MSc Applied Digital Health talk open for all
Thursday 24 October at 11:00 – 12:00pm
Speaker: Dr Alison Powell, Associate Professor- Media and Communications and the Data Science Institute at LSE
Venue: Blavatnik School of Government- Tun Razak lecture Theatre
Contact us and visitor information | Blavatnik School of Government (ox.ac.uk)

On September 5, 2023, Babylon Health, the ‘unicorn’ data-driven primary health-care app, filed for bankruptcy. Start-ups like Babylon have been integrated into the NHS at what’s been described as a time of crisis. Yet their integration brings distinct ways of working and distinct ways of thinking about data, knowledge and scale. Revisiting the story of the rise (and fall) of Babylon illustrates an important set of considerations connected with the perceived value of ‘scaling up’ technology-driven projects and companies, particularly those assumed to be of public benefit. This lecture highlights how narratives of scale-up generate risks of epistemic injustice, and presents some possible responses.