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The Engineering Professors’ Council is pleased to announce the appointment of the leadership team for its Ethics Ambassadors community.

The Ethics Ambassadors community was created in March 2023, to expand and develop the work and recommendations of the Engineering Ethics Advisory Group, on their completion of Phase 2 of the Engineering Ethics Toolkit.

At its first meeting during the EAN Congress in June 2023, members formally agreed to the group’s establishment and its purpose and goals, and volunteered for various leadership roles. After a voting process, the appointments of the following individuals were confirmed:

Fiona Truscott, UCL, Co-Chair
Rehan Shah, QMUL, Co-Chair
Natalie Wint, UCL, Secretary

Additional leadership roles around events, Toolkit content, and support have also been confirmed and can be seen on our Ambassadors page.

During their first year, the Ethics Ambassadors aim to promote and guide the use of the Engineering Ethics Toolkit among engineering educators, to continue its development by soliciting new resources, to seek continued funding that supports the Toolkit’s management and hosting, and to build the group’s membership.

If you are interested in joining please fill out our membership application form.

This post is also available here.

“Educators who integrate ethics into their activities and modules may be unsure how to assess student learning in this area. Yet assessment of ethics learning is not only crucial for evaluating learning, but also for identifying ways to improve the teaching of ethics within engineering education.”

If you’re wondering where to start with your assessment of ethics learning, our Engineering Ethics Toolkit article Methods for assessing and evaluating ethics learning in engineering education offers some ideas.

This article should be read by educators at all levels in higher education who wish to integrate ethics into the engineering and design curriculum, or into module design and learning activities.

We have a growing library of guidance articles available to support you as you expand your understanding of engineering ethics, and begin to embed it within the curriculum, and an interactive Ethics Explorer to get you started. We also have a library of case studies, for you to use and adapt in your teaching.

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.

You are the software engineer responsible for the integrity of the system in a community of smart homes. During a routine inspection you discover several indicators suggesting a data breach may have occurred via some of the smart appliances, many of which have cameras and are voice-activated. What do you do?

These is one of the questions posed in our intermediate level Engineering Ethics Toolkit case study Smart homes for older people with disabilities.

This case involves a software engineer who has discovered a potential data breach in a smart home community. The engineer must decide whether or not to report the breach, and then whether to alert and advise the residents. In doing so, considerations of the relevant legal, ethical, and professional responsibilities need to be weighed. The case also addresses communication in cases of uncertainty as well as macro-ethical concerns related to ubiquitous and interconnected digital technology.

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.

“The Statement of Ethical Principles published by the Engineering Council and the Royal Academy of Engineering contains the recommendations to which all UK engineers should comply. These principles are based on the premise that engineering professionals work to enhance the wellbeing of society, and in so doing they are required to maintain and promote high ethical standards, as well as to challenge unethical behaviour. The principles are the foundation for making decisions when faced with an ethical dilemma in engineering.”

Our Engineering Ethics Toolkit article Guidance for ethical decision-making rooted in research and practice explains what engineers need to consider when making an ethical decision.

This article should be read by educators at all levels in higher education who wish to integrate ethics into the engineering and design curriculum, or into module design and learning activities.

What personal values will an engineer have to weigh in order to decide which job offer to accept? Which companies are doing the work that an engineer might feel is most ethically impactful? What wider impact does the work of a company have?

These are some of the questions posed in our beginner level Engineering Ethics Toolkit case study, Choosing a career in climate change geoengineering, which addresses the ethical issues of respect for the environment, social responsibility and risk, and examines situations that professional engineers need to consider, such as public health and safety, and communication.

This case study involves a dilemma that most engineering students will have to face at least once in their careers: which job offer to accept. It allows students to consider how personal values affect professional decisions.

“Engineering can have a significant impact on society and the environment, in both positive and negative ways. To fully understand the implications of engineering requires navigating complex, uncertain and challenging ethical issues. It is therefore essential to embed ethics into any project or learning outcome and for engineering professionals and educators to operate in a responsible and ethical manner.”

Our Engineering Ethics Toolkit guidance article Pedagogical approaches to integrating ethics in engineering raises issues for educators to consider when translating accreditation learning outcomes and their intentions to an engineering programme.

This article should be read by educators at all levels in higher education who wish to integrate ethics into the engineering and design curriculum, or into module design and learning activities.

We have a growing library of guidance articles available to support you as you expand your understanding of engineering ethics, and begin to embed it within the curriculum, and an interactive Ethics Explorer to help you get started. We also have a library of case studies and enhancements for you to use and adapt in your teaching.

Could the shift of food production from soil to chemical industries concentrate power in the hands of a few? What public perceptions or cultural values might impact the acceptance or uptake of this technology?

These are some of the questions posed in our advanced level Engineering Ethics Toolkit case study, Power-to-food technologies, which addresses the ethical issues of sustainability and social responsibility, and examines situations that professional engineers need to consider, such as public health and safety, reputation, falsifying data, and communication, with the educational aim of practising ethical reasoning.

Now, as well as the activities within the original case study, we have provided an expansion on one of the activities in the form of a Case enhancement, which asks learners for a deeper ethical evaluation of the technology and its impacts.

The Engineering Ethics Toolkit is a suite of interactive resources, guidance and teaching materials that enables educators to easily introduce ethics into the education of every engineer.

We’re always pleased to see the #EngineeringEthicsToolkit featured in news articles, blogs, podcasts etc., and we’ll be keeping track of those mentions here.