Spotlight on ethics: Financially and politically motivated misinformation about STEM research

Who should be responsible for the messaging and processes for public health decisions? How are engineers connected to this system? How did power, privilege, and politics influence the response to the Covid-19 vaccine rollout in the United Kingdom versus other countries?

These are some of the questions posed in our Engineering Ethics Toolkit case study Financially and politically motivated misinformation about STEM research,

The case involves an engineering student whose personal choices may affect her future professional experience. It highlights both micro- and macro-ethical issues, dealing with the ways that individual actions and decisions can scale to create systemic challenges, and offers several approaches to engaging students in the critique and improvement of their critical digital literacy skills.

We’ve provided this, and other case studies and case enhancements for you to use and adapt in your teaching. If you’re new to ethics, we have a growing library of guidance articles available to support you, and an interactive Ethics Explorer to get you started.

If you would like to give feedback on this or any other Engineering Ethics resource, or submit your own content, you can do so here. We also have a newly created community of practice that you can join, where we hope that educators will support each other, and share their success stories of teaching engineering ethics. You can join our Ethics Ambassadors community here.

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