The ETHICS Project
The Project Partners

Philosophical & Religious Studies (Leeds)

Bioscience (Leeds)

Health Sciences & Practice (King’s College, London)

UKCLE (Law) (Warwick)

Medicine, Dentistry & Veterinary Medicine (Newcastle)

Psychology (York)
The ETHICS Project placed an
emphasis on:

Interdisciplinary collaboration

Ethics Learning and Teaching for students
whose primary subject area lies outside
philosophy and religious studies.
Mini-Projects funded
Four mini-projects were funded.
Creating ethical research: understanding
ethics committee decision making
Department of Psychology, University of Southampton
Recent developments within the NHS, such as The Research
Governance Framework for Health and Social Care, have
highlighted the need to improve training in ethical principles.
However, students often find ethical issues abstract and difficult
to grasp. This project aims to develop process-oriented
educational materials for students in third year undergraduate
and postgraduate programmes. Through surveying Ethics
Committees, materials will be developed which provide
contextualized scenarios based in research practice. The learning
and teaching materials produced will be accessible on the
Internet together with dissemination events on the pedagogical
application of these case studies.
Practical Teaching packages on ethics and law
in Medicine and related sciences
School of Medicine, University of Leeds
The principals of ethics and law are core components
within many science based curricula. The aims of this
project are to expand existing ethics and law teaching
by developing two teaching and learning packages. One
will include generic and specialty-specific components
of value to both medical schools and other university
departments involved in health related sciences. This
will be designed to be adaptable and able to be
integrated within existing courses. The second will be a
subject specific package for final year medical students
to address key ethical and professional issues before
they enter into professional practice.
Development, pilot delivery and evaluation of
an internet based module on Scientific
Integrity for Bioscientists
School of Biomedical Sciences, University of Ulster at Coleraine
An internet based, quality, module on Scientific Integrity for
Bioscientists will be developed at the University of Ulster. This
module will be designed so that components of it could be taken
by final year BSc Hons students, PgD/MSc students, Master of
Research students and the whole module by PhD students in the
Biosciences. Four assessment strategies will be developed and
delivered in the pilot offering of this module to 10-12 PhD
students. The module and each assessment will be evaluated by
all student participants and by the course team. The results will
provide useful information on the effectiveness of internet
based delivery and specified assessment strategies in nurturing
the development of the skill of applying ethical principles to
aspects of scientific practice.
Analysis of Contextualised Healthcare Ethics
Scenarios
Centre for Business and Professional Ethics, University of
Leeds
Contextualised scenarios have come to play a key role in the
provision of professional ethics teaching. These ensure the
teaching is focused on issues of pressing concern in a particular
profession. But the study of specific scenarios can prove
frustratingly unproductive unless it is couched in a philosophical
framework that:
1) reveals the assumptions that underpin analogies drawn from case
to case.
2) guides conceptual analysis and evaluation of these assumptions.
The aim of this project is to explore and develop philosophical
resources for tutors selecting, evaluating and analysing
contextualised scenarios relating to ethical issues of particular
relevance to the health professions.
What is Professional Ethics?
There are many ways to introduce
students to applied/professional
ethics but the ETHICS Project
indicated that these approaches fall
into three broad categories.
Approach 1
Pragmatic
Ethical issues are introduced via a consideration of their
practical consequences for the student. Consequences
are defined mainly in relation to:
•
The framework of rules and procedures defined by regulatory
bodies charged with the task of raising or maintaining
professional standards.
Or
•
Research Ethics Committees and the factors that influence their
deliberations
Approach 2
Embedded
Ethical concerns are presented holistically, as an
integral part of some broader area of concern
such as:
•
Fitness for Practice.
•
Professionalism.
The embedded approach places an emphasis on the
student’s emerging sense of professional identity.
Approach 3
Theoretical
This approach places an understanding of
moral theory at the heart of ethics learning
and teaching . The ethics of real-life or
life-like situations are then presented in
terms of the application of that theory.
New Issues
Professional ethics introduces new issues and
concerns by seeking to guide and shape
graduate behaviour as a way of meeting
public expectations with regard to
professional conduct and accountability.
As a teacher of Professional Ethics what
should your primary objective be?
1.
To help the student find fulfilment in their future career by
helping them to make choices that they can live with, and by
reducing the emotional and psychological stress caused by
moral indecision and confusion.
2.
To ensure that the student acts in a way that serves the best
interests of society in general and their service-users in
particular.
3.
To ensure that the student acts in a way that serves the best
interests of their chosen profession.
Questions but no Answers yet
The ETHICS Project aimed to encourage
the formation of a network of ethicists
drawn from across the curriculum. If you
would like to take part please contact us
about placing your details on our database
of interests.
Resources on this website
•
This website includes downloadable documents
on key themes such as consent, confidentiality
and assessment.
•
It also provides resources for teachers wishing
to use case studies or contextualised scenarios in
applied/professional ethics teaching.
E.T.H.I.C.S.
Ethics Teaching Highlighted in Contextualised Scenarios
Contextualised Scenarios
(or Case Studies)
are:
working examples of applied ethical problems
used in teaching to highlight relevant ethical
principles.
Contextualised Scenarios are:



Defined in relation to stated learning and
teaching objectives.
Of proven effectiveness in meeting those
learning and teaching objectives.
Drawn from a wide range of disciplines but
presented so as to facilitate translation into other
subject areas.
Please view our case study database and associated case
study learning and teaching resources.