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Researchers are increasingly expected to have an impact on society. For most researchers, societal impact has positive connotations. It is about contributing to making the world a better place. However, researchers are also capable of causing significant harm through unethical treatment of research subjects, creating harmful technologies, and engaging in fraudulent practices. These forms of negative impact are studied under headings such as research ethics and research integrity.
The fields of research ethics and integrity are evolving along with the research practices they study. As researchers are increasingly expected to have an impact, the salient ethical issues are changing. Where research ethics previously focused primarily on how researchers should treat their research subjects and what kinds of technologies are permissible, new developments treat researchers as actors in systems of innovation where they engage with various stakeholders and work towards openness and democratization of the research process, in order to cope with the fact that the distance between research organizations and the rest of society is shrinking. Integration with society also opens the door to external risks such as harassment or undue influence on the research process from external actors, which are problems that research organizations must introduce new measures to deal with.
This talk will address some of the issues that can arise regarding integrity and ethics in high-impact research, and will discuss measures that can counteract some of the risks involved when trying to bring research into society.
Download the presentation here.
Agenda
14:15: Welcome (Dennis Gan, SPARK Social Innovation)
14:20: Ethics and integrity in high-impact research (Knut J?rgen Vie, Postdoctor at the Centre for Technology, Innovation and Culture, University of Oslo)
15:00: Discussion
15:30: Food and mingling
Registration deadline 12th September
Knut J?rgen Vie, TIK Centre for Technology, Innovation and Culture
Knut J?rgen Vie is a postdoc at TIK, a research centre at the University of Oslo, and a member of the Oslo Institute for Research on the Impact of Science (OSIRIS). His primary research interest is how researchers and research organizations can remain trustworthy and ethical when striving towards an increased impact on society. His background is in philosophy and organizational ethics.
?About the SPARK Social Innovation Educational Forum
The SPARK forum is an open monthly meeting for project teams, partners, and everyone interested in how universities and academics engage with social innovation.