Healthcare Evolution through AI and Digital twins - HEAD 2026

Dear colleagues,

We do hope this Call for Papers may be of your interest.
We do apologize if this CfP reaches you more than once.

Yours sincerely
HEAD Organizers

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Healthcare Evolution through AI and Digital twins - HEAD 2026

18 - 21 May, 2026 - Sydney, Australia

https://www.head.icar.cnr.it/

- in conjunction with the 26th IEEE International Symposium on Cluster, Cloud and Internet Computing (CCGrid 2026) and in-cooperation with ACM SIGHPC

Submit your paper by using the link:

https://easychair.org/conferences/submission_new?a=35863199

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MISSION:
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All over the world, the number of investments in Information and Communication Technology (ICT) for healthcare and wellbeing (eHealth) is rapidly increasing. GLOBE NEWSWIRE has predicted that the Global eHealth market is expected to reach $123.78 billion by 2030. This means that digital health is of considerable interest worldwide, as it has the potential to improve both the quality of services and users’ access to health information, while also saving time and reducing the workload and associated costs for health service providers in the long term.

In this context, an increasing interest is growing around eHealth and ICT technologies, such as Artificial Intelligence (AI), Digital Twins, Cloud computing, Edge and Fog computing, and Internet of Things (IoT),

which are at the basis of revolutionising healthcare by bringing innovative network applications and services. In fact, modern healthcare applications are becoming increasingly dependent on heterogeneous infrastructures, including IoT and edge medical devices, as well as High-Performance Computing (HPC) backends, to support the execution of AI-driven models and patient-specific Digital Twins.

The HEAD workshop would explore the open challenges and current issues surrounding the application of these technologies, while bridging the gap between healthcare innovation and the hardware and software systems that support scalable and reliable computing. HEAD aims to encourage interdisciplinary discussion about how technologies such as HPC, distributed systems and performance optimisation can facilitate the deployment of reliable and scalable Digital Twins for healthcare. The workshop will highlight the role of computing infrastructures as key enablers of future digital medicine by linking algorithmic advances with architectural and systems-level innovations.


TOPICS:
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■ AI Algorithms and Learning Frameworks for Healthcare
■ Modeling and Simulation Methodologies for Healthcare
■ Programming Techniques and Architectures for Healthcare
■ Data Management, Analytics, and Knowledge Extraction
■ ICT Infrastructure and Tools for Healthcare Digital Twins
■ Cloud Computing, Edge and Fog Computing for Healthcare
■ Internet of Things (IoT), Big Data, and Wearable Devices for Healthcare
■ Ethical, Legal, and Societal Implications of ICT for Healthcare
■ Accelerator-based architectures (GPUs, NPUs, FPGAs and DPUs) for Healthcare
■ Parallel and Distributed Training and Multi-GPU/Multi-Node Execution for Healthcare Applications
■ Energy-Efficient, Sustainable, and Optimization-Oriented Computing for AI in Healthcare


IMPORTANT DATES:
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• Submission deadline: February 01, 2026
• Notification of paper acceptance: February 28, 2026
• Submission of camera-ready papers: March 15, 2026
• Registration: March 15, 2026


PAPER SUBMISSION:
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Manuscripts should describe original work and should be formatted according to the IEEE conference proceedings format. 

Papers will be submitted through the CCGrid 2026 submission system.

Submit your paper here:

https://easychair.org/conferences/submission_new?a=35863199

All submissions will undergo a rigorous peer-review process. Each paper will be reviewed by at least three members of the Technical Program Committee. Reviews will be double-blind.

Accepted papers will be published in the CCGrid 2026 workshop proceedings and will be submitted for inclusion in IEEE Xplore.


BEST PAPER AWARD:
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A Best Paper Award certificate will be conferred on the author(s) of a paper presented at the workshop, selected by the Chairs based on scientific significance, originality, and technical quality, as evaluated by the Program Committee.

Please visit https://www.head.icar.cnr.it/  for more information and if you have any questions kindly get back to us by sending an email

Kind regards,
HEAD 2026 Organizers

My source: Dr. Giovanna Sannino

Two policy initiatives related to Digital and eHealth - RCN

Dear eHealth forum members 

[c/o RCN]

We just wanted to alert you to two policy initiatives related to Digital and eHealth.

1. The Digital Nursing programme in England is seeking feedback on their consultation on having a Standard for Nursing Documentation. The draft standard and form to give feedback [by 21st July] are available on the NHS futures website (https://future.nhs.uk/DigitalNursesNetwork/view?objectID=36339504). 

You may need to register to access the site:

image: FutureNHS - Digital Nursing Programme

2. NHS England has just released their plan for Digital health and social care (https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/a-plan-for-digital-health-and-social-care/a-plan-for-digital-health-and-social-care).

With very best wishes

The eHealth forum committee

n.b. Closing date for feedback added in text.

 

Digital health interventions: How might we measure “meaningful engagement”?

How might we measure “meaningful engagement”? Is a lack of usage of a #digitalhealth intervention a sign of disengaging or a lesson learned? This week's Digi-Hub blog post by @kathleen_ryan33 @UCC on designing for "meaningful engagement" https://t.co/TdNvDuMmUr pic.twitter.com/Zmx0MNlgAt

— UCL Behaviour Change (@UCLBehaveChange) April 20, 2018

I admit I am struggling to stop blogging, even as the pull of Drupal and a new site will (must) win-out. The above tweet prompts these thoughts ...

A key point from Kathleen Ryan's blog post reads:

"The design process* needs to be reflective..."

I wholeheartedly agree - it is the way that we reflect to achieve a socio-technical synergy that counts. Even with the socio-technical bases covered there are other factors too:

individual

|

INTERPERSONAL : SCIENCES

humanistic ----------------------------------- mechanistic

SOCIOLOGY : POLITICAL

|

group

Person-related issues (e.g. their beliefs, cognitions and values). What 'x' means to me. "... attention, interest and how the person feels and thinks about the intervention (where more attention / affect / enjoyment = more engagement)." Patient (Person?) Activation measures? Yes - 'person-centredness' is 'up-here' according to the axes of the model, BUT we must take into account the social and political milieu of the individual concerned. *design purposes subjective

diseases Technology-related issues "No matter how well-crafted and evidence-based the intervention, active ingredients proven to effect health behaviour change simply cannot work if the technological components that house them are not accessed by participants. As such, lack of adequate engagement with DHIs poses a barrier to evaluating the effectiveness of these interventions." *design process ‘Law of Attrition’ Usage metrics: statistics, logs, frequency, totals e-health and m-health objective

prevention & treatment of - 'lifestyle diseases' social incentives socialisation 'health seeking behaviour' Health literacy  "human contacts can allow for “supportive accountability” via remotely delivered prompts, social support and encouragement." *design practices

National use of 'Patient activation'? (Forms of profiling) Incentives - health policy Nudge - behaviour change? Health insurance/credits HEALTH meaning within? SYSTEMS  paternalistic--'degrees of freedom'?--autonomy ADVERTISING 'The Market' *design policy

Perhaps, future measures need to simultaneously combine analysis AND synthesis - the subjective AND objective... a job for AI ..?

Thanks to Kathleen Ryan
https://twitter.com/kathleen_ryan33

Ack. This week learned of 'Patient activation' attending a Best Practice Meeting.

 *The 4Ps within Hodges' model. 

What is meant by 'universal' design?

Yes, there is an ironic element to this post and recent others in respect of 'meaningful engagement' and 'the meaning of evidence'? Do people recognise 'evidence'?

Depression Worskhop: c/o and with thanks to AffecTech

As posted last September I enjoyed an evening at the launch of AffecTech at Lancaster. This post is prompted by a tweet:

AffecTech Design Workshop: Discussion on Cross-disciplinary Methods for Depression Treatment: https://t.co/7xVinrvmWf #wearables #tech #innovation #research #digitalhealth #mentalhealth #depression

— AffecTech (@Affec_Tech) February 16, 2018

I should add that this post is not intended to represent an endorsement by AffecTech but there is an opportunity to reflect and show how Hodges' model can be used.  I contacted the researchers who - in the spirit just mentioned - kindly forwarded higher resolution images. Of course, not being present at the workshop a lot of information is lost. The reference to art is interesting in itself. It is difficult to capture the context of the whole workshop but - as per the tweet - a short article sets the scene:

AffecTech Design Workshop: Discussion on Cross-disciplinary Methods for Depression Treatment

I have provided two examples of Hodges' model mapping the contents of the workshop. The first,  covers Figure 1: Concept maps of depression causes and symptoms. I don't have a key so there may be the thoughts of several individuals - as per the colours and codes on the flipcharts. Some terms are immediately not only cross-disciplinary but multicontextual in terms of their everyday meaning, for example, darkness, falling, stuck-ness, negative spiral (thoughts, actions), imprisonment mentally, physically, and politically due to dependency, financial constraints.

individual

|

INTERPERSONAL : SCIENCES

humanistic --------------------------------------- mechanistic

SOCIOLOGY : POLITICAL

|

group

Unreachable hope                                     Pain                                           Weight - burdened        Immobility - motivation                   DEPRESSION    Anxiety DESPERATION                                          Stuck                 Darkness    Grief             Falling Insomnia       Negative filter         No hope Nowhere   Negative spiral                             Lack of interest and motivation Internalising rage   Suppressed emotions Anger Not being listened to                  Darkness

Pain Im-mobility  Physical decline Weight Stuck Chained/Locked to go energy imprisonment Darkness

Imprisonment – Social Isolation No support Hiding Loneliness

Imprisonment – Powerlessness? Loss of control

Next, I have examined the text immediately following and mapped this [my emphasis] to the model.

individual

|

INTERPERSONAL : SCIENCES

humanistic ----------------- THE SYSTEM --------------- mechanistic

SOCIOLOGY : POLITICAL

|

group

Identified, general state of lack of interest as a main symptom of depression (lack of energy, negative spiral), and as one of the obstacles for technology-based treatment of it. Therapist input: the emotion regulation component of the system should be suggestion-based (promoting novelty in the patient daily routine). system should be able to continuously monitor* (and predict) the user mood should have an appealing and trust-worthy interface from which it can communicate with the user and modifying his/her immediate context. If depressed - the agent engages the user in a discussion in which a range of emotion regulation techniques is proposed to him/her. Includes: (i) modifying environment (light changes, playing music); (ii) recommending activities; (iii) proposing mindfulness exercises; (iv) engaging the user in a discussion; or (v) recommending the user to look for the support of a friend. Further, at the end of each day the user and the agent discuss progress made over recent days, and define small steps that could be taken in the near future.

Requirement for a pro-active intervention system, and engage the user as soon as (or better just a bit before) a critical situation is detected. System should: *real time - 'always on'? provide daily feed-back to the user (giving a sense of incrementally overcoming problems). Low-fidelity prototype of a system that meet these requirements. Composed of two components: (i) wrist-band device worn by the user that monitors the user mood; and (ii) an assistive agent that is responsible for the emotion regulation system component. Working principle of system - wrist-band devices communicates to the agent when the user is in a depressed mood (- use of biosensors)

Should strive to connect the user with his/her close friends.  Emotion regulation techniques - (v) recommending the user to look for the support of a friend (see above).

The above is provided as a 'pause for thought'. I'm no expert on NLP, but I am acutely aware of the power of the words we use. And how what is said to patients, carers can be returned as a sizzling hot potato that may reveal: great foresight in what you have missed; a major lack of understanding of a situation and treatment plan; and (then) as follows a need for urgent educational intervention. In applications such as this - care needs to be taken in when and were particular words are used. 'Treatment' is in the title, but can be a loaded term as understood by the patient, client, carer, or user. People will say, "No it isn't - this is a 'balanced' approach." but herein risks lie.

Services should be non-ageist and yet culturally if you survey treatment and related terms - from a decennial perspective I wonder what you would find? I have patients who refer to Dr Google and will challenge and ask about their care and if not satified seek further opinions - a fresh pair of eyes; and others who are quite institutionalized in respect of passively accepting what is 'prescribed'. This may be reflected in the length of their mental 'health career' and their previous mental health history.

Please note the inclusion of THE SYSTEM above in the axes and domains of Hodges' model. This is non-trivial. 

At the end of the day (and the start of the night - for someone with depression?) what is the system? I'm not being awkward, but the 'system' in research can become a lay-by. As a compound term it is shorthand, but obviously we need to focus on the elements, constituents and what glues the system together: coherence. As an example, how often in IT project are 'Requirements' the sought after token that signifies "We are on the right track!"? The focus from the above is laudable being clearly person- patient-centred. Is there more that can be said about the system and requirements in the social and political domains? Is there a way also for the agent to figure higher up the design ecosystem (hierarchy)? This is no doubt were the hard work matters - theory, practice - the thesis!

Given the complexity of the (design, care, technical, global...) problems we face I do believe that Hodges' model may serve a purpose in helping to sustain, or ‘recover’ the context – of a situation. This is the purpose of stories of course. The aim of AffecTech's project here is no less than detecting a critical situation. Perhaps this is the truth of 'integrated health records' from wrist device, to agent, patient's record and health services'? It is brilliant to see such initiatives getting underway they are the future....

 (I may add to this post in coming days - weeks.)

With thanks to Alan Cole and Andrea Patane of AffecTech at Lancaster University.

Atlas of eHealth country profiles: The use of eHealth in support of universal health coveage

Dear All,

As we all know that eHealth plays a vital role in promoting universal health coverage in a variety of ways. For example, it helps provide services to remote populations and underserved communities through telehealth or mHealth. It facilitates the training of the health workforce through the use of eLearning, and makes education more widely accessible especially for those who are isolated. It enhances diagnosis and treatment by providing accurate and timely patient information through electronic health records. And through the strategic use of ICT, it improves the operations and financial efficiency of health care systems.

The third global survey on eHealth conducted by the WHO Global Observatory for eHealth (GOe) has a special focus -the use of eHealth in support of universal health coverage.

To read the Global Observatory for eHealth, World Health Organization, 2016
http://apps.who.int/iris/bitstream/10665/204523/1/9789241565219_eng.pdf

Hope you find it interesting.

Ghassan Shahrour

HIFA profile: Ghassan Shahrour is Chair of the Syrian Medical Informatics Association (Syrmia). His professional interests include Health for All, Health Promotion, and Equity in Health. syrmia AT gmail.com

My source: HIFA  Healthcare Information For All: www.hifa2015.org