Month / March 2025

by shannonchance

Reflections on the 2025 SEFI Ethics Spring Symposium: A Gathering of Global Engineering Ethics Educators

I’m honoured to have hosted a very successful 2025 SEFI Ethics Spring Symposium. 

From March 24–26, my colleagues and I gathered at the Royal Marine Hotel in the charming seaside town of Dún Laoghaire, Ireland, for our small and cosy annual symposium. Mother nature blessed us with glorious weather, tasty and healthy food, gorgeous natural and architectural surroundings, an enchanting historic hotel, and new and renewed friendships.

Diana Martin, Mircea Tobosaru, and I organised the programme and all the details, demonstrating that collaboration is key to flourishing!

With 35 delegates from across the globe, this wasn’t just another academic conference—it was a meeting of minds and a celebration of our shared commitment to engineering ethics education.

Soaking in the surroundings, past and present, with a tour by Roland Tormey.

The symposium’s main goal? Strengthening our collective capacity to teach ethics to future engineers. A key focus was the Routledge International Handbook of Engineering Ethics Education (RIHEEE)—a major collaborative effort by the SEFI Ethics special interest group. We reflected on what is presented in the book and considered how to extend its themes, translate into impactful teaching practices, and generate discussion more broadly in the places we live and work. 

Opening the Symposium and introducing the handbook.

A Program Packed with Thought-Provoking Conversations

Over three days, we immersed ourselves in a mix of keynotes, workshops, and panels, tackling big questions from multiple angles:

Keynotes that Challenged and Inspired

  • Mary Nolan explored the role of care ethics in engineering, pushing us to think beyond traditional engineering thinking.
  • Paula Tomi examined the nature of truth, a concept that sits at the heart of both engineering and ethics.
  • Tom Børsen introduced us to techno-anthropology, showing how it intersects with engineering ethics education.
Keynote by Paula Tomi

Workshops that Sparked Debate and Collaboration

  • Care Ethics—How do we broaden engineers’ notion of responsibility?
  • AI Experimental Philosophy—How can philosophy guide us in using and developing artificial intelligence?
  • The Archimedean Oath—Should engineers take an ethical oath, much like doctors do?
  • Quantitative Methods & Ethics—How can we effectively describe and report ethical impact?
Peer-to-peer learning in action. Tom Børsen, to the right, was the co-lead editor of the handbook. Takehara joined us from Japan, and Miguel from Spain.

Panel Discussions: Making Ethics Education More Practical

Our panelists had a specific challenge: dive into a self-selected sections of RIHEEE and critically assess its themes. We asked: What patterns do you see across the set of chapters in your section? What’s missing? How can can educators make use of the content? How can we help them do that? Can we translate theoretical insights into tangible strategies that can be applied in classrooms and institutions worldwide yet still reflect local culture and values?

Panel with Rachel Harding, Aaron Johnson, Magnus Kahrs (and Valentina Rossi, not shown)
Panel on engineering ethics accreditation
Panel on Interdisciplinary Perspectives with Katherine Looby, Ronny Kjelsberg, Gaston Meskens, and Sandra Cruz Moreno.

There were so many very special aspects, including exploring care ethics in depth and applying care ethics, and the walking tour was truly spectacular.

A Literary and Cultural Interlude

Roland Tormey’s literary walking tour of Dún Laoghaire was a highlight for us all. We took a step back and immersed ourselves in the cultural richness of our surroundings. For many of us, this blend of intellectual and cultural exploration reinforced the broader ethical dimensions of engineering—how our work is always connected to society, history, and place.

Sunshine and good vibes galore!

Global Voices, Local Impact

The symposium truly reflected the international nature of engineering ethics education. We had voices from across Europe, North America, Africa, and Asia, with universities ranging from UCL and the University of Michigan to EPFL. At the same time, there was strong local representation, with a third of the attendees based in Ireland—TU Dublin, DCU, ATU, and Engineers Ireland all playing an active role. A special shoutout to my TU Dublin colleagues—Sandra Cruz Moreno, Marek Rebow, Rachel Harding, Mike Murphy, and recent PhD grads Diana Adela Martin and Darren Carthy—whose contributions helped everyone feel welcome.

What’s Next?

The energy and ideas sparked at the symposium will propel us forward onto new collaborations, where we apply what we discussed—via research and teaching and leadership and service—and continue building momentum and sharing what we’re learning with our colleagues back home, and indeed worldwide.

For those who couldn’t join us in person, the Routledge International Handbook of Engineering Ethics Education is freely available in an open-access digital format. Whether you’re new to the field or a long-time educator, it’s a must-read:
🔗 RIHEEE Handbook

TU Dublin also just posted a webpage about the Symposium: https://bit.ly/3QQ74zd

For posterity’s sake, I am adding the symposium schedule as it was conducted:

Monday, March 24

09:00-09:30 Welcome and Icebreaker by host Shannon Chance

09:30-10:30 Handbook panel 1 (Foundations) moderated by Roland Tormey with panellists Mircea Tobosaru, Samia Mahé, and Mihaly Héder

10:30-10:50 Coffee break

10:50-11:30 Keynote on Care Ethics by Mary Nolan 

11:30-13:00 Workshop on Care Ethics by Robert Irish, Ana Tebeanu, Sofia Duran, Vivek Ramachandran, Roland Tormey, & Alison Gwynne-Evans

13:00-15:30 Picnic Lunch & Walking tour of Dun Laoghaire led by Roland Tormey

15:30-16:00 Coffee break with snacks

16:00-17:00 Handbook panel 4 (Teaching Methods) moderated by Diana Martin with panellists Valentina Rossi, Aaron Johnson, Magnus Kahrs, and Rachel Harding

17:00-17:30 Wrap-up with synthesising activity

19:00 Dinner outing with colleagues departs from the hotel lobby

Tuesday, March 25

09:00-10:00 Handbook panel 6 (Accreditation) moderated by Shannon Chance with panellists Leah Ridgway, Louise O’Gorman, Alison Gwynne-Evans, and Marek Rebow

10:00-10:40 Keynote on Truth by Paula Tomi 

10:40-11:00 Coffee break

11:00-12:15 Workshop on AI experimental philosophy by Krzysztof Sołoducha

12:15-13:00 Ethics SIG session led by Diana Martin and Mircea Tobosaru

13:00-14:00 Lunch 

14:00-15:00 Handbook panel 3 (Specific Disciplines) moderated by Tom Børson with panellists Jacob Baneham, Miguel Romá, Mike Murphy, and Rhythima Shinde 

15:00-15:20 Coffee break with snacks

15:20-16:40 Workshop on the Archimedean Oath by Valentina Rossi 

19:00 Dinner outing with colleagues departs from  the hotel lobby

Wednesday, March 26 

09:00-10:00 Handbook panel 2 (Interdisciplinary Perspectives) moderated by Roland Tormey with panelists Sandra Cruz Moreno, Ronny Kjelsberg, Gaston Meskens, and Katherine Looby, with input from Riadh Habash

10:00-11:15 Workshop on Quantitative Methods & Ethics by Matheus de Andrade and Idalis Villanueva Alarcón

11:15-11:30 Coffee break

11:30-12:15 Keynote by Tom Børsen on “Techno-Anthropology and Engineering Ethics Education” 

12:15-13:15 Ethics SIG session led by Diana Martin and Mircea Tobosaru

13:15-15:00 Lunch and physical activity

15:00-16:00 Handbook panel 5 (Assessment) moderated by Tom Børsen with panellists Takehara Shinya, Celina Leão, Ana Voichita Tebeanu, and Mary Nolan 

16:00-16:20 Coffee break with snacks

16:20-17:30 Ethics SIG synthesis session led by Diana Martin and Mircea Tobosaru

19:00 Dinner outing with colleagues departs from the hotel lobby

by shannonchance

Ethics and sustainability for architects and engineers 

Last week, I presented the Routledge Handbook of Engineering Ethics Education at a World Engineering Day for Sustainable Development conference in Krakow.

Presenting at WED in Krakow

Today, I get to share it via a presentation to the All-Ireland Architectural Research Group (AIARG). 

Leaving Dublin on the train this morning from Heuston Station headed to the AIARG conference

Below is a synopsis of what I’ll say in my 15-minute presentation to the architecture educators today.

Presenting the handbook at the Association for Practical and Applied Ethics (APPE) in February

This handbook is a product of the global engineering education research community and the ethics special interest group within the European Society for Engineering Education, known as SEFI. 

The engineering education research community considers architecture to be a field of engineering and welcomes participation of architects. They are highly engaged in pedagogical research and in implementing innovation active learning methods. That said, engineering education has historically been more compartmentalized and positivist than architecture education.

I identify first and foremost as an architect and teacher of architecture students and I have been welcomed warmly by this community since I moved to Ireland in 2012. I welcome you to join us!

Today, I’m here to tell you about a new handbook our ethics group has developed that can serve as a resource for you. I hope it will inspire you to draw some new ideas into the education you deliver. 

The handbook cover

The book was a community effort, with six editors and 99 other authors from all around the world. This map shows where our authors have lived and worked.

We’re working hard to hear and learn from voices outside the areas most active in engineering education research—here you can see the concentrations of activity in engineering ethics education. 

Map I made to show where our authors came from

We six editors paid for open access so anyone in the world can download the book for free. The QR code below will bring you to the download page, or just click https://www.taylorfrancis.com/books/oa-edit/10.4324/9781003464259/routledge-international-handbook-engineering-ethics-education-shannon-chance-tom-b%C3%B8rsen-diana-adela-martin-roland-tormey-thomas-taro-lennerfors-gunter-bombaerts

My title slide for today’s AIARG presentation

So what’s in the book of relevance to an architecture educator? What can you learn? What opportunities do you see for applying or adding to the content? Would you want to create a parallel text for architects? Would you want to join this community of education researchers? 

This comprehensive compendium of the state-of-the-art of literature on engineering ethics education is divided into six sections. Most of these have something of interest to architects.

At the Krakow sustainable development conference

The first section discusses foundations such as ethical theories and the role of professional organization and their codes in helping define and uphold ethics. How we do this as individuals and communities is discussed. Environment and AI are also covered here in the first section. 

Section two delves into interdisciplinary perspective that inform ethics and how we think about ethics in engineering and built environment. We discuss philosophy, sociology, decolonization, and critical theory, psychology and moral development, engineering design, law, and the like. 

Section three touches on five overarching fields of engineering, with the first chapter on civil engineering holding the most relevance for architects. The areas of focus vary quite widely across the disciplines. Even as an architect, I found reading the entire set fascinating.

Section four on teaching methods can be extremely helpful for any educator wanting to integrate ethics into the modules they teach. We look at case studies, problem- and challenge-based learning, value-sensitive design, humanitarian engineering, arts-based, reflective and dialogical approaches. These aren’t mutually exclusive and as an architecture teacher, I combine these methods daily.

Still from video of me discussing the handbook at the end of February at NewGiza University

Assessment is perhaps the most challenging topic in the book. What are we seeking to assess in students with regard to ethics? How can we gauge students’ ethical competencies? What is the role of values, of culture? 

The final section, on accreditation, is not as confined to engineering as you might expect. It critiques the increasingly globalized approach to education promoted by engineering accreditation bodies and global accords seeking to align engineering practices globally. The section questions whose voices get heard, whose have been ignored, and what we might be overlooking. We look at the history of ethics accreditation, how various cultures define what students should be able to demonstrate (social justice appeared in only Columbia’s documents of 12 countries studied). We end the book with a fascinating critical feminist standpoint analysis and a critique of how to personalize entities education to fit the local context. 

Just arrived at AIARG!

Our engineering ethics education community welcomes you to get involved with us in applying and extending the contents of this book. 

On behalf of TU Dublin, on March 24-26, I’m hosting an Ethics Spring Symposium about the book in Dun Loaghaire. You’re welcome to join us for a day or more. Just ask me for more info. 

Colleagues including TU Dublin’s Emma Geoghegan and Noel Brady kicking off AIARG by presenting the Building Change project.