SEFI Ethics Spring School 2023: Registration Open

Engineering Ethics Education: Navigating Uncertainty

Date: 24-26 April 2023
Location: Vrije Universiteit Brussels, Belgium

The event will be held in-person on the campus of Vrije Universiteit Brussel (Pleinlaan 2, 1050 Brussels, Belgium). There is no designated hotel for the event, but some participants are staying at:

• Hotel Avenue Louise Brussels Trademark Collection by Wyndham
• ibis Brussels Centre Châtelain
• Adagio Access Brussels Delta
• Hotel Barsey by Warwick

If you plan to attend, please register using this link. If you have already completed the Call for Participation via the Google Form, there is no need to register again.

Confirmed participants: Diana Bairaktarova (Virginia Tech), Nael Barakat (UT Tyler), Tom Børsen (Aalborg University), Shannon Chance (TU Dublin), Inês Direito (UCL), Andrea Gammon (TU Delft), Cécile Hardebolle (EPFL), Aditya Johri ( George Mason University), Siara Isaac (EPFL), Elena Mäkiö (University of Applied Sciences Emden/Leer), Lavinia Marin (TU Delft), Diana Martin (TU Eindhoven), Vivek Ramachandran (EPFL), Roland Tormey (EPFL).

Approach: The spring school is intended to maximise opportunities for interaction, discussion and exchange. The spring school will give a space for those interested in the topic of engineering ethics education, to map out, problematize, combine, and co-create new
approaches to teach and research engineering ethics. It will bring diverse voices together to collaborate on ways forward.

Theme: The theme for the 2023 spring school Navigating uncertainty recognizes the growing unpredictability of the world today. From technologies and jobs that have yet to be created, to ever-evolving political disruptions, to unprecedented environmental change, engineers face uncertainty. Uncertainty operates at the micro-level in terms of risk in engineering and at the macro-level regarding change and complexity in the societal and environmental context. Engineering educators must prepare students to navigate this unpredictability while ethics education itself involves making decisions within ambiguity.

The theme also draws on the location in Brussels as the de facto capital of Europe and home of some of the major European institutions. Brussels aims to be the heart of collaborative decision-making, where voices need to come together to address complex challenges. This serves as a fitting backdrop for engineering ethics education.

Preliminary Programme

• Monday, 24 April
  • Welcome (9:00-9:30)
  • Emotion in Engineering Ethics Education (9:30-10:30)
  • Ethics of Using Generative AI Media for Education (11:00-12:30)
  • Lunch (12:30-14:00)
  • Culture and Epistemology (14:00-15:00)
  • Empathy in Engineering Ethics Education (15:30-16:30)
  • Panel Discussion: Implications of AI on Engineering Ethics Education (17:00-18:00)
  • Dinner: 19.30

• Tuesday, 25 April
  • Teaching Approaches and Tools (9:00-10:30)
  • Postnormal Science and Ethics (11:00-11:30)
  • Teaching Approaches and Tools (11:30-12:30)
  • Lunch (12:30-14:00)
  • Positionality Statements in Engineering Ethics Education Research (14:00-15:00)
  • Why write? Reconsidering the relevance of the essay assignment in engineering ethics education (15:30-16:30)
  • Engineering Ethics Education: A Global View (17:00-18:00)
  • Dinner: 19.30

• Wednesday, 26 April
  • SIG Ethics meeting (9:00-10:00)
  • Visit to the EC (tbc) (10:30-12:30) Or Project & collaborations brainstorming sessions (10:30-12.30)

Registration fee: 50 EUR. The fee will cover lunch and refreshments. Dinner costs will be
covered by the participants. Payment will open on 15 March. If you are unable to cover the
registration costs, please contact the organiser.

For more information, please contact the organiser Madeline Polmear at madeline.ruth.polmear@vub.be