Call for Submissions for the SEFI Ethics Alpine Retreat 2022 -

Engineering ethics education and social justice: synthesis and growth

31st March - 1st April 2022 - Location: either (a) a hybrid event (online and onsite) in the Swiss Alps or (b) fully online (tbc)



The SEFI Ethics Special Interest Group is organising a one and a half day workshop on engineering ethics education, and invites those interested to submit suggestions for workshops or papers. Please submit a short expression of interest (200 words) to [email protected] by 16th January 2022.

Approach: The spring school is intended to maximise opportunities for interaction, discussion and exchange. While papers are welcome, workshops which prioritise exchange and discussion on a theme will be prioritised, along with sessions dedicated to small group meetings and dialogue.

Theme: Engineering ethics education is often described as addressing two domains: a micro-ethics domain which focuses on individual responsibility and day to day decision-making, and a macro-ethics domain which addresses the social and environmental impact of engineering as a profession including a focus on sustainability and social justice. Notwithstanding differences across global regions as to how engineering ethics is designed and taught, the dominant trend has, until recently, perhaps tended to focus more on micro issues than on macro ethics.

At the same time, engineering ethics education has perhaps never has as much diversity as it has today. In the last year the SEFI ethics seminars have addressed a wide range of themes including emotional aspects of engineering ethics, ethics in design, social justice issues, as well as a rich array of ethics teaching methods (case studies, film, and fiction).

At this time too, events outside engineering and education such Black Lives Matter, #MeToo, the Coronavirus Pandemic, political realignment in many countries, and attacks on expertise and scientific knowledge, raises questions about how the macro and the micro are connected in engineering ethics education, and about the methods and approaches appropriate for ethics education with engineers.

The alpine retreat will give a space for those interested in the topic of engineering ethics education, to map out, combine, and generate new approaches to practicing micro and macro engineering ethics education.

Possible themes include:

• Freedom of expression and teaching ethics in a safe space

• Engineering Ethics in a new hybrid world

• Engineering Ethics and Social Equality/Social Justice

• Emotions and social justice in Engineering Ethics Education

• Building participation/engagement in the international engineering ethics education community

• Making sense and proposing/sharing ethics values to/with students

Participants can feel free to suggest other themes and topics which may lie outside these strands.

For more information, please contact the organizer Roland at [email protected]

News and initiatives

Videorecordings of SEFI SIG Ethics webinars: are now available to watch on the themes of Water and responsible engineering and STS postures.

Environmental Ethics - A Sourcebook for Educators aims to providing practical material for instructors to begin incorporating ethics as an everyday activity into their teaching. All the chapters in the book introduce different pedagogical approaches for bringing ethics to the fore in environmental education. The activities are all structured around a theme or series of themes and subthemes. They all begin with a short introduction to each theme that contextualises the inherent issues and identifies some pertinent observations and questions. The introductions are followed by concrete activities. Some activity sections also include extension activities. Some extensions allow teachers and learners to adapt the activities to their own schools or communities. Others are designed to be conducted over longer periods of time. The sourcebook is co-authored by Bob Jickling (Lakehead University Canada), Heila Lotz-Sisitka, Lausanne Olvitt, Rob O’Donoghue, Ingrid Schudel, Dylan McGarry (all from Rhodes University, South Africa) and Blair Niblett (Trent University’s School of Education, Canada) and can be downloaded for free at the following link.

International Ethics in Chemistry: Developing Common Values across Cultures. Susan M. Schelble (Metropolitan State University of Denver, United States) and Kelly M. Elkins (Towson University, United States) edited a volume exploring ethical issues across chemistry, focusing on chemical organizations and researchers and how they establish policies and educational strategies for professional ethics. Chapters focus on intellectual property, codes of conduct, relationships with employers and government, and safety in the laboratory and workplace. By viewing both the past and future, readers will find shared ethical best practices to address international challenges with enormous effects on human and planetary health. The volume is motivated by the need to reconcile cultural differences to share scientific information in the global scientific practice. More information is available at the following link.

Cultural inclusiveness at REES 2021: The organisers of the conference and REEN board undertook active efforts to promote cultural inclusiveness and non-main stream perspectives. The conference facilitated participation for those in different timezones, and included several papers and workshops of interest to the community of ethics educators, which addressed aboriginal perspectives, recentering local knowledge, how to ensure a culturally relevant pedagogy, developing intersectional inclusion capabilities or building cultural intelligence, as well as contributions which challenged popular western-centric trends such as the focus on fostering GRIT. REES AAEE 2021 was organised by The University of Western Australia and all papers are available at the following link.