Ethics Day at the Doctoral Training Centre for Plastic Electronics

On April 17th the first cohort of DTC students conducted an ‘Ethics Day’ for fellow PhD candidates and CPE members.

On April 17^th the first cohort of DTC students conducted an ‘Ethics Day’ for fellow PhD candidates and CPE members.

The event kicked off with a brief introduction to ethics and a case study on ‘one of the greatest scientific frauds in history’ with talks from Roland Piper and David James.

Calum McAndrew, Paul Westacott and George Barnes led a number of breakout sessions which saw the students work in teams to explore topics such as identifying fraud, accountability and repercussions, statistics and misleading uses of datasets.

The afternoon session opened with the panel debate: ‘Breaking Ethical Boundaries’ chaired by Marianne Talbot, a noted author and Director of Studies in Philosophy at Oxford University. Invited panel members included Professor Peter Skabara from the University of Strathclyde, Dr. Natalie Stingelin from the Department of Materials at Imperial, Dr John Rudin from Hewlett-Packard Laboratories, and Christopher de Mauny from Bird & Bird International Law Firm.

Topics discussed included dealing with unethical behaviour in the workplace, accountability, science communication, plagiarism and even touched on the sensitive interplay between ethics, science and politics when it comes to the issue of access to technologies such as nuclear energy.

The discussion ended with a final word of advice from Professor Peter Skabara on scientific fraud; “Just don’t do it!” and the day wrapped over coffee and networking with lively discussions ensuing late into the afternoon.