Education

Educating ethical engineers

A new course called Professional ethics for
engineers was recently launched by TU Delft
Online Learning. The first in a series being offered, it is aimed at professional or chartered engineers.

In the Netherlands, engineering graduates with at least five years of experience can apply for professional designation through the Royal Institute of Engineers (KIVI). In order to maintain the Chartered Engineer (CEng) or Incorporated Engineer (IEng) titles, continuing education courses like this one are required. Although this new online offering from TU Delft was designed to include the KIVI code of ethics, instructor for the course Dr. Ibo van de Poel (Antoni van Leeuwenhoek professor in Ethics and Technology at the Faculty of Technology, Policy and Management TBM) said it is relevant for engineers around the world.

The course itself will address standards of professional behaviour, principles of ethical conduct and the obligations that engineers have to society, their clients and to the profession. There will also be case studies and a chance for participants to analyse their own cases or experiences, thus promoting reflection and practical application rather than just theory.

Ethical sensitivity
Van de Poel, who has worked at TU Delft for some twenty years, said he has seen changes in the approach to ethics during that time. “I know at TU Delft and on a broader level there is an urgency to address ethical issues,” he said. “Companies want their engineers to have ethical sensitivity, too, so from all sides there is an increased feeling of importance.” He noted that the Executive Board has asked for more teaching on ethics to make it more systematic, adding that he thinks TU Delft is an example in the field of ethics teaching.

Big issues
Not only is there more importance being given to ethics, but the ethical issues in engineering themselves have changed as technology has evolved. “As I see it, you have to differentiate between ethics issues in engineering and ethics issues of technology,” said Van de Poel. He explained that in engineering there are things that every engineer might encounter like conflicts of interest or confidentiality issues, but ethical issues of technology are more specific for different technologies. For example, he said that the field of robotics raises different issues than synthetic biology. In addition, he said that with ethics of technology there are more stakeholders and actors involved.

As Van de Poel sees it, there are a number of big questions when it comes to science and ethics. And there are some technologies that have the potential to transform society. For example, artificial agents might change our idea of what it means to be human. And issues like the ability to generate new forms of life or genetically modify human beings raise deep ethical questions.

But Van de Poel said we should be careful not to focus solely on the big issues, because there are some smaller issues that may be even more important. He noted the example of large numbers of people in the US that have lost their jobs. Although it is often blamed on globalisation, it is more likely due to technological development. “Robotics has a huge impact on job security, the political climate and things that are already happening in the world,” he said. “At the moment, job loss may be one of the most important ethical issues.”

Editor Redactie

Do you have a question or comment about this article?

delta@tudelft.nl

Comments are closed.