Artificial intelligence for Health

1. TAG shall normally meet at least once each year. However, WHO may convene additional meetings. TAG meetings may be held in person (at WHO headquarters in Geneva or another location, as determined by WHO) or virtually, via video or teleconference. TAG meetings may be held in open and/or closed session, as decided by the Chairperson in consultation with WHO.
   • Open sessions: open sessions shall be convened for the sole purpose of the exchange of non-confidential information and views, and may be attended by Observers (as defined in paragraph III.3 below).
   • Closed sessions: the sessions dealing with the formulation of recommendations and/or advice to WHO shall be restricted to the members of the TAG and essential WHO Secretariat staff.
2. The quorum for TAG meetings shall be two thirds of the members.
3. WHO may, at its sole discretion, invite external individuals from time to time to attend the open sessions of an advisory group, or parts thereof, as “observers”. Observers may be invited either in their personal capacity, or as representatives from a governmental institution/ intergovernmental organization, or from a non-State actor. WHO will request observers invited in their personal capacity to complete a confidentiality undertaking and a declaration of interests form prior to attending a session of the advisory group. Invitations to observers attending as representatives from non-State actors will be subject to WHO internal due diligence and risk assessment including conflict of interest considerations in accordance with the Framework for engagement with non-State actors (FENSA). Observers invited as representatives may also be requested to complete a confidentiality undertaking. Observers shall normally attend meetings of the TAG at their own expense and be responsible for making all arrangements in that regard. At the invitation of the Chairperson, observers may be asked to present their personal views and/or the policies of their organization. Observers will not participate in the process of adopting recommendations of the TAG.
4. TAG may decide to establish smaller working groups (sub-groups of the TAG) to work on specific issues. Their deliberations shall take place via teleconference or video-conference. For these sub-groups, no quorum requirement will apply; the outcome of their deliberations will be submitted to the AG for review at one of its meetings.
5. TAG members are expected to attend meetings. If a member misses two consecutive meetings, WHO may end his/her appointment as a member of the TAG.
6. Reports of each meeting shall be submitted by TAG to the WHO Regional Director for Europe. All recommendations from TAG are advisory to WHO, who retains full control over any subsequent decisions or actions regarding any proposals, policy issues or other matters considered by the TAG.
7. TAG shall normally make recommendations by consensus. If, in exceptional circumstances, a consensus on a particular issue cannot be reached, minority opinions will be reflected in the meeting report.
8. Active participation is expected from all TAG members, including in working groups, teleconferences, and interaction over email. TAG members may, in advance of TAG meetings, be requested to review meeting materials and to provide their views for consideration by the TAG.
9. WHO shall determine the modes of communication by the TAG, including between WHO and the TAG members, and the TAG members among themselves.
10. TAG members shall not speak on behalf of, or represent, the TAG or WHO to any third party.

Who can express interest?

TAG-AI will be multidisciplinary, with members who have a range of technical knowledge, skills and experience relevant to artificial intelligence for health and as mentioned below. Knowledge of WHO’s mandate and ways of working or experience with working or engaging with WHO are not a requirement but is an advantage for TAG members. Approximately 10 members may be selected.

WHO welcomes expressions of interest from:

WHO seeks to put together a TAG-AI with a diverse set of skills, expertise and experience and with different perspectives on AI ethics, governance and regulatory frameworks, national and cross-border data sharing for training, testing, and validating AI models; the application of standards and data quality measures to enhance AI's reliability, accuracy, and transparency; AI computing architectures; AI security and privacy; and the integration of research, ethics, gender, equity, and human rights into AI operations.

WHO welcomes expressions of interest from individuals with expertise/experience working with behaviours, including researchers, public health experts and practitioners, policy-makers, healthcare professionals, innovators and other professionals.

Applicants from outside the Region will be accepted, but priority will be given to applicants within the Region and to ensure representation from its various subregions.

Submitting your expression of interest

To register your interest in being considered for the Technical Advisory Group on Artificial intelligence for Health, please submit the following documents by 14 February 24:00h (midnight) CET using the following online form, and including the following documents:

• Your curriculum vitae (including your nationality/ies) and
• A signed and completed Declaration of Interests (DOI) form for WHO Experts available at https://covid.comesa.int/about/ethics/declarations-of-interest.

After submission, your expression of interest will be reviewed by WHO. Due to an expected high volume of interest, only selected individuals will be informed.

Important information about the selection processes and conditions of appointment

Members of WHO advisory groups (AGs) must be free of any real, potential or apparent conflicts of interest. To this end, applicants are required to complete the WHO Declaration of Interests for WHO Experts, and the selection as a member of a AG is, amongst other things, dependent on WHO determining that there is no conflict of interest or that any identified conflicts could be appropriately managed (in addition to WHO’s evaluation of an applicant’s experience, expertise and motivation and other criteria).

All AG members will serve in their individual expert capacity and shall not represent any governments, any commercial industries or entities, any research, academic or civil society organizations, or any other bodies, entities, institutions or organizations. They are expected to fully comply with the Code of Conduct for WHO Experts (https://covid.comesa.int/about/ethics/declarations-of-interest ). AG members will be expected to sign and return a completed confidentiality undertaking prior to the beginning of the first meeting.

At any point during the selection process, telephone interviews may be scheduled between an applicant and the WHO Secretariat to enable WHO to ask questions relating to the applicant’s experience and expertise and/or to assess whether the applicant meets the criteria for membership in the relevant AG.

The selection of members of the AGs will be made by WHO in its sole discretion, taking into account the following (non-exclusive) criteria: relevant technical expertise; experience in international and country policy work; communication skills; and ability to work constructively with people from different cultural backgrounds and orientations .The selection of AG members will also take account of the need for diverse perspectives from different regions, especially from low and middle-income countries, and for gender balance.

If selected by WHO, proposed members will be sent an invitation letter and a Memorandum of Agreement. Appointment as a member of a AG will be subject to the proposed member returning to WHO the countersigned copy of these two documents.

WHO reserves the right to accept or reject any expression of interest, to annul the open call process and reject all expressions of interest at any time without incurring any liability to the affected applicant or applicants and without any obligation to inform the affected applicant or applicants of the grounds for WHO's action. WHO may also decide, at any time, not to proceed with the establishment of the AG, disband an existing TAG or modify the work of the AG.

WHO shall not in any way be obliged to reveal, or discuss with any applicant, how an expression of interest was assessed, or to provide any other information relating to the evaluation/selection process or to state the reasons for not choosing a member.

WHO may publish the names and a short biography of the selected individuals on the WHO internet.

AG members will not be remunerated for their services in relation to the AG or otherwise. Travel and accommodation expenses of AG members to participate in AG meetings will be covered by WHO in accordance with its applicable policies, rules and procedures.

The appointment will be limited in time as indicated in the letter of appointment. If you have any questions about this “Call for experts”, please write to eudigitalhealth@who.int well before the applicable deadline.