tag:theconversation.com,2011:/global/topics/code-of-ethics-21309/articlesCode of ethics – The Conversation2022-12-14T12:14:49Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1917132022-12-14T12:14:49Z2022-12-14T12:14:49ZWhy I’m righting the wrongs of my early research and sharing my scientific data with local communities <figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/499601/original/file-20221207-4221-qvv83w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C3522%2C1977&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Dr Sarah Mothulatshipi and Topo Mpho Çhengeta in Gweta, Botswana exchanging knowledge with the local community about long term environmental change and stone age archaeology in the area.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Sallie Burrough</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span></figcaption></figure><p><em>“You know what’s wrong with scientific power? It’s a form of inherited wealth. And you know what assholes congenitally rich people are.”</em> That’s how filmmaker Michael Crichton put it in Jurassic Park nearly 30 years ago. The problem of scientific colonialism has not, however, gone away.</p>
<p>Researchers sometimes carry out fieldwork with minimum local engagement, dropping in and extracting their data like the well-trained crew of a military Chinook. So-called “<a href="https://theconversation.com/helicopter-research-who-benefits-from-international-studies-in-indonesia-102165">helicopter research</a>”, where research teams rarely enable local collaborators to steer research-design and often fail to involve local communities or provide local access to data, was a recent topic of debate at <a href="https://wcri2022.org/">a conference</a> on academic integrity. Scientists and ethicists <a href="https://osf.io/bf286/">agreed</a> that field research falls short when it comes to academics from high-income countries carrying out field research in places that lack resources. </p>
<p>The colonial footprint of exploration is deeply lodged into the identity of my own research field, which sits somewhere between the geosciences and archaeology. Amplified in Hollywood, the scientist in search of exotic discoveries has captured the public imagination. Neither booby-trapped temples nor rampaging dinosaurs have featured in my academic life, but the explorer mentality has been slow to leave the discipline.</p>
<h2>The status quo</h2>
<p>In my early career, field seasons in Africa were spent with colleagues from Europe at the helm of a battered Toyota Hilux, taking sediment samples from the lakes, dunes and peat-bogs of Botswana. There was enough food, water, spare parts and scientific equipment rammed into that vehicle that there was no need to engage with anyone.</p>
<p>That landscape, however, is not wilderness. It is peppered with communities rooted in their environment. Communities we largely ignored. We extracted what we needed and flew our cache of sand 8,000km away to a well-equipped laboratory behind the thick walls of one of the UK’s most prestigious universities. The paperwork stated the sand was “of no economic value” but that is not entirely true. The currency of scientific wealth is data, and we took it without sharing it with those who lived there. This was the status quo of geoscience when I started out my career more than a decade ago. It wasn’t deliberately discriminatory. It was just thoughtless.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Farmer researching plant in tobacco farm." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/492959/original/file-20221102-24-eiopvt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/492959/original/file-20221102-24-eiopvt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/492959/original/file-20221102-24-eiopvt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/492959/original/file-20221102-24-eiopvt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/492959/original/file-20221102-24-eiopvt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/492959/original/file-20221102-24-eiopvt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/492959/original/file-20221102-24-eiopvt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">What will happen after the scientists are gone?</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/farmer-researching-plant-tobacco-farm-agriculture-571764538">KOBE611/Shutterstock</a></span>
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<p>In the last few years, as the <a href="https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0163579">broader scientific community</a>, particularly in the health sciences, began to reflect on its profession and practice, the insular norms of fieldwork have felt increasingly uncomfortable to some of us. Very few of my research papers include African authors. </p>
<p>Even less have had any impact in the lives of local communities. In the lopsided-land of academic geoscience, those communities were never the intended audience. Career prestige is driven by grants and publications, the impact of which is <a href="https://beckerguides.wustl.edu/authors/hindex">measured by the number of citations</a> clocked up from other academics.</p>
<p>In a <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0012825220303081">2020 paper</a> which looked at publications over the last 40 years, researchers found 70% of geoscience articles with a study site in Africa did not involve any African authors. Researchers in poorer countries are often relegated to the role of fieldworkers or administrators, and excluded from the research design, data analysis or publications. As a 2017 study showed, local researchers are <a href="https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0186237">left feeling exploited</a>. </p>
<h2>Speaking out</h2>
<p>Sarah Mothulatshipi, a colleague and senior lecturer in archaeology at the University of Botswana, says she has seen this happen several times in her career. In some projects collaborators “were happy to share the responsibilities of fieldwork but were not so forthcoming when it came to analysing or sharing data. For local students in particular, involvement can feel like it is more about cheap labour than meaningful research apprenticeship.”</p>
<p>At one community meeting in Gweta, on the outskirts of the Makgadikgadi pans (Botswana) in 2019, a village elder told me: “There is a lot of mistrust. People come here with their research vehicles, but they do not talk to us. They do not involve us.”</p>
<p>In <a href="https://allafrica.com/stories/201708170662.html">Botswana in 2017</a>, the government suspended the issue of environmental research permits out of concern that research was not benefiting the lives of ordinary Batswanans. In the same year, southern Africa’s indigenous San community issued their own <a href="https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-030-15745-6_7#:%7E:text=In%20recent%20years%20San%20leaders,harm%20%2C%20has%20been%20the%20result.">research ethics code</a>. San leaders felt “that most academic research on their communities was neither requested, nor useful, nor protected in any meaningful way”. </p>
<p>In recent years I’ve been trying to put right my own failures, reaching out to local communities and collaborators and together finding <a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/CcyZFOooj-M--5veu7plhC_4Of_Wp08Wtvw8Ss0/">tangible benefits</a> from our wealth of data. So rewarding was this experience that I returned to student life to study for a postgraduate degress in science communication. In 2022, after asking communities in Botswana what would be helpful to them, we produced and installed information boards on our archaeological findings in nearby villages. A simple gesture that provides local ownership of the knowledge we’ve extracted and generates new tourism opportunities. </p>
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<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/499600/original/file-20221207-8673-e15pai.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/499600/original/file-20221207-8673-e15pai.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=796&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/499600/original/file-20221207-8673-e15pai.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=796&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/499600/original/file-20221207-8673-e15pai.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=796&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/499600/original/file-20221207-8673-e15pai.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1000&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/499600/original/file-20221207-8673-e15pai.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1000&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/499600/original/file-20221207-8673-e15pai.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1000&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">The author with one of the information boards she worked on.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Sallie Burrough</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
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<p>Outside of the social sciences, taking the time to <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/21548455.2022.2049392?journalCode=rsed20">listen to local communities</a> is <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/ajhb.23699">still viewed as a low priority</a>. But things are beginning to change. </p>
<h2>It doesn’t have to be this way</h2>
<p>A plethora of research papers have <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S001670612031716X">called for change</a> and in August 2022, Nature – and all Nature portfolio journals, including <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41561-022-01010-4">Nature Geoscience</a> – announced it had adopted guidelines laid out in The <a href="https://www.globalcodeofconduct.org/">Global Code of Conduct for Research in Resource-Poor Settings</a>. It will ask authors to provide disclosure statements about whether the research design involved local scientists, whether it is locally relevant and are there plans to share it. </p>
<p>The University of Oxford recently adopted a <a href="https://researchsupport.admin.ox.ac.uk/files/ethicalfieldworkcodeofconductpdf-1">Code of Conduct for Ethical Fieldwork</a> that prompts researchers to ask questions at the planning stage: who are you engaging? Could you conduct a scoping visit to explore the interests and needs of local communities?</p>
<p>The answer to the last question hinges on funders. These are the organisations that could really shift the balance of power within collaborative partnerships. Several, including the <a href="https://research-and-innovation.ec.europa.eu/funding/funding-opportunities/funding-programmes-and-open-calls/horizon-europe_en">European Commission</a>, have adopted mandatory codes of conduct, but few have been so explicit. </p>
<p>Funding requirements to partner with local institutions are not enough. The partnership should be one driven by local priorities and equal participation. In 2022 it feels like there is real change in the air as institutions at all stages of the research cycle begin to scrutinise their systems. It is time to ensure the inherited wealth of science does not just belong to the privileged few.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/191713/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Sallie Burrough does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Scientists join their profession with the hope their research will benefit humanity. But many still inadvertently exploit local collaborators or communities as cheap labour.Sallie Burrough, Stipendiary Lecturer in Physical Geography, University of OxfordLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1872332022-08-01T12:27:41Z2022-08-01T12:27:41ZConfidence in the Supreme Court is declining – but there is no easy way to oversee justices and their politics<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/476352/original/file-20220727-1345-blxkj4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=241%2C10%2C6750%2C4643&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas sits with his wife, conservative activist Virginia Thomas, in October 2021. </span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://media.gettyimages.com/photos/associate-supreme-court-justice-clarence-thomas-sits-with-his-wife-picture-id1236038659?s=2048x2048">Drew Angerer/Getty Images </a></span></figcaption></figure><p><a href="https://www.politico.com/news/2022/06/16/jan-6-panel-leaders-prepare-to-call-ginni-thomas-00040208">Recent evidence</a> showing that Virginia Thomas, wife of U.S. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/03/24/us/politics/ginni-thomas-trump-mark-meadows.html">sent at least 29 text messages</a> to former White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows urging him to help <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/05/20/us/politics/ginni-thomas-election-trump.html">overturn the 2020 election</a> has reignited a long-simmering debate about judicial ethics and the nation’s highest court.</p>
<p><a href="https://judicialstudies.duke.edu/2019/11/what-does-fair-and-impartial-judiciary-mean-and-why-is-it-important/">Fair and impartial</a> judges are <a href="https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Hamilton/01-04-02-0241">essential</a> to the health and legitimacy of the judicial system and are a critical component of the system of government established in the U.S. Constitution.</p>
<p>In the past, <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/03/28/thomas-ginsburg-past-recusals/">both liberal and conservative justices’ actions</a> have raised questions about ethical standards for the court. <a href="https://www.pbs.org/newshour/economy/conflict-interest-supreme-court-justices-stocks">Justice Stephen Breyer’s wife</a> owned personal stock in a company involved in a Supreme Court case, for example, and former Justice Antonin Scalia <a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/scalia-cheney-trip-raises-eyebrows/">went duck hunting with then-Vice President</a> Dick Cheney in 2003 when the court was considering a case focused on Cheney. </p>
<p>Legal scholars and pundits have <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/03/25/us/supreme-court-clarence-thomas-recusal.html">debated</a> whether given justices should have voluntarily removed themselves from particular cases given potential conflicts of interest.</p>
<p>As <a href="https://www.everingsmuth.com">a Supreme Court scholar</a>, I think it is important to recognize that there is no formal code of conduct guiding the work of the Supreme Court, which contributes to a lack of clarity regarding the ethical boundaries for justices. </p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/476362/original/file-20220727-25-eftgln.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="An elderly white man wearing glasses holds his hand up to face a middle aged Black woman while another man holds a Bible out for her to put her other hand on." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/476362/original/file-20220727-25-eftgln.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/476362/original/file-20220727-25-eftgln.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=493&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/476362/original/file-20220727-25-eftgln.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=493&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/476362/original/file-20220727-25-eftgln.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=493&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/476362/original/file-20220727-25-eftgln.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=620&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/476362/original/file-20220727-25-eftgln.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=620&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/476362/original/file-20220727-25-eftgln.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=620&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer administers the judicial oath to Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson in June 2022.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://media.gettyimages.com/photos/in-this-handout-provided-by-the-supreme-court-justice-stephen-g-the-picture-id1241630912?s=2048x2048">Fred Schilling/Collection of the Supreme Court of the United States via Getty Images</a></span>
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<h2>A code of ethics for some judges, not all</h2>
<p>Unlike Supreme Court justices, other federal judges follow a <a href="https://www.uscourts.gov/judges-judgeships/code-conduct-united-states-judges">code of conduct</a> developed by the Judicial Conference, a government <a href="https://www.uscourts.gov/about-federal-courts/governance-judicial-conference">policymaking group for lower federal courts</a>. </p>
<p>The code outlines ethical principles for judges, saying that they should remain independent and abstain from political activity, like giving money to a political candidate. </p>
<p>The code also has a process <a href="https://www.supremecourt.gov/publicinfo/year-end/2011year-endreport.pdf">for reviewing</a> if and when judges should not participate in a case because of a conflict of interest. </p>
<p>But the Judicial Conference does not have any authority over the Supreme Court.</p>
<p>So, as <a href="https://www.supremecourt.gov/publicinfo/year-end/2011year-endreport.pdf">Chief Justice John Roberts has pointed out</a>, the code does not apply to the Supreme Court – and does not “adequately answer some of the ethical considerations unique to the Supreme Court.” </p>
<p>A <a href="https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/28/455">federal law</a> applying to both Supreme Court justices and lower court judges does say that judges should remove themselves from a case when their “impartiality might reasonably be questioned.” This process is <a href="https://www.law.cornell.edu/wex/recusal">known as recusal</a>. </p>
<p>While this law applies to Supreme Court justices, it does not cover other areas, such as political activity, that are part of the code of conduct for lower court judges.</p>
<p>It is also difficult to enforce this law with Supreme Court justices, since there is no higher judicial body in the country that can review the justices’ actions. Congress could pursue impeachment of a justice for violating this law. But, as is the case for other government officials, if the House of Representatives votes to impeach a justice, removal from office still requires a two-thirds Senate vote – a very tall order.</p>
<h2>Designed for independence – not accountability</h2>
<p>The U.S. Supreme Court was designed to operate differently from the legislative and the executive branches. </p>
<p>Presidents appoint Supreme Court justices to lifetime positions, making it possible for them to make decisions independent of politics and the pressure of elections – even if those decisions are at times unpopular. </p>
<p>The U.S. Constitution’s writers developed some important constraints on the court that were intended to balance out this lack of public accountability. </p>
<p>For example, the country’s <a href="https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Hamilton/01-04-02-0241">founders noted</a> that the judiciary must rely on Congress for funding and lacks an army or other mechanisms for directly enforcing its own decisions. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/limits-of-judicial-independence/1EBA3F818DC4DC18FA085DBAAD8CE360">Some scholars argue</a> that because of this, the court strives not to stray too far from public opinion, because doing so could damage people’s respect for the court – and its authority. </p>
<p>If people do not think the court is legitimate, its decisions could be <a href="https://www.oyez.org/cases/1789-1850/31us515">ignored</a> or not fully <a href="https://www.oyez.org/cases/1940-1955/349us294">carried out</a>.</p>
<h2>The court’s decline in public support</h2>
<p>Several <a href="https://news.gallup.com/poll/394103/confidence-supreme-court-sinks-historic-low.aspx">polls show</a> that public support for the Supreme Court has been declining to historic lows, even before the court’s <a href="https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/21pdf/19-1392_6j37.pdf">controversial ruling</a> on abortion rights in June. </p>
<p>A July 2022 <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2022/07/20/politics/supreme-court-job-approval-marquette-poll/index.html">Marquette Law School poll</a> showed that 61% of individuals disapprove of the court’s work. This same poll showed that 60% of people approved of the court in July 2021.</p>
<p>Several factors contribute to this decrease in esteem for the court.</p>
<p>There is a <a href="https://www.pewresearch.org/politics/2022/02/02/publics-views-of-supreme-court-turned-more-negative-before-news-of-breyers-retirement/">growing perception</a> that partisan politics – rather than neutral legal analysis – is driving the court. </p>
<p>In September 2019, 50% of the public viewed the court as “moderate,” while only 21% reported this in <a href="https://law.marquette.edu/poll/2022/07/20/mlspsc09-court-press-release/">July 2022</a>. During that same time period, the percentage of those viewing the court as “very conservative” increased from 5% to 34%. </p>
<p>The Supreme Court’s June 2022 decision to overturn Roe v. Wade also contributed to the perception that it has become more political – in part because it represented a major policy shift. This is also connected to the fact that some justices <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/supreme-court/collins-manchin-misled-kavanaugh-gorsuch-abortion-rights-rcna35230">made comments</a> during their confirmation process that were interpreted as indicating that the constitutional right to an abortion was settled law – and then voted to undo this protection. </p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/476365/original/file-20220727-7170-okxowq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Women in a row link arms and stand in front of the U.S. Capitol" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/476365/original/file-20220727-7170-okxowq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/476365/original/file-20220727-7170-okxowq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/476365/original/file-20220727-7170-okxowq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/476365/original/file-20220727-7170-okxowq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/476365/original/file-20220727-7170-okxowq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/476365/original/file-20220727-7170-okxowq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/476365/original/file-20220727-7170-okxowq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">Democratic lawmakers take part in an abortion rights rally on Capitol Hill on July 19, 2022.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://media.gettyimages.com/photos/multiple-democratic-lawmakers-take-part-of-a-demonstration-at-an-picture-id1242008511?s=2048x2048">Oliver Contreras/For The Washington Post via Getty Images</a></span>
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<h2>A drying ‘reservoir of goodwill’</h2>
<p><a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/24363602">Scholars have shown</a> that the Supreme Court has a substantial “reservoir of goodwill” that has insulated the court from long-term effects of past controversial decisions, such as <a href="https://www.oyez.org/cases/2000/00-949">Bush v. Gore</a> in 2000, when the court ruled in President George W. Bush’s favor regarding an election recount dispute. </p>
<p>Democratic lawmakers have <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2022/03/29/democrats-urge-supreme-courts-clarence-thomas-to-recuse-himself-from-election-cases.html">called</a> for Thomas to recuse himself from court cases that address the 2020 election or the Capitol insurrection on Jan. 6, 2021.</p>
<p>Thomas was the only justice who dissented from the Supreme Court’s <a href="https://www.reuters.com/legal/government/us-supreme-court-formally-ends-trumps-fight-over-capitol-attack-records-2022-02-22/">early 2022 decision</a> to refuse former President Donald Trump’s request to withhold documents from the U.S. House committee investigating the Capitol attacks. </p>
<p>“This is a textbook case for removing him, recusing him from these decisions,” <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/03/27/clarence-ginni-thomas-supreme-court-texts/">said Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar</a>.</p>
<p>Thomas has not indicated whether he would recuse himself from future cases about this issue. </p>
<p>This position, combined with <a href="https://www.pewresearch.org/politics/2022/07/06/majority-of-public-disapproves-of-supreme-courts-decision-to-overturn-roe-v-wade/">public opposition</a> to the court’s abortion decision and low levels of overall <a href="https://law.marquette.edu/poll/2022/07/20/mlspsc09-court-press-release/">public approval</a>, suggests the court may be testing the limits of its “reservoir of goodwill.”</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/187233/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Eve Ringsmuth does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Lower federal court judges follow a formal code of ethics, but this does not apply to Supreme Court justices, leaving potential conflicts of interest unchecked.Eve Ringsmuth, Associate Professor of Political Science, Oklahoma State UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1714742021-11-09T18:17:45Z2021-11-09T18:17:45ZHow do NZ’s vaccinated teachers have those hard conversations with their anti-vax colleagues?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/430944/original/file-20211109-25-ny278s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=8%2C0%2C5982%2C3988&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>The news that all staff members at a small King Country school were <a href="https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/455243/covid-19-all-staff-at-small-king-country-school-refusing-vaccine-by-next-week-s-deadline">still unvaccinated</a> a week out from the government’s November 15 mandatory deadline underlines how challenging the weeks ahead might be.</p>
<p>Next <a href="https://covid19.govt.nz/covid-19-vaccines/vaccinations-and-work/mandatory-vaccinations-for-workers/education-sector-vaccinations/">Monday marks the day</a> teachers will need to have received at least one dose of the COVID-19 vaccine if they want to continue to work with students in a face-to-face learning environment.</p>
<p>It will also be the day educational leaders find out with some certainty who their vaccine-hesitant colleagues are, and when the career pathways of many committed educators will come to a crossroads.</p>
<p>With it looking likely some schools will face significant staff shortages, the teaching profession now has to seriously wrestle with how to demonstrate the value of <a href="https://maoridictionary.co.nz/search?keywords=manaakitanga">manaakitanga</a> to all colleagues, including the unvaccinated.</p>
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<h2>The code of responsibility</h2>
<p>As a fully registered teacher (as well as an academic) I will be free to teach in New Zealand schools, alert levels allowing, because I am double vaccinated. But I know that is not the case for some of my very talented and committed colleagues who have refused the Pfizer jab.</p>
<p>I can only imagine the professional identity crises these colleagues must be experiencing.</p>
<p>I’m thinking of those teachers who sincerely believe they are honouring their commitment to society – espoused in the Teaching Council of Aotearoa New Zealand (<a href="https://teachingcouncil.nz/">TCANZ</a>) Code of Professional Responsibility – by standing up for the human rights of New Zealanders to bodily autonomy.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/to-be-truly-ethical-vaccine-mandates-must-be-about-more-than-just-lifting-jab-rates-169612">To be truly ethical, vaccine mandates must be about more than just lifting jab rates</a>
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<p>I’m thinking of those teachers who passionately believe they are honouring their commitment to society by displaying the ethical integrity to stand up to a power they believe is misleading the public.</p>
<p>I’m thinking of those teachers who believe they are “walking the talk” of a critically reflective practitioner by refusing to be vaccinated.</p>
<p>And I’m thinking of my own commitment to those teachers as my professional colleagues, notwithstanding my fundamental disagreement with their anti-vaccination beliefs.</p>
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<h2>Teaching as an ethical activity</h2>
<p>The TCANZ guiding document for teachers – <a href="https://teachingcouncil.nz/professional-practice/our-code-our-standards/">Our Code, Our Standards</a> – outlines the ethical commitments of all teachers. The council recognises that for the code to be “owned”, the professional commitments should not be seen as a list of prescribed rules.</p>
<p>Rather, it is a set of agreed aspirations that encourage collaborative conversations between practitioners about the ethical nature of their work.</p>
<p>There is no doubt the vaccine mandate will demand some of the most ethically challenging conversations teachers from both vaccination camps will have in their professional careers.</p>
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<a href="https://theconversation.com/are-employers-and-workers-at-odds-over-nzs-workplace-vaccine-mandates-our-research-suggests-they-might-be-170431">Are employers and workers at odds over NZ's workplace vaccine mandates? Our research suggests they might be</a>
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<p>However, that’s no reason to shy away from collegial awkwardness. One of New Zealand’s pre-eminent educational thinkers, the late Ivan Snook, believed teaching is an innately ethical activity as it involves close personal relationships, not least between colleagues.</p>
<p>Snook also provides us with some wise guidance on how we might go about these challenging discussions. He addresses the fundamental tension teachers face when trying to persuade others to take a on a point of view they believe is demonstrably rational. </p>
<p>Snook frames this tension as the “conflicting obligations to respect the learner’s state of mind and also move her towards a more adequate understanding and a more enlightened practice”.</p>
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<h2>An ethic of care</h2>
<p>As colleagues in discussion with those who disagree with us on the vaccine mandate, we must be ready to respect the ethical integrity of alternative viewpoints, while providing rational alternatives based on reputable scientific evidence.</p>
<p>Nor should we decry those who distrust authority. As Snook argues, a major task of educators is to help others come to understand the importance, and limitations, of all authorities.</p>
<p>It is my hope that over the next few months we will see the code truly become “our code” as it guides vaccinated and unvaccinated teachers to have these respectful conversations about what it is to be a critically reflective, ethical teacher in a society in the grip of a global pandemic.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/protesting-during-a-pandemic-new-zealands-balancing-act-between-a-long-tradition-of-protests-and-covid-rules-171104">Protesting during a pandemic: New Zealand's balancing act between a long tradition of protests and COVID rules</a>
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<p>But if the code is to guide teachers through these difficult conversations it needs to be used with care. If it’s simply a weapon of entrenched positions there is nothing to be gained.</p>
<p>Educational philosopher Nel Noddings said conversations of this complexity need to happen within an “ethic of care” that is sensitive to the relationships in which we must all continue to live.</p>
<p>In the spirit of <a href="https://maoridictionary.co.nz/word/10068">whanaungatanga</a>, I encourage my vaccinated and unvaccinated colleagues to be courageous and use the code to discuss the vaccine mandate within such an ethic of care.</p>
<p>Let us decide together what that is, and what it means to be an ethical teacher in Aotearoa New Zealand in this watershed moment for our profession.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/171474/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>I have publicly commented on the development and implementation of the Teaching Council Document 'Our Codes, Our Standards' in the media.</span></em></p>With vaccine mandates kicking in next Monday, the Teaching Council code of professional responsibility offers a guide to handling staffroom divides – if it’s used with care.Paul Heyward, Head of Initial Teacher Education, University of Auckland, Waipapa Taumata RauLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1222002019-08-22T05:23:47Z2019-08-22T05:23:47ZA Hippocratic Oath for data science? We’ll settle for a little more data literacy<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/289019/original/file-20190822-170906-15pj7l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=11%2C0%2C3982%2C2670&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Bias in, bias out: many algorithms have inherent design problems.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Vintage Tone/Shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><blockquote>
<p>I swear by Hypatia, by Lovelace, by Turing, by Fisher (and/or Bayes), and by all the statisticians and data scientists, making them my witnesses, that I will carry out, according to my ability and judgement, this oath and this indenture.</p>
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<p>Could this be the first line of a “Hippocratic Oath” for mathematicians and data scientists? Hannah Fry, Associate Professor in the mathematics of cities at University College London, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/science/2019/aug/16/mathematicians-need-doctor-style-hippocratic-oath-says-academic-hannah-fry">argues that mathematicians and data scientists need such an oath</a>, just like medical doctors who <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/Hippocratic-oath">swear</a> to act only in their patients’ best interests. </p>
<p>“In medicine, you learn about ethics from day one. In mathematics, it’s a bolt-on at best. It has to be there from day one and at the forefront of your mind in every step you take,” Fry argued.</p>
<p>But is a tech version of the Hippocratic Oath really required? In medicine, these oaths vary between institutions, and have evolved greatly in the nearly 2,500 years of their history. Indeed, there is some debate around whether the oath <a href="https://www.bmj.com/content/355/bmj.i6629">remains relevant to practising doctors</a>, particularly as it is the law, rather than a set of ancient Greek principles, by which they must ultimately abide.</p>
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<a href="https://theconversation.com/a-code-of-ethics-in-it-just-lip-service-or-something-with-bite-32807">A code of ethics in IT: just lip service or something with bite?</a>
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<p>How has data science reached the point at which an ethical pledge is deemed necessary? There are certainly numerous examples of algorithms doing harm – <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2019/06/should-we-be-afraid-of-ai-in-the-criminal-justice-system/592084/">criminal sentencing algorithms</a>, for instance, have been shown to <a href="https://www.technologyreview.com/s/612775/algorithms-criminal-justice-ai/">disproportionately recommend that low-income and minority people are sent to jail</a>.</p>
<p>Similar crises have led to proposals for ethical pledges before. In the aftermath of the 2008 global financial crisis, a <a href="https://ssrn.com/abstract=1324878">manifesto</a> by financial engineers Emanuel Derman and Paul Wilmott beseeched economic modellers to swear not to “give the people who use my model false comfort about its accuracy. Instead, I will make explicit its assumptions and oversights.”</p>
<p>Just as prejudices can be learned as a child, the biases of these algorithms are a result of their training. A common feature of these algorithms is the use of black-box (often proprietary) algorithms, many of which are trained using statistically biased data. </p>
<p>In the case of criminal justice, the algorithm’s unjust outcome stems from the fact that historically, minorities are overrepresented in prison populations (most likely as a result of long-held human biases). This bias is therefore replicated and likely exacerbated by the algorithm. </p>
<p>Machine learning algorithms are trained on data, and can only be expected to produce predictions that are limited to those data. Bias in, bias out.</p>
<h2>Promises, promises</h2>
<p>Would taking an ethical pledge have helped the designers of these algorithms? Perhaps, but greater awareness of statistical biases might have been enough. Issues of unbiased representation in sampling have long been a cornerstone of statistics, and training in these topics may have led the designers to step back and question the validity of their predictions. </p>
<p>Fry herself has <a href="https://www.theregister.co.uk/2017/03/20/dr_hannah_fry_even_in_the_nhs_we_need_to_beware_of_algorithms_behind_closed_doors/">commented on this issue in the past</a>, saying it’s necessary for people to be “paying attention to how biases you have in data can end up feeding through to the analyses you’re doing”.</p>
<p>But while issues of unbiased representation are not new in statistics, the growing use of high-powered algorithms in contentious areas make “data literacy” more relevant than ever. </p>
<p>Part of the issue is the ease with which machine learning algorithms can be applied, making data literacy no longer particular to mathematical and computer scientists, but to the public at large. Widespread basic statistical and data literacy would aid awareness of the issues with statistical biases, and are a first step towards guarding against inappropriate use of algorithms.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/algorithms-are-everywhere-but-what-will-it-take-for-us-to-trust-them-118830">Algorithms are everywhere but what will it take for us to trust them?</a>
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<p>Nobody is perfect, and while improved data literacy will help, unintended biases can still be overlooked. Algorithms might also have errors. One easy (to describe) way to guard against such issues is to make them publicly available. Such open source code can allow joint responsibility for bias and error checking. </p>
<p>Efforts of this sort are beginning to emerge, for example the <a href="https://webtap.princeton.edu">Web Transparency and Accountability Project</a> at Princeton University. Of course, many proprietary algorithms are commercial in confidence, which makes transparency difficult. Regulatory frameworks are hence likely to become important and necessary in this area. But a precondition is for practitioners, politicians, lawyers, and others to understand the issues around the widespread applicability of models, and their inherent statistical biases.</p>
<p>Ethics is undoubtedly important, and in a perfect world would form part of any education. But university degrees are finite. We argue that data and statistical literacy is an even more pressing concern, and could help guard against the appearance of more “unethical algorithms” in the future.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/122200/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Lewis Mitchell works for the University of Adelaide, and is an Associate Investigator in the ARC Centre of Excellence for Mathematical and Statistical Frontiers (ACEMS). He receives funding from the Centre for Invasive Species Solutions, and has previously received funding from Data to Decisions CRC.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Joshua Ross works for the University of Adelaide and is an Associate Investigator in the ARC Centre of Excellence for Mathematical and Statistical Frontiers (ACEMS). He receives funding from ARC, NHMRC, Centre for Invasive Species Solutions, DST Group and US-DoD. </span></em></p>Mathematician Hannah Fry has called for tech and data scientists to make an ethical pledge, as medical doctors do. But the same result might be delivered by simply asking people to mind their bias.Lewis Mitchell, Senior Lecturer in Applied Mathematics, University of AdelaideJoshua Ross, Professor of Applied Mathematics, University of AdelaideLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1137312019-04-01T21:58:30Z2019-04-01T21:58:30ZMany professions have codes of ethics - so why not politics?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/266732/original/file-20190401-177190-9hb294.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">original</span> </figcaption></figure><p>Al Jazeera’s explosive investigation, “<a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2019/03/sell-massacre-nra-playbook-revealed-190325111828105.html">How to Sell a Massacre</a>”, exposed the One Nation party’s attempts to weaken Australia’s gun laws with pro-gun PR training and donations from the National Rifle Association. </p>
<p>The party joins a growing group of our politicians who have recently behaved unethically.</p>
<p>Already in the first weeks of 2019, a senator <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2019/jan/07/fraser-anning-appearance-at-far-right-rally-draws-condemnation">attended a rally</a> of far-right extremists using A$3,000 of tax payer money; another accepted the gift of a <a href="https://www.sbs.com.au/news/finance-minister-cormann-blames-free-holiday-on-administrative-error">family holiday</a> from a travel agent with political connections; and the prime minister flew to Christmas Island at a cost of A$60,000 for a PR-laced 20 minute <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2019/mar/06/scott-morrison-leads-pr-sortie-to-reopened-christmas-island">press conference</a>.</p>
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<a href="https://theconversation.com/can-a-senator-be-expelled-from-the-federal-parliament-for-offensive-statements-113711">Can a senator be expelled from the federal parliament for offensive statements?</a>
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<p>Given this dismal record, unethical conduct will likely feature again in the months ahead, and in myriad forms. It’s no wonder Australians are disillusioned with the standard of politics.</p>
<p>It’s time all nine of Australia’s parliaments join thousands of professional organisations and devise a common code of ethics for their members. </p>
<h2>Past attempts to ‘clean house’ have sadly failed</h2>
<p>Initiatives over more than half a century to manage unethical conduct in the political realm have proved ineffectual. John Howard, Kevin Rudd and Malcolm Turnbull made paltry efforts – knee jerk reactions essentially – to rein in the shabby behaviour of their own ministers, <a href="https://www.aph.gov.au/About_Parliament/Parliamentary_Departments/Parliamentary_Library/pubs/rp/rp9899/99rp02">asserting</a> only a prime minister could determine the offender’s fate. Such judgements would surely lead to arbitrary rulings and bias. </p>
<p>Where independent <a href="https://icac.sa.gov.au/">commissions</a> against corruption have been established, defining their goals and procedures has proved problematic. With corruption and conflict of interest as their principal points of focus, a plethora of other forms of <a href="https://www.aph.gov.au/About_Parliament/Parliamentary_Departments/Parliamentary_Library/pubs/rp/rp9899/99rp02">misconduct</a> have been given short shrift. </p>
<p>One would imagine the threat of an enforced, humiliating resignation; the possible end of a parliamentary career; and heartbreaking effects on the offender’s family would deter politicians from behaving improperly. </p>
<p>Yet unethical conduct continues.</p>
<h2>A model for a code of ethics</h2>
<p>There is nothing new in what I am proposing. Indeed, it is rare today to encounter a professional body that has not established a set of ethical principles to guide their members. </p>
<p>So why should politicians, who have the most pivotal jobs in the nation, not follow suit? </p>
<p>One model they can draw from is the code of ethics of the Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Psychiatrists (RANZCP), with which I have been involved for 30 years.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/trust-in-politicians-and-government-is-at-an-all-time-low-the-next-government-must-work-to-fix-that-110886">Trust in politicians and government is at an all-time low. The next government must work to fix that</a>
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<p>In 1990, our members determined a code of ethics could help instil in us a commitment to “cultivate and maintain the highest ethical standards” in our care of patients. </p>
<p>The resulting <a href="https://ranzcp.org/publications/guidelines-and-resources-for-practice">set of morally informed principles</a> was devised in collaboration with college members, key stakeholders in the mental health field (advocacy organisations like SANE and MIND) and, most relevantly, people with experience of mental illness.</p>
<p>The 11 principles of the current code cover readily recognisable aspects of psychiatric practice, among them respecting patients’ dignity, maintaining confidentiality, providing the best attainable care, obtaining informed consent and never denigrating colleagues.</p>
<p>Most of the ethical challenges politicians face are also readily identifiable, falling under the rubric of always respecting their constituents and never forgetting to place the national interest ahead of their own.</p>
<p>And given politicians across the country grapple with similar ethical dilemmas, we can envisage a single code to serve them all.</p>
<h2>How would a code for Australia’s politicians be devised?</h2>
<p>Many options present themselves. One possibility that echoes the procedure followed by RANZCP would see the country’s parliamentarians setting up an independent working group charged with the task of devising an ethical code aimed at promoting their moral integrity. </p>
<p>The group could be chaired by an esteemed judge and comprise retired politicians, one from each state and territory and one federal. They would be highly respected for the moral integrity they exhibited during their parliamentary career. A moral philosopher and a legal scholar, both experts in the domain of professional ethics, would consult to the group. </p>
<p>Their initial step would be to invite submissions from all parliamentarians, past and present, relevant stakeholders and the community at large. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/alternative-facts-do-exist-beliefs-lies-and-politics-84692">Alternative facts do exist: beliefs, lies and politics</a>
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<p>Copies of an advanced draft would be distributed to all current parliamentarians, requesting feedback, substantive and stylistic. </p>
<p>Taking the feedback into account, representatives of each parliament would unite to review the penultimate version and submit any final suggestions.</p>
<p>And like RANZCP and may other organisations, it would be revised every five years. It would bear in mind new developments in ethics, relevant societal changes and how the code improved politicians’ conduct during the preceding five years.</p>
<p>A common criticism of codes of ethics is their lack of teeth. While the RANZCP much prefers to use its code to promote ethical behaviour and moral integrity, serious consequences for any transgressions prevail, including the radical step of expulsion from the college.</p>
<p>Steps would be taken to remind politicians, the very people who have had a hand in devising the code, that its principles apply directly to them and warrant their continued attention. Any ethical misconduct would be dealt with by the offender’s parliament following an agreed procedure. </p>
<p>On a positive note, ethical conduct would be highlighted at every opportunity. </p>
<p>This would include ethics workshops for newly elected MPs; an annual ethics conference for all MPs with participation from moral philosophers and international parliamentarians; and ensuring the national code is readily available online and in all nine parliaments.</p>
<h2>Nothing to lose</h2>
<p>I may be regarded as naive in proposing a code of ethics for all the nation’s parliamentarians. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/malcolm-frasers-political-manifesto-would-make-good-reading-for-the-morrison-government-102187">Malcolm Fraser's political manifesto would make good reading for the Morrison government</a>
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<p>However, given its widespread acceptance by thousands of professional organisations universally, establishing a code for politicians devised by politicians is worth a shot. There is nothing to lose except the funds allocated to the process should it flounder. </p>
<p>Given so many politicians have breached moral principles over the years, at times placing our fragile democracy at risk, we need to act vigorously and without delay. Australians deserve politicians of integrity who they can trust and respect unreservedly.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/113731/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Nothing to disclose. </span></em></p>Given there have been so many ethical breaches from parliamentarians in recent years, instituting a code of ethics is worth considering.Sidney Bloch, Emeritus Professor in Psychiatry, The University of MelbourneLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1069272018-11-15T18:59:58Z2018-11-15T18:59:58ZA tip for bankers ahead of the royal commission: be more like doctors<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/245671/original/file-20181115-194513-8v76h2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Doctors take vows to act in the best interests of their patients. They work</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>The financial services royal commission resumes for its <a href="https://financialservices.royalcommission.gov.au/public-hearings/Pages/round-7-hearings.aspx">final round of hearings</a> on Monday, and reappearing before Justice Hayne will be the chief executives each of the big six institutions he has in his sights: the Commonwealth Bank, Westpac, AMP, Macquarie, ANZ, and the National Australia Bank. </p>
<p>At issue are <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-financial-services-royal-commission-highlights-the-vulnerability-of-many-older-australians-93359">shocking</a> <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-royal-commission-revealed-financial-services-woes-for-many-indigenous-customers-heres-what-can-be-done-99374">abuses</a> <a href="https://theconversation.com/why-dont-we-read-the-fine-print-because-banks-know-the-pressure-points-to-push-93424">of</a> <a href="https://theconversation.com/three-billion-per-year-how-the-financial-system-rips-us-off-102495">trust</a>, and when the government responds after receiving the report in February it will be under pressure to introduce tighter rules that more closely regulate bankers’ behaviour.</p>
<p>There’s another, better, path it could follow. It could loosen the rules and treat bankers more like doctors.</p>
<h2>Crude attempts to regulate behaviour fail</h2>
<p>We trust doctors, not because their behaviour is tightly regulated but because it is self-regulated. As professionals they strive to be trustworthy, in the same way as citizens who don’t cheat on their social security claims, or restaurant customers who don’t eat without paying.</p>
<p>A regulation imposed on top of a relationship of trust can ruin it.</p>
<p>In a famous study titled <a href="https://rady.ucsd.edu/faculty/directory/gneezy/pub/docs/fine.pdf">A Fine Is A Price</a>, economists Uri Gneezy and Aldo Rustichini examined what happened when an Israeli daycare centre attempted to impose fines on parents who picked up their children late.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/five-steps-business-can-take-to-ensure-aggressive-performance-targets-dont-drive-bad-behaviour-99855">Five steps business can take to ensure aggressive performance targets don't drive bad behaviour</a>
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<p>Surprisingly, the trial of the fine resulted in more, rather than fewer, late pickups.</p>
<p>In the eyes of the late parents, the fine changed late pickups from bad behaviour into an acceptable outcome of cost-benefit analysis. They simply interpreted the fine as a babysitting cost, and weighed it against the benefit of arriving when it suited them. Moral motivations were crowded out. </p>
<h2>Doctors take vows</h2>
<p>Professionals with ethics take vows to honour their duty to their clients, even where the costs of doing so are greater than the benefits of not doing so. </p>
<p>Service providers who don’t take ethics seriously weigh the costs and benefits of acting in the interests of their clients versus acting in their own interests. This ‘moral optimization’ may take account of ethics, but only if it pays.</p>
<p>Many financial services workers don’t take ethics seriously partly because they have been trained in economics or finance – disciplines which teach that cost-benefit analysis applies to everything. </p>
<p>A start would be to train them better. Their teachers could listen to the words of the creator of much of the <a href="https://www.sfu.ca/%7Ewainwrig/Econ400/jensen-meckling.pdf">theory</a> used to justify performance pay, <a href="https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=1511274">Michael Jensen of Harvard</a>:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>We teach our students the importance of conducting a cost-benefit analysis in everything they do. In most cases, this is useful – but not when it comes to behaving with integrity.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>When integrity is at stake it is better to <a href="https://www.uts.edu.au/sites/default/files/2018-07/ER%201.pdf">replace moral optimization with moral prioritization</a>, by giving priority to moral principles like telling the truth or looking after vulnerable clients. </p>
<h2>Money changes things</h2>
<p>Recent research on the psychological power of money suggests that financial market participants are at risk of <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/may/06/does-working-with-money-make-us-worse-people">negative ethical tendencies</a> when money is used as an incentive, or even when they are just reminded of its importance, so-called money priming.</p>
<p>Money is used as an incentive to in order overcome the so-called <a href="https://www.intelligenteconomist.com/principal-agent-problem/">principal-agent problem</a> in which agents, (workers or chief executives) are tempted to put they own interests ahead of those of the firm they work for.</p>
<p>It can work, but if high-powered financial incentives communicate that the recipient’s only goal should be to maximise profit, then a culture of material self-interest takes hold, constrained at best by the letter of the law. And this crowds out other interests, such as those of their customers. </p>
<p>This means high-powered financial incentives can solve one kind of untrustworthiness, but only by creating another.</p>
<p>Professionals such as doctors and teachers solve the principal agent problem in another way: through ethics.</p>
<h2>Banking could be a profession</h2>
<p>Rather than further regulation, we propose a greater focus on ethics through a program of professionalisation, including:</p>
<ol>
<li><p>Establishing an interim professional body run by outsiders who come with a proven ethic of serving the public in fields such as education or health. After five years the finance industry can apply to the government to staff and run the body itself, subject to performance.</p></li>
<li><p>A winding back of regulation in order to signal that “you are professionals who have to take responsibility for ethical judgements”. The professional body could stand down senior managers deemed not to be showing commitment to the new culture.</p></li>
<li><p>A fundamental change of bonuses so that they become incentives for ethical behaviour. We suggest an automatic bonus payment of 10-20% of total pay. It could be withheld for two reasons: either poor financial performance of the firm, or an ethical breach. In effect, it would be a negative bonus. Multiple ethical breaches would result in the loss of professional status and employment.</p></li>
</ol>
<h2>Regulation hasn’t worked</h2>
<p>Automatic bonuses remove the extreme money priming of the finance industry, and they can be helpful in maintaining employment in the event of a downturn. They can simply be reduced instead of laying off staff, as happened during the global financial crisis.</p>
<p>Boosting regulation and boosting the capability of regulators, <a href="https://theconversation.com/uncomfortable-comparisons-why-rod-sims-broke-the-accc-record-105730">as many say they want</a>, could work against developing the ethics and the trust that makes other professions work.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/106927/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Warren Hogan has worked for three banks (Westpac, Credit Suisse and ANZ). His latest banking role was for ANZ Bank between 2006 and 2016 where he held various positions including Chief Economist from 2009-2016.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Gordon Menzies does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The best way to get bankers to behave well might be to bind them to a code of ethics, like doctors. We’ve tried ever tighter rules.Warren Hogan, Industry Professor, University of Technology SydneyGordon Menzies, Associate Professor of Economics, University of Technology SydneyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1008022018-08-08T10:36:30Z2018-08-08T10:36:30ZProgrammers need ethics when designing the technologies that influence people’s lives<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/230468/original/file-20180802-136655-83kzbw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">What does this code do – and what does it mean?</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/developing-programming-coding-technologies-website-design-613463807">REDPIXEL.PL/Shutterstock.com</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Computing professionals are on the front lines of almost every aspect of the modern world. They’re involved in the response when hackers <a href="https://theconversation.com/equifax-breach-is-a-reminder-of-societys-larger-cybersecurity-problems-84034">steal the personal information of hundreds of thousands</a> of people from a large corporation. Their work can protect – or jeopardize – critical infrastructure like <a href="https://theconversation.com/cybersecurity-of-the-power-grid-a-growing-challenge-73102">electrical grids</a> and <a href="https://theconversation.com/connected-cars-can-lie-posing-a-new-threat-to-smart-cities-95339">transportation lines</a>. And the algorithms they write may determine who gets a job, who is <a href="https://theconversation.com/did-artificial-intelligence-deny-you-credit-73259">approved for a bank loan</a> or who gets <a href="https://theconversation.com/we-need-to-know-the-algorithms-the-government-uses-to-make-important-decisions-about-us-57869">released on bail</a>.</p>
<p>Technological professionals are the first, and last, lines of defense against the misuse of technology. Nobody else understands the systems as well, and nobody else is in a position to protect specific data elements or ensure the connections between one component and another are appropriate, safe and reliable. As the role of computing continues its decades-long expansion in society, computer scientists are central to what happens next.</p>
<p>That’s why the world’s largest organization of computer scientists and engineers, the <a href="https://www.acm.org/">Association for Computing Machinery</a>, of which I am president, has issued a <a href="https://ethics.acm.org/">new code of ethics for computing professionals</a>. And it’s why ACM is taking other steps to help technologists engage with ethical questions. </p>
<h2>Serving the public interest</h2>
<p>A code of ethics is more than just a document on paper. There are <a href="http://ethicscodescollection.org/">hundreds of examples of the core values and standards</a> to which every member of a field is held – including for <a href="https://www.agohq.org/careers/codes-procedures/">organist guilds</a> and <a href="https://oaaa.org/AboutOAAA/WhoWeAre/OAAACodeofIndustryPrinciples.aspx">outdoor advertising associations</a>. The <a href="https://www.nlm.nih.gov/hmd/greek/greek_oath.html">world’s oldest code of ethics</a> is also its most famous: the <a href="http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/body/hippocratic-oath-today.html">Hippocratic oath medical doctors</a> take, promising to care responsibly for their patients.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/230599/original/file-20180803-41360-1v5jppq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/230599/original/file-20180803-41360-1v5jppq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/230599/original/file-20180803-41360-1v5jppq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/230599/original/file-20180803-41360-1v5jppq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/230599/original/file-20180803-41360-1v5jppq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/230599/original/file-20180803-41360-1v5jppq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/230599/original/file-20180803-41360-1v5jppq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/230599/original/file-20180803-41360-1v5jppq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Medical professionals are ethically bound to put their patients’ needs and interests first.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/doctor-explaining-diagnosis-her-female-patient-112862074">Alexander Raths/Shutterstock.com</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>I suspect that one reason for the Hippocratic oath’s fame is how personal medical treatment can be, with people’s lives hanging in the balance. It’s important for patients to feel confident their medical caregivers have their interests firmly in mind.</p>
<p>Technology is, in many ways, similarly personal. In modern society computers, software and digital data are everywhere. They’re visible in laptops and smartphones, social media and video conferencing, but they’re also hidden inside the devices that help manage people’s daily lives, from thermostats to timers on coffee makers. New developments in autonomous vehicles, sensor networks and machine learning mean computing will play an even more central role in everyday life in coming years.</p>
<h2>A changing profession</h2>
<p>As the creators of these technologies, computing professionals have helped usher in the new and richly vibrant rhythms of modern life. But as computers become increasingly interwoven into the fabric of life, we in the profession must personally recommit to serving society through ethical conduct. </p>
<p>ACM’s last code of ethics was adopted in 1992, when many people saw computing work as purely technical. The internet was in its infancy and people were just beginning to understand the value of being able to aggregate and distribute information widely. It would still be years before artificial intelligence and machine learning had applications outside research labs.</p>
<p>Today, technologists’ work can affect the lives and livelihoods of people in ways that may be unintended, even unpredictable. I’m not an ethicist by training, but it’s clear to me that anyone in today’s computing field can benefit from guidance on ethical thinking and behavior.</p>
<h2>Updates to the code</h2>
<p>ACM’s new ethics code has several important differences from the 1992 version. One has to do with unintended consequences. In the 1970s and 1980s, technologists built software or systems whose effects were limited to specific locations or circumstances. But over the past two decades, it has become clear that as technologies evolve, they can be applied in contexts very different from the original intent. </p>
<p>For example, computer vision research has led to ways of <a href="https://arxiv.org/pdf/1612.00523v1.pdf">creating 3D models of objects</a> – and people – based on 2D images, but it was never intended to be used in conjunction with <a href="https://maliciousaireport.com/">machine learning in surveillance or drone applications</a>. The old ethics code asked software developers to be sure a program would actually do what they said it would. The new version also exhorts developers to explicitly evaluate their work to identify potentially harmful side effects or potential for misuse.</p>
<p>Another example has to do with human interaction. In 1992, most software was being developed by trained programmers to run operating systems, databases and other basic computing functions. Today, many applications rely on user interfaces to <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-universal-design-can-help-every-voter-cast-a-ballot-54373">interact directly with a potentially vast number of people</a>. The updated code of ethics includes more detailed considerations about the needs and sensitivities of very diverse potential users – including discussing discrimination, exclusion and harassment.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/230601/original/file-20180803-41320-1u54hxg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/230601/original/file-20180803-41320-1u54hxg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/230601/original/file-20180803-41320-1u54hxg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/230601/original/file-20180803-41320-1u54hxg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/230601/original/file-20180803-41320-1u54hxg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/230601/original/file-20180803-41320-1u54hxg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/230601/original/file-20180803-41320-1u54hxg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/230601/original/file-20180803-41320-1u54hxg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">When computers help bankers consider loan applications, the algorithms need to be treating customers ethically.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/serious-investment-broker-financial-advisor-bank-1075401797">fizkes/Shutterstock.com</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>More and more software is being developed to run with little or no input or human understanding, producing analytical results to guide decision-making, such as when to approve bank loans. The outputs can have completely unintended social effects, skewed against whole classes of people – like recent cases where data-mining predictions of who would default on a loan showed <a href="https://www.mckinsey.com/business-functions/risk/our-insights/controlling-machine-learning-algorithms-and-their-biases">biases against people who seek longer-term loans</a> or <a href="https://sloanreview.mit.edu/article/the-risk-of-machine-learning-bias-and-how-to-prevent-it/">live in particular areas</a>. There are also dangers of what are called “false positives,” when a computer links two things that shouldn’t be connected – as when facial recognition software recently <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2018/07/26/technology/amazon-aclu-facial-recognition-congress.html">matched members of Congress to criminals’ mug shots</a>. The revised code exhorts technologists to take special care to avoid creating systems with the potential to oppress or disenfranchise whole groups of people.</p>
<h2>Living ethics in technology</h2>
<p>The code was revised over the course of more than two years, including ACM members and people outside the organization and even outside the computing and technological professions. All these perspectives made the code better. For example, a government-employed weapons designer asked whether that job inherently required violating the code; the wording was changed to clarify that systems must be “consistent with the public good.”</p>
<p>Now that the code is out, there’s more to do. ACM has created a <a href="https://ethics.acm.org/code-of-ethics/using-the-code/">repository for case studies</a> showing how ethical thinking and the guidelines can be applied in a variety of real-world situations. The group’s <a href="https://ethics.acm.org/integrity-project/ask-an-ethicist/">“Ask An Ethicist” blog and video series</a> invites the public to submit scenarios or quandaries as they arise in practice. Word is also underway to develop teaching modules so the concepts can be integrated into computing education from primary school through university.</p>
<p>Feedback has been overwhelmingly positive. My personal favorite was the comment from a young programmer after reading the code: “Now I know what to tell my boss if he asks me to do something like that again.”</p>
<p>The ACM Code of Ethics and Professional Conduct begins with the statement, “Computing professionals’ actions change the world.” We don’t know if our code will last as long as the Hippocratic oath. But it highlights how important it is that the global computing community understands the impact our work has – and takes seriously our obligation to the public good.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/100802/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Cherri M. Pancake receives research funding from the US Federal Government. </span></em></p>Technological professionals are the first, and last, lines of defense against the misuse of technology.Cherri M. Pancake, Professor Emeritus of Electrical Engineering & Computer Science, Oregon State UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/866232017-11-20T03:10:06Z2017-11-20T03:10:06ZUniversities need to rethink policy on student-staff relationships<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/193731/original/file-20171108-30111-1571aa8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">shutterstock</span> </figcaption></figure><p>The Human Rights Commission report, <a href="https://www.humanrights.gov.au/our-work/sex-discrimination/publications/change-course-national-report-sexual-assault-and-sexual">Change the Course: National Report on Sexual Assault and Sexual Harassment at Australian Universities</a>, was published in August 2017. </p>
<p>In response, Australian universities have taken various actions to address sexual assault and harassment on their campuses. Most are directed at making universities safer places to study and live. Measures <a href="https://www.universitiesaustralia.edu.au/Media-and-Events/media-releases/University-action-to-prevent-and-address-sexual-assault-and-sexual-harassment#.Wfu2wxOCxBx">include</a> introducing mandatory responding to disclosure and training for all staff, teaching students about consent, and increasing the number of specialist counselling staff.</p>
<h2>Framing staff-student relationships</h2>
<p>Universities should also review policy governing staff-student relationships. Across the sector, these relationships are framed as consensual and are couched in unhelpful, ambiguous language. We conducted a review of staff-student relationship policies in Australian universities and international policies. We found the following similarities across most institutions.</p>
<p>Staff are generally discouraged from entering into sexual relationships with students. Discouragement aside, universities recognise that these relationships may occur. Many universities express reluctance to interfere in the “personal” lives of staff and students. Most set out some conditions that should apply when the discouraged but inevitable relationships form.</p>
<p>Conditions may include the staff member disclosing the relationship to the university. This may lead to adjustments to the duties of that staff member, which are then outlined in varying degrees of detail. Where specified, these may include removing the staff member from any assessment of the student’s work. They may also not be able to make decisions regarding the award of scholarships or other distinctions. In the case of graduate research candidates, it may involve removing the staff member as senior or main supervisor. However, they may still be able to serve on the supervision team.</p>
<p>Many Australian universities then link this policy with their Conflict of Interest policy. This signals that the biggest concern about staff-student sexual relationships is the possibility of conflicts of interest emerging for the staff member. This does little to address the potentially damaging impact of these relationships on students, and on the learning and research environment for other students. </p>
<h2>We need better professional standards</h2>
<p>The health care sector has much clearer <a href="http://www.medicalboard.gov.au/Codes-Guidelines-Policies.aspx">professional standards</a>. For health care practitioners, professional boundaries are recognised as integral to good practitioner–client relationships. Accordingly, professional standards prohibit sexual relationships entirely. This lasts either for the duration of the professional association or for some period (up to two years <a href="https://www.psychology.org.au/Assets/Files/APS-Code-of-Ethics.pdf">in some cases</a>) after the professional relationship has ended.</p>
<p>The Medical Board of Australia <a href="http://www.medicalboard.gov.au/Codes-Guidelines-Policies/Sexual-boundaries-guidelines.aspx">states</a>: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>A doctor should not enter into a sexual relationship with a patient even with the patient’s consent. </p>
</blockquote>
<p>For psychologists and counsellors, this prohibition extends to former clients and anyone closely related to the client. </p>
<p>The code of professional conduct set out by the Nursing and Midwifery Board of Australia <a href="http://www.nursingmidwiferyboard.gov.au/Codes-Guidelines-Statements/Professional-standards.aspx">notes</a> the vulnerability of clients under their care, and their relative powerlessness, must be recognised and managed. Sexual relationships between these professionals and current or previous patients are deemed inappropriate and unprofessional.</p>
<p>In comparison, universities have a relatively relaxed stance on these types of relationships. The ethical standards applied to other professions are explicit that the power imbalance is one where free consent can’t be assumed on the part of the client/patient. It is up to the practitioner to make sure professional boundaries are maintained at all times. Seeking sexual partners among their clients/patients puts their professional registration and their ability to practice at risk.</p>
<p>What would happen if we applied the same standards to university staff? If it is accepted that the imbalance of power between staff and students compromises the capacity of a student to provide free consent for sexual activity, and sexual activity without free consent is harassment or assault (as defined <a href="https://aifs.gov.au/publications/sexual-assault-laws-australia">by law</a>), then the current framing of staff-student “consensual” relationships by Australian universities is inappropriate. It is also inconsistent with the sector’s stated aim to focus on the interests and needs of students. </p>
<p>Universities should consider adopting professional standards like those in the health care profession. Their stated aim is to prioritise the welfare of students and their entitlement to learn and undertake research in a safe, respectful environment. If we are really to “change the course”, we need to do more than address student sexual conduct. We need to raise the bar for professional and ethical standards for all who work in this sector as well.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/86623/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Denise Cuthbert is currently the Convenor of the Australian Council of Graduate Research. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Fiona Zammit is the Executive Officer of the Australian Council of Graduate Research.</span></em></p>The university sector has a relatively relaxed stance on staff-student relationships and should consider adopting standards like those for health professionals.Denise Cuthbert, Associate Deputy Vice Chancellor, Research Training and Development, RMIT UniversityFiona Zammit, RMIT UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/829092017-08-31T03:53:13Z2017-08-31T03:53:13ZDoctors, lawyers and ministers all take a professional pledge: here’s why teachers should too<p>What do these occasions have in common: a wedding, a witness about to give evidence in court, and a citizenship ceremony? All are public occasions, all require witnesses, and – most importantly – all require those at the centre of the occasion to make a vow, swear an oath, or make a binding pledge. </p>
<p>Such occasions are far more common than we might think. Those joining the legal profession pledge to uphold certain values and behave accordingly. Think also of the words required at the swearing in of ministers of the crown or a president. Members of police and security forces, those joining the armed forces – even scouts – have to pledge to abide by codes of conduct and ethics. </p>
<p>So why not teachers too?</p>
<p>An important question to ask is what would be gained by having teachers publicly record their commitment to uphold their professional codes of conduct and ethics. To put it another way, what would be lost by removing the requirement for lawyers, doctors, ministers and others? </p>
<p>The <a href="https://www.childabuseroyalcommission.gov.au/documents/final-actuarial-report-(1).pdf">findings</a> from the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse are instructive. Allegations were received from 1,467 survivors of sexual abuse suffered from at least as far back as 1940. </p>
<p>Of the institutional categories employed by the commission, educational institutions were the second-most-represented: 29.8% of the total. Of all alleged perpetrators, about one in six was a teacher, and by far the majority were male. Importantly, many were also clergy. Of faith-based institutions, the two most prominent were Catholic (40.9%) and Anglican (7.4%). </p>
<p>More than three-quarters of all survivors experienced multiple episodes of abuse, while 42.8% reported having been abused by physical contact, such as vaginal, oral and digital penetration. The average age of first abuse was 9.5 years for females and 10.3 years for males.</p>
<p>Even without any of the harrowing detail of particular cases, all involved in education must heed the questions asked time and again by survivors of childhood sexual abuse: how could anyone do this to me? Why didn’t anyone notice? Why wasn’t I believed? </p>
<p>Wherever it has happened, children have been confronted by the criminal duplicity of teachers, principals – even school counsellors and chaplains – and in schools <a href="http://www.childabuseroyalcommission.gov.au/getattachment/f01013d8-a911-4f8c-93b8-09515a35ecaf/Report-of-Case-Study-No-32">characterised by survivors</a> as having a culture of violence, intimidation and a sense of entitlement. For example, in the <a href="https://www.childabuseroyalcommission.gov.au/getattachment/8fcb1078-a5ca-4750-ad24-052452f15a58/Volume-2">Interim Report Volume 2</a>, the school chaplain at a Christian Brothers’ college told an 11-year-old boy who complained of being molested: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>Some of us have a cross to bear boy, and that’s yours. </p>
</blockquote>
<p>Grooming has hidden in plain sight in many cases. Grooming was <a href="https://www.childabuseroyalcommission.gov.au/getattachment/b8c8cc19-ad65-44f5-951e-3b1705156da2/Grooming-and-child-sexual-abuse-in-institutional-c">defined in a research project</a> commissioned by the royal commission as: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>The use of a variety of manipulative and controlling techniques; with a vulnerable subject; in a range of interpersonal and social settings; in order to establish trust or normalise sexually harmful behaviour; with the overall aim of facilitating exploitation and/or prohibiting exposure. </p>
</blockquote>
<p>It can look like the very trusting behaviours teachers strive to attain and school policies have been rendered futile by ambiguous wording or a lax environment of implementation. For example, <a href="http://www.childabuseroyalcommission.gov.au/getattachment/f01013d8-a911-4f8c-93b8-09515a35ecaf/Report-of-Case-Study-No-32">evidence given</a> by a former female student of Geelong Grammar describes how a music teacher at the school used his position to convince her to take additional music lessons, during which he repeatedly molested her.</p>
<p>The teaching profession simply can’t leave the responsibility for a forensic response to others. The profession, through its peak bodies, must respond. </p>
<p>Respect for teachers has increasingly focused on their contribution to fairly narrow educational outcomes. But historically, teachers were expected to be “moral agents” as well as “values educators”. </p>
<p>While such expectations may have assumed a questionable consensus and been inadequately monitored, in more recent times peak bodies have formulated <a href="http://ro.ecu.edu.au/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1825&context=ajte">codes of conduct and ethics</a> according to which teachers are meant to conduct themselves.</p>
<p>Aspirational sentiments such as these, and behavioural expectations such as that “Teachers Treat Their Learners With Courtesy And Dignity” have meant nothing to those paedophiles who have worked – and hidden or even been protected – <a href="http://parlinfo.aph.gov.au/parlInfo/download/publications/tabledpapers/8ce373d5-fe28-4f2b-9505-9dc478f3a951/upload_pdf/child%20abuse%20interim-report-volume-1-final-020714_lr_web%25TZ_.pdf;fileType=application%2Fpdf#search=%22publications/tabledpapers/8ce373d5-fe28-4f2b-9505-9dc478f3a951%22">among the vast majority of teachers</a>.</p>
<p>What the royal commission and media coverage of other cases have revealed is that it has been too easy for some teachers, principals and others working with children in schools, to make a mockery of their <a href="http://www.education.vic.gov.au/school/principals/spag/safety/Pages/dutyofcare.aspx">duty of care</a>. It reveals their criminality in grooming and abusing children, in trivialising their reports of abuse, and in striving to protect schools’ and individuals’ reputations at children’s expense. </p>
<p>Regardless of police checks for those working with children, regardless of the legally binding duty of care and of the obligatory mandatory reporting of suspected abuse, and regardless of responsibility for pastoral care, the sexual abuse of children in educational contexts has continued.</p>
<p>A pledge for educators could be made within schools and upon first employment. Its declaration could be made a requirement for all job applications, just like police checks. It would indicate a formal declaration to conduct oneself ethically in all educational contexts, regardless of whether or not some individuals ultimately fail to do so. </p>
<p>But much more is needed as well. Teachers need help in their duty of care to identify grooming. Teacher training should pay far more attention to ethical decision-making in the practice of being a teacher. </p>
<p>It seems prudent that in a public and open profession, a public and open pledge to uphold its values should be made.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/82909/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>John Whelen does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse has demonstrated how catastrophically some teachers have failed their duties - a pledge is one way to turn that around.John Whelen, Associate Fellow, Faculty of Education, Monash UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/745012017-03-17T12:03:44Z2017-03-17T12:03:44ZAfter 75 years, Isaac Asimov’s Three Laws of Robotics need updating<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/161306/original/image-20170317-6127-15n6e07.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption"></span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>When science fiction author Isaac Asimov devised his Three Laws of Robotics he was thinking about androids. He envisioned a world where these human-like robots would act like servants and would need a set of programming rules to prevent them from causing harm. But in the 75 years since the publication of the first story to feature his ethical guidelines, there have been significant technological advancements. We now have a very different conception of what robots can look like and how we will interact with them.</p>
<p>The highly-evolved field of robotics is producing a huge range of devices, from autonomous vacuum cleaners to military drones to entire factory production lines. At the same time, artificial intelligence and machine learning are increasingly behind much of the software that affects us on a daily basis, whether we’re searching the internet or being allocated government services. These developments are rapidly leading to a time when robots of all kinds will become prevalent in almost all aspects of society, and human-robot interactions will rise significantly.</p>
<p>Asimov’s laws are still mentioned as a template for guiding our development of robots. The <a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/6425927.stm">South Korean government</a> even proposed a <a href="https://akikok012um1.wordpress.com/south-korean-robot-ethics-charter-2012/">Robot Ethics Charter</a> in 2007 reflecting the laws. But given how much robotics has changed and will continue to grow in the future, we need to ask how these rules could be updated for a 21st century version of artificial intelligence.</p>
<h2>The Three Laws</h2>
<p>Asimov’s suggested laws were devised to protect humans from interactions with robots. They are:</p>
<ul>
<li>A robot may not injure a human being or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm</li>
<li>A robot must obey the orders given it by human beings except where such orders would conflict with the First Law</li>
<li>A robot must protect its own existence as long as such protection does not conflict with the First or Second Laws</li>
</ul>
<p>As mentioned, one of the obvious issues is that robots today appear to be far more varied than those in Asimov’s stories, including some that are far more simple. So we need to consider whether we should have a threshold of complexity below which the rules might not be required. It is difficult to conceive a robotic vacuum cleaner having the capability of harming humans or even requiring an ability to obey orders. It is a robot with a single task that can be predetermined prior to it being switched on.</p>
<p>At the other end of the spectrum, however, are the robots designed for military combat environments. These devices are being designed for <a href="http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/world-news/chinese-army-reveal-chilling-biomorphic-9485104">spying, bomb disposal</a> or <a href="http://www.bostondynamics.com/robot_bigdog.html">load-carrying purposes</a>. These would still appear to align with Asimov’s laws, particularly as they are being created to reduce risk to human lives within highly dangerous environments.</p>
<p>But it is only a small step to assume that the ultimate military goal would be to create armed robots that could be deployed on the battlefield. In this situation, the First Law – not harming humans – becomes hugely problematic. The role of the military is often to save the lives of soldiers and civilians but often by harming its enemies on the battlefield. So the laws might need to be considered from different perspectives or interpretations.</p>
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</figure>
<p>The laws’ ambiguity has led <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Three_Laws_of_Robotics#Alterations">authors</a>, including <a href="http://www.historyofinformation.com/expanded.php?id=4108">Asimov</a>, to explore how they could be misinterpreted or incorrectly applied. One issue is that they don’t actually define what a robot is. As research pushes the boundaries of technology, there are emerging branches of robotics looking at more molecular devices.</p>
<p>For example, “robots” <a href="https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/03/170302090817.htm">made from DNA and proteins</a> could be used in surgery to correct gene disorders. In theory, these devices should really follow Asimov’s laws. But for them to follow orders via DNA signals they would essentially have to become an integral part of the human they were working on. This integration would then make it difficult to determine whether the robot was independent enough to fall under the laws or operate outside of them. And on a practical level it would be impossible for it to determine whether any orders it received would cause harm to the human if carried out.</p>
<p>There’s also the question of what counts as harming a human being. This could be an issue when considering the <a href="http://theconversation.com/robot-babies-from-japan-raise-all-sorts-of-questions-about-how-parents-bond-with-ai-66815">development of robot babies in Japan</a>, for example. If a human were to adopt one of these robots it might arguably cause emotional or psychological harm. But this harm may not have come about from the direct actions of the robot or become apparent until many years after the human-robot interaction has ended. This problem could even apply to much simpler AI, such as the use of machine learning to create <a href="https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/03/170309120651.htm">music that elicits emotions</a>.</p>
<h2>Practical problems</h2>
<p>The other big issue with the laws is that we would need a significant advancement in AI for robots to actually be able to follow them. The goal of AI research is sometimes described as developing machines that can <a href="https://people.eecs.berkeley.edu/%7Erussell/intro.html">think and act rationally and like a human</a>. So far, emulating human behaviour has not been well researched in the field of AI and the development of rational behaviour has focused on limited, well defined areas.</p>
<p>With this in mind, a robot could only operate within a very limited sphere and any rational application of the laws would be highly restricted. Even that might not be possible with current technology, as a system that could reason and make decisions based on the laws would need considerable computational power.</p>
<p>Given all these issues, Asimov’s laws offer little more than founding principles for someone wanting to create a robotic code today. We need to follow them with a <a href="https://akikok012um1.wordpress.com/japans-ten-principles-of-robot-law/">much more comprehensive set of laws</a>. That said, without significant developments in AI, implementing such laws will remain an impossible task. And that’s before we even consider the potential for hurt should humans start to fall in love with robots.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/74501/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Mark Robert Anderson does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Today’s robots and artificial intelligence look very different from the androids conceived by Isaac Asimov.Mark Robert Anderson, Professor in Computing and Information Systems, Edge Hill UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/328072015-10-08T19:24:29Z2015-10-08T19:24:29ZA code of ethics in IT: just lip service or something with bite?<p><em>The <a href="https://theconversation.com/au/topics/volkswagen-emissions-scandal">emissions scandal</a> that has rocked the car maker Volkswagen has again raised the issue of <a href="http://www.computerworld.com/article/2557944/security0/ethical-issues-for-it-security-professionals.html">ethical standards</a> in the tech industry.</em></p>
<p><em><a href="http://www.theguardian.com/business/2015/sep/25/volkswagen-appoints-matthias-muller-chief-executive-porsche-vw">Reports so far</a> say the company is pointing finger at the “unlawful behaviour of engineers and technicians involved in engine development”.</em></p>
<p><em>But that’s <a href="https://theconversation.com/where-were-the-whistleblowers-in-the-volkswagen-emissions-scandal-48249">led to questions</a> about the strength of any codes or practice or ethics that such operators are supposed to comply with. So are such codes any good or are they just words?</em></p>
<p><em>Here two software experts present both sides of the argument.</em></p>
<hr>
<h2>Codes of Ethics – worthy sentiments, but no teeth when it comes to the public interest</h2>
<p><strong>Robert Merkel</strong><br>
<em>Lecturer in software engineering at Monash University</em></p>
<p>The Australian Computer Society’s <a href="https://www.acs.org.au/about-the-acs/member-conduct-and-discipline">Code of Professional Conduct</a> says nice, and generally sensible, things about the values its members should act upon in their professional lives.</p>
<p>The first, and most important value listed is, “The Primacy of the Public Interest”, which informs members that:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>You will place the interests of the public above those of personal, business or sectional interests.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>But IT professionals do not get paid by the public interest – their work is mostly paid for by business and sectional interests. While whose interests a business should serve is a subject of lively debate, to a first approximation management of businesses are expected to act in the interests of its shareholders, and within the law.</p>
<p>Even if the senior management of a business are technologists, in practice it is the legal and cultural obligations of their management role that are taken more seriously than any professional obligations that apply to IT professionals. </p>
<p>In my view, many businesses act in ways that are harmful to broader society in the interests of their shareholders. Some companies have management who, for ethical reasons, choose to avoid certain business activities. But, in a free market economy, if it’s legal (or <a href="http://www.rand.org/content/dam/rand/pubs/research_reports/RR600/RR610/RAND_RR610.pdf">even if it isn’t</a>) and there’s a dollar in it, at least some businesses will attempt to collect that dollar.</p>
<p>These pressures are not unique to the IT industry. Engineers, accountants and lawyers are professionals employed by businesses in a similar way to IT professionals. But there is a key difference between those professions and IT – those professions have professional bodies or closely related registration bodies (such as the <a href="http://www.vicbar.com.au/home">Victorian Bar Council</a>) that control access to those skills, backed by the law. </p>
<p>The vast majority of Australian IT professionals work in roles for which there is no institutional gatekeeper of any kind, legal or otherwise. Nor do employers demand, or seemingly value, accreditation by professional bodies in IT.</p>
<p>Have a look at ads for IT jobs, which overwhelmingly value demonstrated professional experience in technologies and techniques. Credentials, including university degrees, are rarely mentioned. </p>
<p>While a body such as the ACS might seek a de-facto gatekeeper role through its credentials attaining employment cachet, it is hard to see how this might be workable.</p>
<p>IT work tends to hyper-specialisation, and those specialisations continue to evolve faster than institutions can keep up. And, for what it’s worth, I get little sense in my dealing with both students and current professionals that the IT workforce conceives of itself as a unitary profession, and is looking for an organisation to establish itself as a gatekeeper.</p>
<p>So, given the total lack of teeth, and no realistic prospect of gaining any, the ACS Code of Ethics is not something that there is any real obligation to comply with. At best, it is an educative tool and, sadly, not one that students prioritise. Why would they?</p>
<p>In a world where IT degrees are viewed as a meal ticket to a high-paying career, students gravitate to the topics which they believe employers will value. Experience in the perceived hot technology of the day is generally a far higher priority than ethics. </p>
<p>In my contact with IT students a substantial fraction express concerns about how IT can be put to use. Once in the workforce, some of these students might personally resist it being put to use in particular ways, despite a lack of institutional support and personal costs in doing so.</p>
<p>But that’s not enough. As long as those who wish to use IT for sectional interests can pay for sufficient talent, somewhere in the world, history shows that that they will be able to find it, ACS code of ethics or not.</p>
<h2>Codes of Ethics – a shift in values sees a carrot more useful than a stick approach</h2>
<p><strong>Oliver Burmeister</strong><br>
<em>Chair of the Australian Computer Society’s Committee on Computer Ethics</em></p>
<p>In my view, one needs to understand the bigger picture within which the Code of Ethics plays an important role, namely, that there is what we might call “a values shift” in progress.</p>
<p>I had the privilege of chairing the process that led to the adoption of the revised Code of Ethics in 2010. It was the first time that the ACS code had been revised in 25 years.</p>
<p>One of the things that was very evident from the focus groups and seminars around the country was that a shift in values had occurred. Namely, the environment featured in almost all discussions. </p>
<p>It was not even a consideration in previous revisions of the Code of Ethics, but the 2010 version reflects environmental issues, because that was important to many ACS members. </p>
<p>Similarly, I believe that there is an increasing values shift towards greater ethical accountability among ACS members. What evidence do I have for this?</p>
<p>Firstly, the ACS has twice partnered for projects on professional ICT ethics funded through the Australian Research Council. This shows that at the highest level of research funding in Australia, professional ICT ethics is valued and given more than lip service.</p>
<p>The earlier (2006) project had a survey response of 1.9% (351), after holding the survey open for six months. The recent (2013) survey had a response of 12.4% (2,315), and was only open for two months. This suggests that in the intervening seven years, ICT professionals have developed a much greater awareness of, and interest in professionalism and ethics. </p>
<p>Secondly, the values shift is seen in that ACS members are voluntarily, at their own expense in many cases, taking ACS Education subjects, including on ethics and professional conduct, and undertaking annual professional development to achieve and maintain a Certified Professional status.</p>
<p>Following a similar successful implementation by Canada’s Association of Information Technology Professionals (<a href="http://www.cips.ca/">CIPS</a>) – the Canadian equivalent of the ACS – the ACS is currently developing an online ethics test, which applies the Code of Ethics to real world case studies, with a view to adding it to the annual certification requirements for professional status.</p>
<p>Finally, this values shift is seen in the United Nations agenda, through the <a href="http://www.itu.int/wsis/implementation/2014/forum/dam/documents.html">WSIS+10 process</a> in Geneva, June 2014, which was tabled at the UN General Assembly in New York. For the first time ICT ethics and professionalism feature prominently.</p>
<p>Returning to Merkel’s criticisms of the Code of Ethics, ICT is a young profession. I have attended several meetings at Professions Australia (<a href="http://www.professions.com.au/">PA</a>), representing the ACS. It is apparent from those meetings that few professional societies have the clout of the old professions of law and medicine.</p>
<p>In law and medicine the “stick” can be wielded – break the ethical code and you get disciplined, which at the extreme could mean being kicked out of the professional society and therefore being unable to practice.</p>
<p>But young professions such as ours can’t mandate membership and therefore PA speaks of codes of ethics as “aspirational”. That is, we use the “carrot” and not the “stick” (or “teeth” as Merkel puts it).</p>
<p>The value shift discussion, above, indicates that there is a lot of evidence to suggest our carrots are working. The PA <a href="http://www.professions.com.au/about-us/what-is-a-professional">defines a profession</a> as:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>a disciplined group of individuals who adhere to ethical standards […] It is inherent in the definition of a profession that a code of ethics governs the activities of each profession. Such codes require behaviour and practice beyond the personal moral obligations of an individual. They define and demand high standards of behaviour in respect to the services provided to the public and in dealing with professional colleagues. Further, these codes are enforced by the profession and are acknowledged and accepted by the community.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Therefore one measure of professionalism is a willingness to be held accountable for the standard of one’s work, against the Code of Ethics.</p>
<p>So Merkel appears correct that in the past the Code of Ethics had limited traction. But my view is that there is a shift in values in progress and with that shift the Code of Ethics is gaining in importance.</p>
<hr>
<p><em>What do you think about the strength of any code of ethics in the IT industry? You can ask both Robert Merkel and Oliver Burmeister who will be online from 3pm to 4pm AEDT today (Friday October 9, 2015) to answer your questions in the comments, below.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/32807/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Robert Merkel has received funding from the Australian Research Council.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Oliver Burmeister is the Chair of the Committee on Computer Ethics of the Australian Computer Society (ACS). He is currently a recipient of an Australian Research Council Linkage grant (LP130100808), partnered with the ACS to investigate how information and communications technology (ICT) professionals can be better resourced to deal with workplace ethical challenges. He also has a grant proposal under review at present with the auDA Foundation, also in partnership with the ACS, which if granted will seek to encourage greater participation of Indigenous youth in ICT careers.</span></em></p>Many professionals risk the wrath of their governing body if they act against any code of ethics. But not so the IT industry. Is it time for that to change?Robert Merkel, Lecturer in Software Engineering, Monash UniversityOliver Burmeister, Associate professor, Charles Sturt UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.