University of Exeter to host first-of-its-kind Research Ethics Conference

The Research Ethics Conference is being organised by postgraduate researcher Warren Speed (Graduate School of Education), working with a team of volunteers from across the South West of England and Wales. The event aims to bring together academics, industry professionals, civil servants, volunteers, students, and interested laypeople – all of whom can attend for free thanks to generous funding from the South West Doctoral Training Partnership.

In response to the Covid-19 pandemic, organisers moved the conference online, which has had the added benefit of making the event more accessible to remote participants. Despite the change in format, the conference will still include popular activities such as poster sessions, informal networking opportunities, and hands-on interactive workshops such as an exploration of professional values using the LEGO Serious Play technique.

Keynotes for the event include the University of Exeter’s Professor Sabina Leonelli (Philosophy) and the University of Bristol’s Dr Foluke Adebisi (Law).

Speed, whose PhD focuses on how schools in England perceive and implement the ‘Fundamental British Values’ agenda, won the 2019 SIG Best Paper Award at the British Educational Research Association Annual Conference. His paper explored ethics processes in educational research, and the positive response to this topic was one source of inspiration for the Research Ethics Conference.

He says: ‘There are limited inter-disciplinary opportunities for academics and researchers to engage with non-academic stakeholders and organisations about their different requirements or views on ethical approaches.

‘Our event creates an important and innovative opportunity for cross-disciplinary learning. Participants will be able to share knowledge and best practice by exploring a range of ethical dilemmas. We hope this will improve people’s understanding of practical ethics, which can sometimes run the danger of being misinterpreted, underplayed, or viewed merely as a tick-box exercise.’

The Research Ethics Conference will take place on Friday 25^th June beginning at 9:30am GMT. More information – including details about registration – can be found at https://www.researchethicsconference.co.uk/.