The UK EPSRC funded project on a “Framework for Responsible Research and Innovation in ICT” (www.responsible-innovation.org.uk) call for case studies proposals.

 

Financial contribution:                   approximately £5000 per case study

Submission deadline:                     19 January 2012

 

Background

Ethical issues arising from the development and wide-spread use of ICT are of increasing concern. Prominent examples include the limitations of privacy in social network sites, ownership and control of data by search providers, the limitations on the use of large-scale public databases or ICT systems or the possibility of moral agency by autonomous systems.

 

Although there is broad acceptance that ethical questions are relevant to ICT, and that the way they are addressed  can influence the acceptance and acceptability of novel technologies, it is not clear how this is to be done nor how responsibilities should be defined and realised.

 

The FRRIICT project seeks to develop a more grounded understanding of these issues and to develop a network of researchers interested in them. To support its work activities, the project has set aside a research budget for the development of case studies which demonstrate interesting examples of how ethical issues have been addressed in actual R&D projects

 

The case studies will be used to contribute to the understanding of responsible research and innovation and to foster debate in this area.  It is also expected that the case studies will be made available to the research community as teaching materials and so they will be made publicly available via the Observatory under a creative commons licence.

 

Content of the Case Studies

 

Case studies should provide an illustration of key aspects of responsible research and innovation in ICT. These can be related to either ‘Ethics of ICT’ which would include specific issues within the ICT domain or ‘Ethics in ICT’ which includes the uses of ICT in actual settings of use and is thus broader in scope. Examples of such aspects may be positive or negative examples of:

·         Nature of the ethical or responsibility issue in question

·         Field of application

·         Ways of identifying the issue

·         Aspects of the context that are particularly relevant

·         Methods of addressing the issue

·         Governance arrangements

 

Case studies may be either retrospective or prospective

 

Successful proposals will clearly demonstrate focus on at least one of the above.

 

Key Dates

 

Event	Date
Closing date for the submission of entries	19 January 2012
Judging Panel meeting	31 January 2012
Announcement of winners	03 February 2012
Commencement of award	14 February.2012
Mid-term report	30 April 2012
Submission of final case study	16 July 2012
Presentation of case study at showcase event	February 2014

 

 

Further Information

 

Please check the project website under www.responsible-innovation.org.uk for more information on the project. Detailed information on the case study as well as the documents required for submission can be found under the “Case Studies” tab.

 

For more information please contact one of the investigators:

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kind regards,

Marina, Grace and Bernd