Ethics and Knowledge Exchange (EKE)

• What do we mean by ethics and knowledge exchange (KE)? What should be considered?

• How can we be sure that the people we share and develop knowledge with have the same values as us? Should they? Should we care?

• How do we feel about knowledge exchange with stakeholders that may have poor human rights records?

• How many organisations and institutions categorically state who they won’t work with because of ethical differences? How many universities and public sector research are prepared to ignore this and have moved to a KT at any cost mentality? 

Come and explore how ethics and knowledge exchange interact with each other in a workshop to be held on 4 March at the Woburn House Conference Centre, 20 Tavistock Square, London WC1H 9HQ.  Click here for details of the Programme.

What is EKE?

KE involves a wide range of activities that universities undertake alongside teaching and research as part of their third arm/core mission.  PSROs including the Research Councils also undertake KE as part of their core activities.  While the breadth and extent of the activities involved with KE is significant, everything is based on the knowledge and expertise that exists within the human resources available to the institution/organisation: our ability to communicate, share, exchange and create new knowledge through a wide variety of mechanisms is critical.

The Government (informed by business to some extent) has encouraged KE and the belief that unlocking the knowledge that exists within universities and research organisations (through teaching & learning, research or the exploitation of know-how and expertise) will contribute to economic growth and the overall competitiveness of UK PLC in a global market; improve the nation’s health through the accelerated release of innovative  technologies; enhance the overall quality of life through informed policy development and implementation; engender a greater appreciation of our cultural heritage and enhanced creative output as a result of improved environmental management. 

While these KE activities in some cases have societal and/or environmental benefits as well as business objectives, ethical issues and questions of corporate social responsibility surrounding knowledge exchange have yet to be identified, considered and addressed.  The ethics of KE are mostly unexplored, an undefined territory that ranges from corporate social responsibility to sustainability, human rights, professionalism, governance, conduct and values. 

So AURIL has decided that we need to start to explore these issues. We are going to do so in 3 workshops in 2010. The first workshop which is being held on 4 March 2010 at the Woburn House Conference in collaboration with ESRC (Economic and Social Research Council) will explore what is meant by ethics in KE and what should be considered. The later workshops in June and November 2010 will start to look at some of the areas in more depth. 

Presentations:

Ann Buchanan, ESRC Council and University of Oxford - ESRC Framework Research Ethics (FRE)

Richard Ennals, Kingston Business School - Knowledge for Sale

Richard Seabrook and Joanna Shepherd, Wellcome Trust - Open Access / Access to Medicines

EKE Questions