Copyright2016 Doing Global Science: A Guide to Responsible Conduct in the Global Research Enterprise Added04/25/2016Updated06/30/2016 This concise introductory guide explains the values that should inform the responsible conduct of scientific research in today's global setting. Featuring accessible discussions and ample real-world scenarios, Doing Global Science covers proper conduct, fraud and bias, the ... Authoring Institution InterAcademy Partnership More Info
Instructor's Guide to Prepare Research Group Leaders as RCR Mentors Added04/08/2016Updated10/14/2016These materials are designed to provide motivation and content sufficient for an instructor to lead a workshop titled: “Mentoring for Responsible Research.” The long-term goal is to foster an environment in which research faculty are better empowered to initiate conversations within their research groups about the responsible conduct of research. Workshop participants are introduced to rationales, content, approaches, and resources so that they will have the means to develop and implement concrete, discipline-specific strategies for research ethics mentoring. Materials include a detailed instructor’s guide and templates for workshop syllabi that can be customized as needed. Author(s) Michael Kalichman Dena Plemmons Year 2016 More Info
Knowledge of Damaging Information (adapted from NSPE Case No. 76-4) Added06/10/2006 Updated01/20/2016 Public Safety and Public Welfare An engineer has a conflict between honoring an agreement with a former employer and reporting a hazard to protect the public interest. This is an open-ended scenario for discussion based on a case from the NSPE Board of Ethical Review. Authoring Institution Online Ethics Center Year 1999 Read More
Trench Boxes and the Construction Site Added02/16/2006 Updated01/15/2016 Summary of a case involving safety equipment and professional responsibility on a trench digging site. Authoring Institution Zachry Department of Civil Engineering-TAMU Ethics Year 1995 Read More
Company Interests and Employee Involvement in Community Added06/15/1992 Updated01/15/2016 Elizabeth Dorsey is an engineer at CDC, Inc. and is caught in a difficult situation when CDC plans are in opposition to a community group which she is a part of. Author(s) Michael Pritchard Contributor(s) Michael Pritchard Authoring Institution Center for the Study of Ethics in Society at Western Michigan University Year 1992 Read More
Today's Specials Added02/16/2006 Updated11/23/2015 This case discusses two important, interrelated issues: ethical decision making between science faculty members and prospective graduate students. Contributor(s) Brian Schrag Authoring Institution Association for Practical and Professional Ethics (APPE) Year 1998 Read More
Case Study: Climate Change Adaptation and Public Participation in Yuma, AZ Added08/15/2018 This case explores ethical issues in public engagement activities about issues of climate change mitigation. In particular, it presents hypothetical citizens’ forums in Phoenix and Yuma, Arizona, and, through discussion questions, identifies many of the issues for consideration these kinds of activities entail. Author(s) Michelle Sullivan Govani Year 2018 Read More
Biodiversity Case Study: Assisted Migration Added07/26/2018 This case explores ethical issues surrounding assisted migration of endangered species. In particular, it focuses on Torreya taxifolia, an evergreen conifer tree endemic to Florida, and an activist group, Torreya Guardians, that has been distributing trees to sites outside the endemic range, including in North Carolina, Tennessee, Ohio, Michigan, Wisconsin, New Hampshire, and Oregon. Author(s) Michelle Sullivan Govani Year 2017 Read More
Biodiversity Case Study: Ecotourism Added07/26/2018 This case explores a variety of ethical issues concerning ecotourism. The setting is a fictitious lodge in Botswana’s Okavango Delta, a UNESCO World Heritage site. Mini-vignettes offer three perspectives. Nuru is a poor Botswanan who lives near the lodge and would like to be involved in its activities. Rachel, the lodge’s new manager, has just come to the position from working as a field biologist specializing in African elephants with Conservation International (CI), a non-profit dedicated to worldwide conservation of ecosystems. She must make decisions on how the lodge will pursue environmental and sustainability goals. Mahendra is a well-known expert in elephant behavior and social structures, as well as an avid traveler and photographer. He is coming to the delta to conduct research and must decide where he and his family will stay. Author(s) Michelle Sullivan Govani Year 2017 Read More
The Strategic Defense Initiative Added05/24/2018 Abstract: The Strategic Defense Initiative provides a context for exploring the ethical issues that arise when scientific research has a direct bearing on public policy. Students are asked to consider three different documents that were circulated during the first few years of the SDI program. ... Author(s) Marshall Thomsen Year 2018 Read More
Research Ethics and the Norwegian Oil Industry Added01/05/2018 In 2014, researchers and students at University of Bergen questioned the university's research cooperation with the nation’s oil industry, Statoil. The rector asked the Norwegian National Committee for Research Ethics in Science and Technology (NENT) for advice, which it provided in a public report. Author(s) Rachelle Hollander Year 2017 Read More
Adventures in Collaborative Research (abridged) Added12/15/2017 Three-page, script-style case. Social science (oral history) and interdisciplinary research. Issues include authorship, mentoring, collaborative research, miscommunication, and human subjects research. Author(s) Kenneth D. Pimple Year 1999 Read More
An Algorithm Discriminates Added11/28/2017 software, discrimination, computer science A software developer designs a software that screens the résumés of candidates applying for a job at her company. She later discovers that the software may be having a disparate impact on minority communities. She brings the issue up with her boss, who is reluctant to change the software. Author(s) Jason Ludwig Kendall Darfler Year 2017 Read More
Sensitive Health Data and Privacy Added11/28/2017 privacy, corporate responsibility, data security A tech company contracts Luminia, a healthcare information firm, to design an employee wellness program. The President of Luminia recommends that the company implement a secure messaging platform to protect employee’s private health information (PHI). The company’s vice president, however, thinks that the platform is too expensive and that the extra protection is unnecessary. Author(s) Jason Ludwig Dalton George Year 2017 Read More
Taking a Product to Market Added11/28/2017 software engineering, sales, corporate responsibility, computer science A software engineer has concerns about a recommender system his firm is designing to sell to health and life insurance companies. In a meeting with the sales team leader, he brings up these concerns and argues for extending their development timelines to address them. The sales manager, however, wants to hit the market with their product as soon as possible. Author(s) Dalton George Jason Ludwig Year 2017 Read More
Using Sensitive Data Purposefully Added11/27/2017 computer science, big data, sensitive data, privacy, surveillance A computer scientist is faced with a tough decision about how to handle personally identifiable information. Author(s) Kendall Darfler Dalton George Year 2017 Read More
Biodiversity Case Study 2: Conservation in the Amazon Added06/28/2017 In this case, Armando, a Brazilian Federal Senator with a BS and MS in Biology, must confront ethical dilemmas concerning the Amazon forest. Topics for consideration include: 1) the biodiversity and ecosystem services associated with the forest, 2) the social and economic issues surrounding deforestation, and the 3) options available to Armando as he makes his recommendation on how to use the US funds. Finally, we will explore the role of Maria as a science advisor and address her responsibilities, as well as her mistake in addressing the press. Author(s) Michelle Sullivan Govani Contributor(s) Michelle Sullivan Govani Karin Ellison Joseph R. Herkert Year 2016 Read More
Biodiversity Case Study 1: Biodiversity and Human Health Added06/28/2017 A scientist working for an environmental advocacy group in Indonesia fights against the transfer of a portion of state owned native forest to a palm-oil plantation. The case raises ethical issues including how to establish the value of natural lands, environmental justice, and communicating science. Author(s) Michelle Sullivan Govani Contributor(s) Michelle Sullivan Govani Karin Ellison Joseph R. Herkert Year 2016 Read More
Big Data Case Study: Big Data & Conservation Biology Added06/13/2017 An amateur birdwatcher contributes to eBird--a citizen science project. When conservation scientists begin tagging owls in the state park near his home and ask his neighbor for permission to conduct research on her property, he wonders whether the value of the knowledge created about endangered species through both studying migration and citizen science projects such as eBird justifies the impact these activities can have on individual birds and species. Author(s) Valerie Racine Contributor(s) Valerie Racine Karin Ellison Joseph R. Herkert Year 2017 Read More
Big Data Case Study: Big Data & Neuroscience Added06/13/2017 A neuroscientist studies brainwave technologies with the aim of developing brain-machine computer interfaces (BMCI) and biometric systems. In considering projects she might work on, such as developing a database system to identify individuals by EEG biosignatures or advancing the field of neuromarketing, she starts to wonder about the long-term social value of these emerging technologies. Author(s) Valerie Racine Contributor(s) Valerie Racine Year 2017 Read More
Big Data Case Study: Big Data & Public Health Added06/13/2017 A computer science graduate has an opportunity to work managing large data sets from smartphone applications designed to track individuals’ personal health information. His father, an epidemiologist, encourages him to consider the project’s use of personal data, as well as the ability to design algorithms that could accurately predict and track outbreaks based on this kind of data. Author(s) Valerie Racine Contributor(s) Valerie Racine Karin Ellison Joseph R. Herkert Year 2017 Read More
Big Data Case Study: Big Data & Genetic Privacy: Re-identification of Anonymized Data Added06/13/2017 In 2013, Melissa Gymrek, Amy McGuire, David Golan, Eran Halperin, and Yaniv Erlich published an article describing how they re-identified almost 50 individuals from “anonymized” data in a genomic database from the 1000 Genomes Project. Their goal was to show the vulnerability of genomic databases to this sort of manipulation. The case opens discussion of sharing genomic data and protecting privacy. Author(s) Valerie Racine Contributor(s) Valerie Racine Karin Ellison Joseph R. Herkert Year 2017 Read More
Emerging Biotechnology Case Study: Genome Editing & the Ethics of CRISPR-Cas9 Added04/19/2017 This historical case uses the April 2015 publication on editing the genomes of non-viable human embryos by Junjiu Huang et. al. to explore the ethical issues surrounding the development of gene editing technologies and application to humans. Author(s) Valerie Racine Contributor(s) Valerie Racine Karin Ellison Joseph R. Herkert Year 2016 Read More
Emerging Biotechnology Case Study: Deep Brain Stimulation Studies Added04/18/2017 In this fictional case, a young neuroscientist decides whether to take a post-doctoral fellowship in a lab where her assignment would be explore whether deep brain stimulation can be used to modulate soldiers’ emotions to make them more effective in high-stress environments. Author(s) Valerie Racine Contributor(s) Valerie Racine Karin Ellison Joseph R. Herkert Year 2016 Read More
Emerging Biotechnology Case Study: DIY Biology and the Case of the Glowing Plants Added04/18/2017 In 2013, the Glowing Plant Project raised money to fund amateur biologists attempting to insert a firefly gene into a small flowering plant called Arabidopsis thaliana. This historical case explores ethical concerns with synthetic biology and the DIY Biology movement. Author(s) Valerie Racine Contributor(s) Valerie Racine Karin Ellison Joseph R. Herkert Year 2016 Read More
Emerging Biotechnology Case Study: Next-Generation Biofuels Added04/18/2017 In this fictional case, a bioengineer completing a postdoctoral fellowship in sustainability considers his options for future employment. He would like to work with advanced microalgae production of biofuels. However, he is offered industry job developing first-generation biofuels, especially increasing yield. Author(s) Valerie Racine Contributor(s) Valerie Racine Karin Ellison Joseph R. Herkert Year 2016 Read More