The Practice of Ethics in Engineering Research
Frequency
Every year
Summary
Using facilitated debates and systemic analysis of ethical challenges in engineering and research the course outlines how human agency can respond to dilemmas to reframe these as opportunities for innovation. Human decision making is used as a vehicle to outline good practice of engineering research
Content
The social impact of technological advancement, industrial manufacturing and the misuse of natural resources have led engineers, architects and scientists to reflect on their responsibilities in shaping ethical challenges, and whether they have the knowledge and experience to act upon them.
The discipline of Ethics questions human actions and whether they can generate negative consequences, including those affecting people or the environment. Responding to ethical concerns requires an ability to transform principles, norms and values in targeted, concrete actions; a successful strategy for mitigating (or preventing) ethical issues depends on critically inquiring engineering problems to discern positive or negative consequences of human actions, including those mediated by technology.
This course examines the human role, responsibility and agency in responding to ethical issues through the analysis of engineering research and practice. Wicked problem mapping and system thinking are used to understand what causal relations define ethical challenges, and what actions can redefine these as an opportunity to innovate.
Keywords
Ethics, innovation, wicked problem mapping, system thinking
Learning Prerequisites
Required courses
Beginners; introduction to ethics in scientific and engineering research and practice
Learning Outcomes
- Develop a critical mindset to engineering practice and research that is aware of ethical challenges
- Assess / Evaluate positive and negative consequences that different stakeholders, taking different roles in an innovation cycle, might cause to the planet and society
- Formulate interpret and critique factors and events - including human behavior and industrial or manufacturing processes - that could trigger ethical issues affecting people and the planet
- Contextualise ethics in engineering systems and consider the causal relations (positive and negative feedback loops) as an opportunity for innovation
- Assess / Evaluate and Produce innovation through potential unintended consequences of human actions to engineering systems and solutions
In the programs
- Exam form: Oral (session free)
- Subject examined: The Practice of Ethics in Engineering Research
- Lecture: 20 Hour(s)
- Exercises: 15 Hour(s)
- Practical work: 15 Hour(s)
- Type: optional