A Research Agenda-Setting Workshop on Engineering Ethics and the Impact of Technology on Society ( April 2003)

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The changing nature of engineering and the newest technologies emerging from it require the engineering profession to expand its approach to addressing ethical and technical issues. The objective of this workshop project is to create a research agenda aimed at including contemporary contextual ethics, exhibiting concern with effects on the entire ecology of life, and integrating "micro-ethics" (individual and professional ethics), "meso-ethics" (the ethics of business and government), and "macro-ethics" (societal ethics). The approach brings together scholars, practitioners and professionals from diverse fields in a facilitated planning session and a workshop to develop a research agenda for advancing knowledge and understanding in the field of engineering ethics and helping to incorporate contemporary contextual ethical theories into the education and practice of the engineering profession. The three-step process requires a planning session to crystallize the issues to be addressed in the research agenda-setting workshop, to consider how they might fit together and to finalize the list of invitees. The second step is the workshop itself, a two-day event that will be based on four main themes: (a) emerging ethical issues in technology, (b) current understanding of contemporary ethics as it applies to the development of technology, (c) research needs for addressing these contemporary ethical issues, and (d) research needs for the design and implementation of courses, seminars and curricula nation-wide, as well as the harmonization of professional codes of conduct with this curriculum. The third step will be the development and dissemination of the workshop proceedings. A Workshop Web Site will publicize the progress of the workshop, including the planning, the agenda, the participation, and the final proceedings.