Criterion A – Merit of the applicant
Score 10,00
Comment
Strenghts:
- The applicant has an impressive interdisciplinary background combining law, computer science, and social sciences, alongside diverse international experience across multiple excellent research centers. he quality level and relevance of the of the applicant’s the scientific and curricular path is outstanding and in line with the research proposed, especially considering the candidate’s last span of years in research. The research career level of the applicant is even overqualified for the role it is applying for making her more than adequate for the proposed research plan.
- Existing and expected scientific maturity match considerably and in a positive way, considering the career path so far. The applicant has impressive non-academic professional experience that clearly contributes to her ability to engage with public policy debates and ensures her research has substantial societal impact.
- The applicant has developed an impressive research agenda that combines cutting-edge scholarly innovation with the ability to develop tools, guidelines, and codes of practice with real-world application.
- The application shows an exceptionally strong record of working with public and international institutions to enhance the impact of her work.
- The applicant has an impressive record of editorial leadership and service to academic communities through conference organizing and institution building.
- The applicant shows evidence of the ability to work both independently and as a member of different research teams, as well as coordinating and supporting other researchers.
- A two year maternity leave is more than justified in terms of career interruptions. Yet it seems it has not impacted the continuity and quality of the academic path of the candidate.
- The consisting and considerable publication track record is further illustrated in the section “Further details on up to five scientific activities and contributions” enhancing the creditworthiness and merits of the applicant.
The application is exceptionally strong with virtually no weakness
Criterion B – Merit of the Research and Career Development Plans
Score 9,70
Comment
Strenghts:
- The MEDAID project reflects a high quality and cutting edge scientific profile, characterised by strong theoretical ambition, methodological originality, and clear societal relevance. It addresses a critical gap in current EU legal and policy frameworks by developing an evidence based legal theory to analyse patient datafication and bias in clinical AI. The project’s use of post colonial and intersectional feminist ethnography demonstrates methodological sophistication and an ability to engage critically with power dynamics, inequality, and law in practice. Its focus on stakeholder informed dataset construction shows strong relevance for healthcare governance and AI regulation. The proposed research plan is closely aligned with an advanced, interdisciplinary legal skill set, positioning the researcher to make a significant impact on EU digital health law, promote more inclusive AI systems, and contribute to responsible innovation in healthcare.
- The proposal addresses an urgent and important topic, bringing a genuinely new perspective to the debate and showing remarkable nuance and appreciation of the complex effects of health dataset reuse and the role of artificial intelligence. The research approach is timely and very relevant for society and medical research. It brings innovation along with a solid analytical scheme.
- The project is very carefully planned and the expected outputs are important and compellingly presented. It follows a clearly structured, ambitious, and methodologically robust workplan over 36 months, tightly aligned with its innovative critical approach. It adopts an evidence based, postcolonial and intersectional methodology combining legal analysis, ethnography, interviews, dataset examination, and participatory co creation. WP1 critically analyses EU and national legal frameworks (AI Act, EHDS, MDR) alongside real medical data governance practices in Portugal, identifying regulatory gaps and power imbalances affecting marginalized patients. WP2 builds directly on this legal critique through empirical observation of data scientists, dataset preprocessing, patient interviews, and participatory workshops, enabling a grounded understanding of how biases emerge across the data pipeline. WP3 integrates legal, qualitative, and empirical findings through established critical theories to construct a novel legal theory of datasetification and co created policy guidelines. WP4 ensures high impact dissemination through conferences, publications, and guidelines, while WP5 guarantees ethical and organizational coherence. It is articulated in 4 interrelated clear outcomes which are at the same time steps in the research journey. The project promises to deliver new scholarly knowledge, new tools relevant for policy and practice, and a clear plan for career development.
- The methodology drives each phase of the workplan, ensuring cumulative knowledge building. Expected outcomes include a new Critical Clinical Data Collection Theory, practical toolkits, policy guidance, high impact academic outputs, and strong societal benefits for patients, clinicians, regulators, and data scientists, with broad transferability beyond healthcare. Methodologically it blends a anticipatory regulation approach and feminist ethnography in a simple but clear research plan. The proposed methodology is innovative but already tested by the applicant in a previously MSCA awarded and completed project. The applicant brings the project already developed software tools suitable for the proposed empirical work. Interviews complement the research. The project features relevant collaborations with patient groups to design and contribute to the research, which enhances its ability to capture the experience of disadvantaged communities that are the most likely to be affected by the structural biases the project aims to understand and remedy.
- The impact of the expected outcomes to the advancement of science and society is important, clearly anticipated and plausibly reachable. The expected outcomes rationally envisage scientific outputs (a monoghraph), practical outputs (e.g. a practical Toolkit) and communication and dissemination activities. The research plan and its expected outcomes are a perfect fit into the overall research strategy and mission of the Host Institution and there is a clear commitment of the institution to provide for all related technical and logistic needs.
- Career development plan, expected career goals as an independent tenure-track scholar, are perfectly aligned among them and with the research plan. Potential significant impacts on the applicant’s career development are evident. They will also strengthen the candidate’s national and international collaborations
- The applicant has identified ethical issues and synthetically illustrates clear plans to address them. Still, it is suggested performing a separate subsequent ethics assessment.
Weaknesses:
- No significant weaknesses