Director of Research · Danish Institute for Human Rights
Dr Katharina Ó Cathaoir
Health law, human rights and the regulation of new technologies.
I am a legal expert and researcher working where health law, data protection, human rights and AI regulation meet. I lead Research and Data at the Danish Institute for Human Rights, Denmark’s national human rights institution (NHRI) and equality body. Before that, I was a tenured associate professor at the University of Copenhagen and led AI governance for the Capital Region of Denmark.
Latest
- Oct 2026 Keynote, Governing Algorithms for Care, University of Amsterdam
- Sep 2026 Conference of the European Association of Health Law, Uppsala University
- Sep 2026 Inaugural Health Nexus Forum, De Hoorn, Belgium
Biography
Katharina Ó Cathaoir is Director of Research at the Danish Institute for Human Rights, where she sits on the Institute’s senior leadership team. Her research focuses on health law and human rights, with particular attention to health data, AI and the rights of children and older persons.
From 2017 to 2025 she was at the Faculty of Law, University of Copenhagen, becoming a tenured associate professor. She was Denmark’s first Pro Futura Scientia Fellow at the Swedish Collegium for Advanced Study. From 2024 to 2025 she built the Capital Region of Denmark’s first guidelines on compliance with the EU’s AI Act.
She has written or co-authored around 60 publications, including the leading Danish health law textbook, and co-founded the Journal of Global Health Law. Her work has been cited by the Lancet Commission, WHO, UNICEF and the Supreme Court of Ireland. She has held visiting posts at the HeLEx Centre, Faculty of Law, University of Oxford; the O’Neill Institute, Georgetown Law; the Sutherland School of Law, University College Dublin; the Centre for Law and Genetics, University of Tasmania; and the Norwegian Centre for Human Rights, University of Oslo.
Career
- 2026–Director of Research, Danish Institute for Human Rights
- 2024–2025Chief Legal Advisor, Capital Region of Denmark
- 2021–2025Pro Futura Scientia Fellow, Swedish Collegium for Advanced Study
- 2017–2025Postdoc, Assistant and Associate Professor (tenured), Faculty of Law, University of Copenhagen
- 2017Law Fellow, O’Neill Institute, Georgetown University Law Center
- 2013Legal Advisor, Permanent Mission of Ireland to the United Nations
- 2012–2013Judicial Researcher, Courts Service of Ireland
Education
- 2017PhD in Law, University of Copenhagen
- 2012LL.M. in International and Comparative Law, Trinity College Dublin (first class honours)
- 2011BCL in Law and Irish, University College Cork (first class honours)
Grant review
I review research grant applications for the European Commission, the Swedish Research Council, the Swiss National Science Foundation and the Polish Research Council.
Four questions my research keeps returning to
Health data and AI
How the GDPR, the EU AI Act and the European Health Data Space shape consent, transparency and bias in medical AI.
Health and human rights
The right to health, patients’ rights and healthcare discrimination.
Children, older persons and vulnerable groups
Children’s rights and food marketing, reproductive health, and older persons’ rights during COVID-19.
Pandemics and public health law
Comparative legal responses to COVID-19 and the regulation of non-communicable disease.
Books
- Principles of Patient Rights: International and European Law
- The European Health Data Space: Examining a New Era in Data Protection
- Children’s Rights and Food Marketing: State Duties in Obesity Prevention
- Health and Human Rights: Global and European Perspectives
- Health and Law: Perspectives on the Health System, Health Professionals and Patients’ Rights, 3rd ed.
Selected articles
- Deviating from the Norm? The Pregnant Body in Scandinavian Health Law. 25 German Law Journal 665 (2024)
- Establishing Healthcare Discrimination: An Analysis of Scandinavian Equality Boards. 26 European Journal of Social Security 324 (2024)
- Transparency of Machine-Learning in Healthcare: The GDPR & European Health Law (with M. Mourby and C. Bjerre Collin). 43 Computer Law & Security Review (2021)
- The Invisible Child of Personalised Medicine. 8 Journal of Law and the Biosciences (2021)
- Older Persons and the Right to Health in the Nordics during COVID-19 (with H.D. Gunnarsdóttir et al.). 28 European Journal of Health Law 417 (2021)
- Establishing the International Genetic Discrimination Observatory (with Y. Joly et al.). 52 Nature Genetics 466 (2020)
- Lurching from Complacency to Panic in the Fight Against Dangerous Microbes (with L.O. Gostin). 67 Emory Law Journal 337 (2018)
- Advancing the Right to Health (with L.O. Gostin et al.). 107 American Journal of Public Health 1755 (2017)
- Childhood Obesity and the Right to Health. Cited by the Lancet Commission, UNICEF and WHO. 18 Health and Human Rights Journal 249 (2016)
Full list of publications on Google Scholar and ORCID
Funded projects
| Years | Project | Funder and role |
|---|---|---|
| 2025–2029 | TRUST MIND: trust, mental health and AI | Lundbeck Foundation · co-applicant |
| 2021–2025 | The Law on Health Data Outliers | Riksbankens Jubileumsfond · PI |
| 2021–2022 | DOCURA: care homes and digital documentation | Copenhagen Centre for Public Policy · co-PI |
| 2020–2021 | Legislating Corona | Independent Research Fund Denmark · PI |
Compliance and advisory work
Alongside research, I advise public bodies and project teams on how data protection, health law and AI regulation apply in practice.
Capital Region of Denmark, 2024–2025
- Developed the Region’s first guidelines on compliance with the EU AI Act, turning the GDPR, Danish health law and the AI Act into practical rules for clinical and IT staff.
- Assessed digital health programmes and AI-based technologies for compliance with the GDPR and Danish law.
- Negotiated agreements with third-party technology vendors, including designing a solution that met Danish legal requirements.
- Led compliance for a major clinical IT rollout, allowing a new AI-enabled programme to be approved and delivering significant annual savings for the Region.
Research and policy advice
- Advised clinicians and research teams on research ethics, the GDPR and Danish data protection law, and designed a data governance framework.
- Delivered commissioned reports to the European Commission.
- Advisory work for DaneAge, the National Organisation for Social Services and the Danish Heart Foundation.
Speaking
Fundamental rights impact assessments in AI-driven healthcare
Governing Algorithms for Care, Law Centre for Health and Life, University of Amsterdam.
Watch
Realizing the right to health through healthcare technologies · University of North Carolina
The ethics of pandemics: lessons learned in the Nordic countries · NordForsk, Bergen. Starts at 1:08:00.
| Date | Talk |
|---|---|
| Dec 2026 | Health Law Roundtable · Faculty of Law, Lund University (upcoming) |
| Oct 2026 | Keynote: Fundamental rights impact assessments in AI-driven healthcare · University of Amsterdam |
| Sep 2026 | 10th Conference of the European Association of Health Law · Uppsala University |
| Sep 2026 | Inaugural Health Nexus Forum · De Hoorn, Belgium · video |
| Oct 2025 | Implementing the AI Act in Danish healthcare · Kammeradvokaten AI network for public authorities |
| Sep 2025 | Supporting a data-driven healthcare system · Danish National Genome Center |
| Sep 2025 | Regulation of biobanks · Danish Regions |
| Jun 2024 | Digitisation of healthcare in the EU · Department of Legal Sciences (School of Law), University of Salerno |
| Jun 2024 | The European Health Data Space · University of Santander |
| Mar 2024 | The European Health Data Space · Faculty of Law, University of Oxford |
| Jun 2023 | Medical AI: GDPR and informed consent in Nordic law · Lifesciencelaw.dk and CeBIL, Copenhagen |
| May 2023 | Law and the health challenges of the future · University of Oslo |
| Apr 2023 | Human rights in the EU and consent for genomics research · Global Alliance for Genomics and Health |
| Mar 2023 | Top-down altruism: the EU Data Governance Act · University of Oxford |
| Oct 2022 | Realizing the right to health through health care technologies · University of North Carolina · video |
| Sep 2022 | Children’s rights and abortion · Uppsala University |
| 2022 | The ethics of pandemics: lessons learned in the Nordic countries · NordForsk, Bergen · video |
| Apr 2022 | Data bias in health research · Northeastern University |
| 2022 | Keynote: The Convention on the Rights of the Child · Danish Cancer Society (Kræftens Bekæmpelse) |
| 2020 | Precision medicine and society · Columbia University |
| Aug 2018 | Panel: Children’s right to health and childhood obesity · University of Bergen · video |
Media
Op-eds
- Let us protect the dormant relationships in genetic data. Politiken, August 2024 (with M.N. Svendsen et al.)
- Denmark lags behind on regulating unhealthy food marketing to children. Altinget, February 2022
Interviews
- Is Denmark’s coronavirus ‘passport’ a prototype for European travel? DW News, May 2021
Get in touch
For speaking invitations, research collaborations or media enquiries, please contact me by email or LinkedIn.
- kocathaoir@gmail.com
- linkedin.com/in/katharinao
- Scholar
- Google Scholar profile
- ORCID
- 0000-0002-1535-9134
- CV
- Download CV (PDF)
