Just take the course...15 minutes to ethical fitness!

A column in a local paper chides UC Berkeley professors for not taking a required online ethics course. Hey, after all, the column claims you can finish it in 15-30 minutes, thereby revving up your "ethical synapses"!

Hat tip to Margaret Soltan at University Diaries.

A Ward of Research Misconduct

CU Boulder seeks to fire ethnic studies professor Ward Churchill on charges of research misconduct, while Churchill accuses his accusers of the same. Stay tuned, research ethics fans! More here.

Update, 5/30: See the IHE column about the case, especially the comments. That is, if you haven't had it up to HERE with WC!

Teaching Research Ethics workshop

Indiana Memorial Union

I am at the end of a 2.5 day workshop on teaching research ethics, held at the Indiana Memorial Union on the IU Bloomington campus. Very productive time, though my butt is aching (bring a cushion if they don't change the PPT-laden pedagogy in future years, I say). Excellent group of presenters, and participants a mix of faculty and IRB/research compliance administrators from universities around the nation. I came here principally to enlarge and refresh my teaching toolkit, and the sheer amount of material provided is very helpful.

Much of the discussion focused upon the biological and medical sciences, and IRBs. I had done a stint on my university's IRB years ago, so this was a good refresher for me. I am as interested, though, in the wider issues to do with ethics in an institutional setting, and the societal factors that lead to concerns about research ethics.

PS: If you haven't been to IU Bloomington, do go, it is as lovely a place as the picture above.

Update on Research Ethics from Purdue

Hovde Hall, Purdue University

From Inside Higher Education:
"Purdue University announced Thursday that — in part because of a request from a Congressional leader — the institution was continuing its investigation into concerns about the research on “bubble fusion” conducted by Rusi P. Taleyarkhan, one of its professors. The findings have been questioned by others, but an earlier Purdue probe found no misconduct. Thursday’s announcement stated that the university actually started an investigation into new allegations shortly after a faculty panel in February concluded that there was no evidence of misconduct. Based on conversations with Rep. Brad Miller, chair of the House Committee on Science and Technology’s investigations subcommittee, Purdue will now take additional steps, such as adding one or more outside scientists to the review."

In part this case is responsible for even keener interest in research ethics for budding scientists here at Purdue. It will provide some interesting material for discussion of research ethics.