The Practice of Ethics in Engineering Research
ENG-641 / 2 crédits
Enseignant: Ferrarello Laura Filippa
Langue: Anglais
Remark: The course will start on October 2nd, 2025. Registrations are currently open via IS-Academia
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 has led engineers, architects, and scientists to reflect on what responsibilities they might hold 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 into targeted, concrete actions; a successful strategy for mitigating (or preventing) ethical issues depends on critically inquiring problems to discern positive or negative consequences of human actions, including those mediated by technology.
This course examines the human role, as 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 in alignment with ethical principles.
Keywords
Ethics, innovation, wicked problem mapping, system thinking, agency
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 which positive or negative consequences emerge from misaligned objectives, interests, and motivations within an innovation cycle
- 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 ethical challenges in engineering and scientific systems
- Identify causal relations (positive and negative feedback loops) as an opportunity for innovation at a system level
- Assess / Evaluate how to create innovation by considering the potential unintended consequences of human actions on engineering systems
Dans les plans d'études
- Forme de l'examen: Oral (session libre)
- Matière examinée: The Practice of Ethics in Engineering Research
- Cours: 20 Heure(s)
- Exercices: 15 Heure(s)
- TP: 15 Heure(s)
- Type: optionnel