Wednesday, May 28, 2008
Ethics modules for PhD students in engineering
3TU.Ethics has received a grant of 40.000 euro for developing a number of modules to teach ethics to PhD students in the field of engineering. The grant is provided by NWO (the Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research) and Technology Foundation STW. These organizations have noted that researchers in technology and engineering do have an interest in the ethical aspects of their work, but are not trained to reflect on it. The new modules will help them enrich their vision on ethics, so that in the future they will be more able to recognize and formulate the ethical dilemmas in their own research work.
In the first phase of development the modules will be tailored to the needs of PhD students at Delft University of Technology, Eindhoven University of Technology, the University of Twente and Wageningen University. The modules will be shaped in such a way that teachers can choose from several texts, cases and assignments, depending on the background of the PhDs participating in the course. For each of the eight modules envisaged 3TU.Ethics has appointed a coordinator responsible for its development. These are:
- Scientific integrity (Nicole Vincent)
- Professional ethics for engineers (Govert Valkenburg)
- Ethical aspects of risk (Sabine Roeser)
- Ethical aspects of sustainability (Behnam Taebi)
- Ethical aspects of design (Ibo van de Poel)
- Ethical aspects of models and experiments (Sjoerd Zwart)
- Ethical aspects of future scenarios (Simone van der Burg)
- Ethical aspects of working in research teams and networks – a.o. division of responsibility (Simone van der Burg)
If you are working at one of the engineering faculties of above interested universities and you are interested in one of these modules for your PhD students, please contact Ibo van de Poel to discuss the possibilities and conditions.
Illustration by Wesley Fryer under the Creative Commons
