In February 2026, members of the R2D2-MH consortium participated in the interdisciplinary Theory of Computing and Healthcare Workshop at the Simons Institute for the Theory of Computing, in Berkeley, California. This week-long event brought together leading researchers in theoretical computer science, healthcare, data science, and public health to explore how foundational computational approaches can address complex real-world challenges in health and wellbeing.

Highlights from R2D2-MH Speakers

Eitan Bachmat (Ben-Gurion University) was one of the chairs.

Yair Sadaka (Ben-Gurion University), gave a talk titled “Can Big Data Help Children Thrive? National Implementation of Research-Based Tools”, where he discussed applications of large-scale data methodologies to support children’s thriving and wellbeing. His talk emphasized the power of participative, data-informed approaches in research and practice for mental health and developmental diversity.

Thomas Bourgeron (Institut Pasteur) gave a talk titled “The Genetic Architecture of Autism: From Medicine to Neurodiversity”, sharing insights into how R2D2-MH’s participatory research is helping understand why individuals with similar genetic variants can have different developmental outcomes. This talk highlighted the project’s commitment to understanding risk and resilience in neurodevelopmental diversity.

To close the session, a panel discussion explored interdisciplinary approaches to neurodiversity, autism, and child development, integrating computational science with biological research and lived experience perspectives.