Tag / artificial-intelligence

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

Explore the New Handbook for Engineering Ethics Teaching

The Routledge International Handbook of Engineering Ethics Education, chock full of helpful research on teaching engineering students about ethics, will be published on December 4, 2024! 

Over the past two years, I have edited this book in collaboration with five outstanding ethics scholars. Seeing it through to completion is one of the proudest achievements of my professional life.

The project involved 105 authors from around the globe. I led it alongside Tom Børsen, who immediately embraced the idea of a handbook.

The digital version of the book is already available at: https://www.taylorfrancis.com/books/oa-edit/10.4324/9781003464259

We paid the publication fee so that you can read it for free! We wanted to give everyone with a digital device an equal chance, regardless of where they live.

Of course, you are also welcome to order a hard-back print copy of the book from the link above. A discount is currently available. Moreover, a paperback version will be available in 18 months.

The book has six sections:

SECTION 1: Foundations of engineering ethics education (7 chapters)

SECTION 2: Interdisciplinary contributions to engineering ethics education (6 chapters)

SECTION 3: Ethical issues in different engineering disciplines (5 chapters)

SECTION 4: Teaching methods in engineering ethics education (7 chapters)

SECTION 5: Assessment in engineering ethics education (6 chapters)

SECTION 6: Accreditation and engineering ethics education (5 chapters)

The editorial team is pictured below (left to right): Gunter Bombaert, Roland Tormey, Shannon Chance, Tom Børsen, Diana Adela Martin, and Thomas Taro Lennerfors. It’s been a dream team!

This handbook was a project of the Ethics Special Interest Group (SIG) of the European Society for Engineering Education (SEFI). SEFI members made it possible by contributing to their transcontinental networks of colleagues.

We editors started by sending out a survey, as far and wide as possible, to find out who was working in the field and might be interested in authoring a chapter. We held online workshops to identify what topics should be included and structured them into chapters. We invited a lead author for each chapter and asked the lead to invite three others to co-write the chapter. We asked that the chapter team have people from different places on it, and we aimed for transcontinental teams where feasible. We also asked the lead to consider specific people who had expressed interest in the topic. Our team ultimately included people of diverse levels and fields of experience and good geographical distribution. The people on many of the teams had not worked together before. Many lead authors served as mentors for early career researchers. We held numerous meetings online with the led authors of each section to cross-check, coordinate, and challenge our own thinking. The editorial team met weekly throughout most of the process, and the final result reflects the strong and knowledgeable engagement of many leaders in the field. Our team conducted a rigorous internal peer review, and the publisher conducted its own peer review twice during the process. Here’s what the reviewers said about our proposal:

“I believe this is a state-of-the-art milestone.”

“The lead authors are the key people in this vibrant community, and they have recruited a veritable ‘Who’s Who’ of international authors for the handbook. This is the right time and the right people. It’s the dream team.”

“This would become the resource in this field.”

The final result is a true masterpiece, and I hope you’ll read at least some of it because the content is quite fascinating!

The Ethics SIG also hosts a Spring School around Easter every year, and this year, the theme of the Spring Symposium is “Growing the Field of Engineering Ethics Education and Research as a Community.” I am the local host for this March 2025 event, and we will spend the three days celebrating, applying, and extending the handbook’s content. Learn more about the Symposium and submit your interest in attending at this link: https://forms.gle/WngZ3DMi97FLtQaZ8

Date:         24-26 March 2025 (9:00-17:30 each day)

Location:     Royal Marine Hotel, Dún Laoghaire, Ireland

Organiser:   Shannon Chance (shannon.chance@tudublin.ie)

Capacity:     50 participants maximum

Whether or not you can join us in Dún Laoghaire, I hope you’ll peruse the content of this outstanding new resource and reach out to the editors and authors if you’d like more information or to get involved in what we do!

I am confident that this handbook will make a significant global contribution to engineering education. I therefore urge all engineering and architecture educators to become more explicitly involved in learning and teaching about ethics.