Francis P. Crawley has served as Chair of the CODATA International Data Policy Committee (IDPC) since July 2022. A philosopher by training, he has built a distinguished international career in bioethics, research policy, and data governance, with special expertise in research ethics, research integrity, methodology, and the ethics and law of data, artificial intelligence, and digital twins – especially in relation to the life sciences, including clinical trials, genomics, and emerging technologies.
His work supports the CODATA mission to advance open science and promote FAIR data principles by integrating ethical, legal, and new technology challenges into data policy, particularly in the context of crisis management, global collaboration, AI, data visitation, and responsible research assessment. He has contributed to major international efforts to ensure that data sharing and data-driven research are ethical, reliable, and resilient across borders and sectors.
Francis has extensive experience developing health-related research projects and data governance frameworks in partnership with organizations such as WHO, UNAIDS, UNESCO, the European Commission, the Council of Europe, EDCTP, and numerous academic, governmental, and community-based bodies across Europe, Africa, Asia, the Americas, and Eastern Europe & Central Asia. He is widely recognized for his leadership in global research ethics, capacity-building, and policy development for vulnerable and resource-limited settings, including neglected and orphan diseases.
He has taken leading roles in developing international and national guidelines on Good Clinical Practice (GCP), ethics review systems, genetics and biobanks, and data privacy and management. He is also a European Data Protection Officer (DPO) with specific expertise in the ELSI (ethical, legal, and social implications) dimensions of AI, digital twins, and neural organoids. Francis is deeply committed to engaging patients, citizen scientists, communities, researchers, and policymakers in the co-creation of data infrastructures and research governance, contributing to patient registries, biobank networks, and data repositories.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, Francis played a central role in coordinating international ethics and policy responses. He organized over 40 global webinars and supported multi-country research on vaccines, repurposed medicines, and genetic modelling, with an emphasis on responsible collaboration between high-income and low- and middle-income countries. He continues to workon the policy, ethical, and regulatory dimensions of data and AI in times of crisis and is the founder and coordinator of the Ukraine Clinical Research Support Initiative (UCRSI), working in close cooperation with Ukrainian and international partners.
Francis’ academic career includes being responsible for the BA, MA, and PhD programmes in philosophy at KU Leuven, where he taught research ethics and integrity, revised doctoral training frameworks, and supported international cooperation through the Erasmus Programme. His scholarly work has explored the evolution of European higher education, the history of bioethics, the impact of digital technologies on philosophy, and the role of culture and multiculturalism in shaping research systems.