F.11. Skills building seminar: Defining AI literacy for public health: a participatory competency co-creation exercise
Abstract
Background: The EU AI Act mandates a sufficient level of AI literacy for all professionals working with AI systems, yet the implications of this requirement for the public health (PH) workforce remain largely unspecified. AI literacy is absent from most PH training curricula and from established competency frameworks. While the WHO-ASPHER Competency Framework for the Public Health Workforce addresses digital health broadly, it was not developed with AI as its specific focus and does not include AI-specific competency descriptors. No European consensus currently exists on what skills and knowledge constitute PH AI competence. A more foundational discussion is needed first: defining what AI literacy means in practice for PH professionals. This workshop initiates that conversation through a structured co-creation exercise. Grounded in PH perspectives, this session seeks to produce a preliminary set of AI literacy descriptors, representing the minimum standard expected of a PH professional upon completion of foundational training. EUPHAcademy (EUPHA’s capacity-building hub for credentialled PH training) is being developed to deliver accredited learning pathways for this kind of content.
Objectives: (1) establish AI literacy as an explicit PH competency; (2) identify how AI literacy requirements vary across PH perspectives; (3) co-produce a preliminary set of Level 3 descriptors including knowledge, skills and attitudes; (4) position the descriptors as a proposed AI-specific contribution to the WHO-ASPHER Competency Framework, and as input to AI literacy learning pathways within EUPHAcademy.
Format: A 10-min presentation establishes the current gap, introduces the WHO-ASPHER framework and EUPHAcademy and situates AI literacy within established concepts of digital and health literacy. Participants are then assigned to multi-stakeholder groups (30 min). Each group analyses a real-world AI application deployed in a population health context from their stakeholder standpoint and drafts competency descriptors, answering the question: what must a competent PH professional know, do, and value when encountering this tool in practice? A plenary consensus-building round follows (15 min), surfacing convergences and tensions. The session closes with a synthesis and commitment to post-conference dissemination, including submission of descriptors to the WHO-ASPHER framework development process and to EUPHAcademy (5 min).
Outcomes: After attending, participants will have developed a working understanding of the core AI literacy competencies relevant to PH practice with transferable insights they can bring to their own training programs, institutions and practice contexts. Participants will also have contributed to a consultative output (a preliminary set of AI literacy descriptors) intended for consideration as a proposed AI-specific extension of the WHO-ASPHER Competency Framework and as input to EUPHAcademy’s structured AI literacy learning pathways.
Key messages: • The workshop contributes to closing the gap of AI literacy missing from PH competencies by generating exploratory competency descriptors through participatory co-creation with PH professionals.
• A minimum AI literacy standard for public health cannot be defined without the professionals it serves. This session produces that standard collaboratively, across perspectives.
Speakers/Panellists: Charlotte Marchandise
EUPHA
Patrícia Pita Ferreira
University Medical Center Groningen, Groningen, Netherlands
Sara Soriano Longarón
ELSA AI lab Northern Netherlands, University Medical Center Groningen, Groningen, Netherlands
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BibTeX
@article{euphanxt2026skills,
title = {{F.11. Skills building seminar: Defining AI literacy for public health: a participatory competency co-creation exercise}},
author = {EUPHAnxt, ELSA-NN, EUPHA Digital Health and AI section, EUPHA and Patrícia Pita Ferreira and Stefan Buttigieg},
journal = {The European Journal of Public Health},
year = {2026},
month = oct,
doi = {10.1093/eurpub/ckag169.614},
url = {https://doi.org/10.1093/eurpub/ckag169.614},
note = {CC BY-NC 4.0},
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
TI - F.11. Skills building seminar: Defining AI literacy for public health: a participatory competency co-creation exercise
AU - EUPHAnxt, ELSA-NN, EUPHA Digital Health and AI section, EUPHA
AU - Patrícia Pita Ferreira
AU - Stefan Buttigieg
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/10/01
JO - The European Journal of Public Health
DO - 10.1093/eurpub/ckag169.614
UR - https://doi.org/10.1093/eurpub/ckag169.614
AB - Background: The EU AI Act mandates a sufficient level of AI literacy for all professionals working with AI systems, yet the implications of this requirement for the public health (PH) workforce remain largely unspecified. AI literacy is absent from most PH training curricula and from established competency frameworks. While the WHO-ASPHER Competency Framework for the Public Health Workforce addresses digital health broadly, it was not developed with AI as its specific focus and does not include AI-specific competency descriptors. No European consensus currently exists on what skills and knowledge constitute PH AI competence. A more foundational discussion is needed first: defining what AI literacy means in practice for PH professionals. This workshop initiates that conversation through a structured co-creation exercise. Grounded in PH perspectives, this session seeks to produce a preliminary set of AI literacy descriptors, representing the minimum standard expected of a PH professional upon completion of foundational training. EUPHAcademy (EUPHA’s capacity-building hub for credentialled PH training) is being developed to deliver accredited learning pathways for this kind of content. Objectives: (1) establish AI literacy as an explicit PH competency; (2) identify how AI literacy requirements vary across PH perspectives; (3) co-produce a preliminary set of Level 3 descriptors including knowledge, skills and attitudes; (4) position the descriptors as a proposed AI-specific contribution to the WHO-ASPHER Competency Framework, and as input to AI literacy learning pathways within EUPHAcademy. Format: A 10-min presentation establishes the current gap, introduces the WHO-ASPHER framework and EUPHAcademy and situates AI literacy within established concepts of digital and health literacy. Participants are then assigned to multi-stakeholder groups (30 min). Each group analyses a real-world AI application deployed in a population health context from their stakeholder standpoint and drafts competency descriptors, answering the question: what must a competent PH professional know, do, and value when encountering this tool in practice? A plenary consensus-building round follows (15 min), surfacing convergences and tensions. The session closes with a synthesis and commitment to post-conference dissemination, including submission of descriptors to the WHO-ASPHER framework development process and to EUPHAcademy (5 min). Outcomes: After attending, participants will have developed a working understanding of the core AI literacy competencies relevant to PH practice with transferable insights they can bring to their own training programs, institutions and practice contexts. Participants will also have contributed to a consultative output (a preliminary set of AI literacy descriptors) intended for consideration as a proposed AI-specific extension of the WHO-ASPHER Competency Framework and as input to EUPHAcademy’s structured AI literacy learning pathways. Key messages: • The workshop contributes to closing the gap of AI literacy missing from PH competencies by generating exploratory competency descriptors through participatory co-creation with PH professionals. • A minimum AI literacy standard for public health cannot be defined without the professionals it serves. This session produces that standard collaboratively, across perspectives. Speakers/Panellists: Charlotte Marchandise EUPHA Patrícia Pita Ferreira University Medical Center Groningen, Groningen, Netherlands Sara Soriano Longarón ELSA AI lab Northern Netherlands, University Medical Center Groningen, Groningen, Netherlands
SN - 1101-1262
SN - 1464-360X
ER -