Register for the symposium: Climate Change & Ethics: Where are we?

 

Date: March 25 and 26, 2022
PDF of Schedule and Program
Register via Eventbrite

A virtual symposium hosted by Elisabeth Hildt and Kelly Laas of the Center for the Study of Ethics in the Professions, Illinois Institute of Technology. 

In light of the slow progress being made to mitigate climate change, there is a need to reflect on the ethical considerations at play. How can ethics help structure the discussion and facilitate climate justice?

This symposium seeks to engage stakeholders in a debate around the ethical assumptions implicit in our discussions and actions around climate change.

This event will be held virtually, and there will be no charge for participation. To register, visit our Eventbrite site.

Call for Abstracts: Climate Change & Ethics: Where are we?

 Call for Proposals: Climate Change & Ethics: Where are we?

 

Virtual Symposium

Date: March 25 and 26, 2022

Proposals Due: January 25, 2022 

A virtual symposium hosted by the Center for the Study of Ethics in the Professions, Illinois Institute of Technology. 

In light of the slow progress being made to mitigate climate change, there is a need to reflect on the ethical considerations at play. How can ethics help structure the discussion and facilitate climate justice?

This symposium seeks to engage stakeholders in a debate around the ethical assumptions implicit in our discussions and actions around climate change.

Topics for contributions may include but are not limited to:

• What are the relevant concepts and principles in the ethics of climate change? How can their practical impact be increased?

• How can abstract principles like justice, responsibility, and sustainability be materialized?

• What responsibility lies on different societal actors in the context of climate change, and how can they live up to it?

•  How does solidarity inform how we act in the face of climate change?

•  How can future generations be better taken into consideration?

• What role do uncertainty and the precautionary principle play in decision-making around climate change?

• How can fundamental ethical considerations be operationalized as legal and political principles to inform and shape climate action?

• How can indigenous voices and knowledge have an equal place in decisions on climate change mitigation and adaptation?

 

For this two-day symposium, we invite presentations from all stakeholders, including scholars, policy-makers, practitioners, journalists, activists, and others.

 

Please submit an abstract of up to 500 words. Abstracts for 10-15 minute presentations are due by January 25, 2022. Please send your abstracts and questions about the event to csep@iit.edu.

 

This workshop will be held virtually, and there will be no charge for participation. 

 

To register for this event, please visit our EventBrite page.

Register for the Association for Practical and Professional Ethics Annual Conference

 Registration for the Association for Practical and Professional Ethics Annual Conference is now open! See more at https://appeconference.org/

Increasing Trust in Artificial Intelligence: Approaches and Limitations

Register via Eventbrite 

September 22, 2021
12:30 PM CDT
Free Webinar

The webinar will explore questions related to trust in AI technology with speakers Jason Borenstein, Hille Haker, and Roberto Zicari.

While artificial intelligence (AI) technology has been transforming our lives and offering valuable applications in a broad spectrum of domains such as business, medicine, and communication, it is difficult, if not impossible, to understand the decision-making processes of this complex technology. To increase trust in AI, criteria like transparency, explainability, privacy, fairness, and accountability have been suggested.

The webinar will explore questions related to trust in AI technology including:

• How much trust to put in machines?
• How can more insight into the decision-making processes be gained?
• What are ways to evaluate and monitor technology?
• How can adequate assessments and regulations be developed?
• Is trust the right concept at all when interacting with AI?

Speakers include:

Jason Borenstein

Jason Borenstein, Ph.D., is the Director of Graduate Research Ethics Programs at the Georgia Institute of Technology.  His appointment is divided between the School of Public Policy and the Office of Graduate Studies. He has directed the Institute's Responsible Conduct of Research (RCR) Program since 2006 and is part of the leadership team for the Ethics, Technology, and Human Interaction Center (ETHICx).  Dr. Borenstein is a member of the Association for Practical and Professional Ethics (APPE) Board of Directors, Chair of the APPE Research Integrity Scholars and Educators (RISE) Consortium, and a member of the IEEE SSIT Technical Committee on Ethics/Human Values.  His teaching and research interests include robot & artificial intelligence ethics, engineering ethics, research ethics/RCR, and bioethics.  

Hille Haker

Hille Haker, Ph.D., holds the Richard McCormick S.J. Endowed Chair of Catholic Moral Theology at Loyola University Chicago. She served on several Bioethics Committees, including the European Group on Ethics in Science and New Technologies to the European Commission, which issues reports on ethical, legal, and social implications of new technologies and fosters the dialogues between science and society.

Her scholarship in bioethics centers on reproductive medicine, genetic diagnosis and gene editing, methods of bioethics, such as narrative bioethics and feminist ethics, and the history of eugenics, racism, and human dignity and vulnerable agency as a response.

Her recent books are Towards a Critical Political Ethics. Catholic Ethics and Social Challenges (2020), and an edited volume Unaccompanied Migrant Children. Social, Legal, and Ethical Perspectives (2019, with Molly Greening).

Roberto Zicari

Roberto V. Zicari is an affiliated professor at the Yrkeshögskolan Arcada, Helsinki, Finland, and an adjunct professor at the Seoul National University, South Korea. He is currently leading a team of international experts who defined an assessment process for Trustworthy AI, called Z-Inspection®.

Previously he was Professor of Database and Information Systems (DBIS) at the Goethe University Frankfurt, Germany, where he founded the Frankfurt Big Data Lab.

He is an internationally recognized expert in the field of Databases and Big Data. His interests also expand to Ethics and AI, Innovation, and Entrepreneurship. He is the editor of the ODBMS.org web portal and of the ODBMS Industry Watch Blog.  He was for several years a visiting professor with the Center for Entrepreneurship and Technology within the Department of Industrial Engineering and Operations Research at UC Berkeley (USA).

Register for Building Inclusive Ethical Cultures in STEM

Workshop Date: April 23-24, 2021

Register for free via Eventbrite

Workshop Schedule

This two-day workshop seeks to share best practices to effectively engage students and faculty working in research labs and lab-based classrooms in building inclusive ethical cultures. This training moves beyond traditional research ethics training into frameworks and approaches to strengthen the ethical culture in research labs.

The workshop will feature a series of short presentations and panel discussions that showcase best practices and approaches to embedding educational interventions in research labs and lab-based courses. This will be followed by a discussion of effective frameworks for implementing recommendations made by the panelists as well as best practices and potential hurdles in implementing these frameworks. Participants of the workshop will also be guided through the development of personalized plans for implementing some of these educational interventions in their labs, courses or departments.

The workshop is aimed at:

• Young principal investigators/junior faculty who are in the process of building their own research groups;
• Instructors from both four-year and two-year colleges who teach lab-based STEM courses;
• Departmental chairs interested in programmatic approaches to improving mentoring, research ethics education, and the research culture of their department.

Topics covered will include:

• How can meaningful discussions about ethics be effectively integrated into research labs?
• What are approaches and tools to effectively integrate research ethics education?
• How do we build more inclusive research environments?
• How can researchers, junior faculty, and young principal investigators begin to form strategies for building inclusive, ethical lab environments?
• How can we better support and empower graduate students to effectively handle ethical questions that arise in research - especially international students and underrepresented students?

 

This workshop will be held virtually and there will be no charge for participation.
Please register via Eventbrite.

The workshop is part of the NSF funded project “A Bottom-up Approach to Building a Culture of Responsible Research and Practice in STEM”. The workshop is being organized by Elisabeth Hildt (Illinois Institute of Technology), Kelly Laas (Illinois Institute of Technology), Eric M. Brey (University of Texas at San Antonio), and Christine Miller (Savannah College of Art and Design).

                         

                                          

Call for Proposals: Association for Practical and Professional Ethics 2021Virtual Conference

30th Annual APPE International Conference FEBRUARY 25 - 28, 2021 VIRTUAL EVENT! Call for Proposals The Association for Practical and Professional Ethics (APPE) seeks proposals for its 30th anniversary virtual annual international conference to be held 25-28 February 2021.   APPE is a multidisciplinary, international organization advancing scholarship, education, and practice in practical and professional ethics. We facilitate and support scholarly and professional collaborations among teachers, scientists, business practitioners, engineers, government officials, researchers, the media, and all professionals concerned with the practical application of ethics and values. We invite individuals from every discipline and profession interested in advancing scholarship, teaching and a general understanding of applied ethics to submit proposals based on their work. Our meeting will have sessions in many discipline areas including business, engineering, government, law, media, and science, and on a wide variety of subject areas such as agricultural ethics, bioethics, business ethics, compliance, education, environmental ethics, media ethics, and technology. Proposals can be on ethical issues within or cutting across disciplines and professions.   SUBMIT YOUR PROPOSAL HERE Submission Categories We invite proposals in the following categories: 1) Individual presentations; 2) Case studies; 3) Pedagogical demonstrations; 4) Creative arts; 5) Posters; 6) Panel discussions; 7) Author meets critics; 8) Breakfast with an author; 9) Pecha Kucha/Rapid fire session; 10) Graduate student Three Minute Thesis (3MT®) competition; 11) Paper competitions and awards (see below for more information).  Submissions associated with current events and emerging topics are encouraged.  Submission Deadline: September 18, 2020 Generally, no more than one individual presentation per person will be accepted.  There is no limit to participation in co-authored presentations and panels.      Submission Guidelines and Instructions Special Interest Sections In addition to papers and sessions on topics of general interest in applied and professional ethics, APPE has Special Interest Sections and program tracks in the following areas: Bioethics, Health & Medical Ethics Business Ethics Early Career Scholar Education Ethics Engineering, Science and Technology Ethics (STEM) Law, Government & Military Ethics Media & Journalism Ethics Moral Theory Research Integrity Social & Societal Ethics If you wish your submission to be considered for a particular program track, you may indicate this in your submission form.  Paper Competitions and Awards Best Formal Paper by an Early Career Scholar:   $500 prize Best Formal Paper by a Graduate Student:  $500 prize Clifford G. Christians Ethics Research Award:  $250 prize Best Formal Paper by an Undergraduate Student:   $250 prize In addition, there is a $250 prize given to the winner of the Graduate Student Three Minute Thesis (3MT®) competition which takes place and is awarded at the conference. See Submission Guidelines and Instructions for paper competition guidelines and submission instruction. For more information about the 30th Annual APPE International Conference, please see the APPE website at: https://appe-ethics.org.

Join us for a webinar on March 26 - Teaching Engineering Ethics in the Context of ABET Requirements

The 2nd session in the Online Ethics Center Webinar series, “Bringing Ethics Into the Conversation” will feature Dr. Rebecca Bates, Professor and Chair, Department of Integrated Engineering, Minnesota State University, Mankato. Dr. Bates will speak on teaching engineering ethics in the context of ABET requirements. The webinar will be held at 12:00 pm, EST on Marcy 26, 2020.

Register at https://nasem.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_ea_sume6Q9eb3stY90igZg

Join us for a webinar on February 25th - "Working Ethics into the Conversation: Professional Responsibility in Engineering"

Topic

Working Ethics into the Conversation: Professional Responsibility in Engineering

Description

For a new Online Ethics Center webinar series, “Working Ethics into the Conversation,” Dr. Rosalyn Berne, Director of the NAE’s Center for Engineering Ethics and Society, will host students, academics, and professionals in conversations about teaching ethics.

The first webinar conversation will be broadcast Feb. 25 at 12pm. Dr. Michael Loui, professor emeritus of electrical and computer engineering, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, will talk on the subject of "What Is Professional Responsibility in Engineering?" and explain why as professionals engineers have special responsibilities. He will be joined by discussant Dr. Jeff Brown, associate professor of civil engineering at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University. Audience participation is encouraged.

Time

Feb 25, 2020 12:00 PM in Eastern Time (US and Canada)

To register, visit: https://nasem.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_KmIlPIbtSPC9Fo15Qd7T9w?fbclid=IwAR1AWX7Y56JNQz4bAYTxPYnlaSRXNIC8xBpmd1uTlKEqG-j5DEErJQQIJpg

The Embassay of Good Science

The European Commission has launched an amazing new web site called the Embassy of Good Science that contains an amazing array of materials on research integrity and the responsible conduct of research, as well as offering training opportunities and allowing authors and educators to share their own resources with the scientific community.

They describe their mission as:

The goal of The Embassy of Good Science is to promote research integrity among all those involved in research. The platform is open to anyone willing to learn or support others in fostering understanding and awareness around Good Science.

The Embassy aims to become a unique ‘go to’ place, a public square where the community of researchers can gather to discuss ‘hot topics’, share knowledge, and find guidance and support to perform science responsibly and with integrity.

We want to focus on researchers’ daily practice. Our ambition is to collaboratively map the laws, policies and guidelines informing good practices and highlight relevant cases, experiences, educational materials and good practice examples. We will also support educators to develop training on research integrity and ethics.

  Be sure to check them out!

New Article: Artificial Intelligence: Does Consciousness Matter?

Our Center Director, Elisabeth Hildt, just published an interesting piece on artificial intelligence and consciousness. Check it out! 

https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2019.01535/full

Call for Applications: Training STEM Faculty New to Teaching Ethics

The National Academy of Engineering Online Ethics Center (OEC) of the Center for Engineering Ethics and Society will hold a 1½-day workshop on Training STEM Faculty New to Teaching Ethics. Applications are invited from STEM faculty who wish to identify opportunities to integrate ethics and responsible conduct of research (RCR) guidance in their courses and research environments. Workshop presenters and participants will explore a variety of hands-on tools and approaches, both formal and ad hoc, including the use of the OEC as both a teaching tool and resource for materials. Participants will consider their own classes and research projects as well as the approaches and materials presented to create or enhance a learning activity, such as a class plan, course syllabus, or laboratory practice. This workshop is designed to help faculty and others seeking to fulfill (a) NSF and NIH requirements for providing RCR instruction and (b) ABET ethics education expectations.

The OEC is looking for faculty, researchers, and/or administrators who are eager to develop strategies and plans for incorporating ethics in their courses or research environments. Some spots will be reserved for individual attendees. Applicants are sought who will broadly represent a range of STEM disciplines, including the social sciences; graduate and undergraduate instructors; and a variety of academic institutions (e.g., liberal arts colleges, large public universities, institutions serving underrepresented populations, private research institutions).

The workshop will be held October 22–23, 2019, at the National Academies’ Keck Building in Washington, DC. There is no fee for workshop registration. Participants are expected to cover their travel costs. Limited funds are available for travel assistance in cases of financial need. 

Please share this announcement with those you think would be interested.

The application deadline is Monday, July 15, 2019. 

 

To apply and for more information: 
https://www.onlineethics.org/Workshop-Application.aspx

 

 

Informed Experiences, Designing Consent

Informed Experiences, Designing Consent is a symposium interrogating the intersections of consent and the design of interactive media and technologies. The symposium is hosted at the Illinois Institute of Technology in Chicago by the Center for the Study of Ethics in the Professions and the HASTAC Scholars fellowship program on April 6, 2019. It is organized by Michael Anthony DeAnda, Elisabeth Hildt, Kelly Laas, and Leilasadat Mirghaderi.

Informed Experiences, Designing Consent is a one-day event intended to bring together researchers, scholars, practitioners, and designers to consider the implications of theoretical, social, and material aspects of consent and design. Some examples of topics include: consent to participate in social media, user agreement, consent in gaming, informed consent to data collection and use, consent in digital humanities research. This workshop will consider ethical approaches to each of these respective fields of study and development. This event emphasizes theory and practice, structured on an iterative process of Learn, Make, Reflect. Here, participants will begin by listening to a panel on the topic of consent and design, then move to a group maker breakout session to design based off key concepts from the panel and return together to reflect on the process.

We invite researchers, scholars, practitioners, designers, makers, and ethicists to submit proposals for 10-15 minute presentations and to attend this event, particularly those interested in consent as it applies to:

• Ethics and philosophy 
• Informed Consent 
• Design of experiences 
• Game design and gaming culture 
• Design and study of User Experience 
• Website development 
• Application design and mobile app design 
• User Interface Design 
• Data collection 
• Digital Humanities 
• Social Media Research 
• User agreements 
• Audience studies 
• Design Research 
• Research Methods and Practices 
• Research Design 
• Storytelling and digital storytelling 
• Maker spaces and crafting

Proposal submissions should include a title, a 400-500 word abstract, and a bio of 100-150 words in length by January 23, 2019 to this form.

Any further questions may be directed to Michael DeAnda at mdeanda@hawk.iit.edu.

Call for Papers for Special Issue of Science and Engineering Ethics

Call for Papers

Special Issue of the journal Science and Engineering Ethics

Brain-Based and Artificial Intelligence: Socio-ethical Conversations in Computing and Neurotechnology

Editors: Elisabeth Hildt, Kelly Laas, Monika Sziron, Stephanie J. Bird

We are inviting papers to be included in a special issue of Science and Engineering Ethics  that seeks to explore the convergences and disparities in approaches to intelligence in neuroscience and computer science. The topic for this special issue comes from a May 2018 workshop organized by the Center for the Study of Ethics in the Professions at the Illinois Institute of Technology, that reflected on how brain-based intelligence is similar to artificial intelligence (AI) and also how both can be combined in neurotechnology. Papers submitted for this special issue should explore the ethical and social implications that arise in AI and neurotechnology. Here the term “brain-based” intelligence encompasses both human and non-human animal intelligence. This special issue aims to advance an interdisciplinary discussion between scientists, practitioners, and scholars around these questions.

Both conference presenters and new authors are invited to submit an abstract for consideration.

Topics of contributions may include but are not limited to:

●    Finding a Common Language: Psychology, Neuroscience, and AI

●    Understanding Intelligence: The Physiological and the Mechanical

●    Ethics of Anthropomorphic Design and Processes in AI

●    Ethical and Social Implications of AI and Neurotechnology

●    Rights in AI and Neurotechnology: Policies, Regulations and Legislation

●    Similarities and Differences of Ethics in AI and Neuroscience

●    Science-fiction: Friend or Foe?

●    Merging of Brains and AI Technology

●    Brain-Computer Interfaces

●    Hybrid Intelligence

Submissions of up to 5,000 words are invited from the fields of neuroscience, computer science, engineering, psychology, philosophy, ethics, law, political science and social science.

Please submit an abstract (or revised workshop abstract) of up to 500 words. Abstracts are due September 15, 2018 and should be sent to Elisabeth Hildt at csep@iit.edu. Authors of selected abstracts will be notified of the editors' decision by October 1, 2018 and invited to submit a full paper. They will also receive further information regarding the formal requirements of the paper.

Full papers, of up to 5,000 words in length, double-spaced and in 12 point font are due December 15, 2018.

All manuscripts will go through the journal’s double blind peer review process.

General Information can also be found on the website of Science and Engineering Ethics (see Instruction for Authors): http://www.springer.com/social+sciences/applied+ethics/journal/11948