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Within the field of `computer ethics', considerations of the design processes required for software development has remained relatively neglected until the foundational work of Dr Penny Duquenoy under the direction of Prof. Harold Thimbleby helped introduce and establish the need for such concerns. The impact of the embedding of ethics in technology is observable by noting the routine use of ethics expert reviewers and evaluators and on Advisory Boards in EU funded projects since 2007. This has been replicated by the EPSRC who also now include input from ethics experts into their programmes such as the RCUK `Global Uncertainties' initiative. At a professional level, ethics has also become a core consideration for the British Computer Society and its representations to the community it serves.
[Key: Bold: text from REF guidelines; Bold italic/italic: emphasis; Superscript: references in sections 3 and 5]
Research by Chadwick has influenced research protocols and policies regarding the ethical consequences of collecting DNA for research. Her impact is most visible in the Personal Genome Project, and the work of the Nuffield Council on Bioethics, UN Food and Agriculture Organisation, Human Genome Project and H3Africa. Her contributions to discussions and documents resulted in changes to how consent is gained from DNA donors. In particular, the changes address important issues that she raised regarding the practicality and acceptability of the undertakings made in current consent protocols about confidentiality and the future use of data. Chadwick's underpinning research claims relate to the fact that genetic information, and the attendant genetic technology, are derived from, and significant to, populations as a whole. She maintains that biotechnological advances are changing our ethical values, particularly regarding conflicts between personal interests and large-group needs. For her, practical ethics cannot apply normative ethical concepts and theories arising from abstract philosophical reasoning. Rather, the conceptual and theoretical structures themselves must be developed through philosophical engagement with the scientific details of the project. Her collaboration with bodies responsible for the protocols of consent reflects a `bottom-up' moral philosophy rather than the traditional `top-down' theory-driven approach.
Research from the world leading Centre for Computing and Social Responsibility (CCSR) influences policy decisions and practice at national and international levels.
The specific examples cited in this case study demonstrate the role CCSR research played in shaping electronic voting and electronic government in the UK, leading to the suspension of electronic voting in 2008 and an annual cost saving to the UK Government of £4m, and impacts on European ICT research policy including direct contributions to an EGE Opinion, namely the "The Opinion on Ethics and ICT". EGE Opinions are considered to be "soft law" as they are authoritative in their area of expertise. The `Opinion on Ethics and ICT' guided ICT research policy with regards to ethics and ICT during the FP7 funding programme, and it has been adopted as a set of underpinning principles for the Horizon 2020 programme. Other research findings have similarly informed the Horizon 2020 cross cutting theme of `Responsible Research and Innovation'.
Hogarth and external collaborators at Cambridge have developed a regulatory model for the governance of commercial genetic testing in the EU that requires pre-market review of all new commercial genetic tests and greater public disclosure of clinical data about test performance. Drawing on this model they recommended a number of changes to the current European regulations. In 2012 the European Commission published a proposal for a new regulation on In Vitro Diagnostic (IVD) medical devices that incorporated most of the changes which they recommended be addressed in the revision of this regulation. Hogarth also helped the Human Genetics Commission to draft the first transnational guidance for the regulation of direct-to-consumer genetic testing services.
More than a decade's research at the University of Leeds has focused on a cohesive set of issues bearing directly and indirectly on ethics in the workplace: reasons for action, moral psychology, good judgement, character and integrity. The impact of this work covers: consultancy on organisational ethics; development and delivery of CPD for engineers; use of web-based and online materials to engage professionals in ethical reasoning; applied research and engagement with practitioners on integrity at work; a submission to the Leveson enquiry; and an ethics template for the National Nuclear Laboratory. Its significance and reach in embedding ethics in professional life is demonstrated by the range of these activities and the size of the organisations involved.
The University of Huddersfield's research on accounting ethics has made a major contribution to the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales (ICAEW) — one of the world's premier accounting bodies. Through membership of its Ethics Standards Committee and collaboration with ICAEW staff the Business School's Professor Christopher Cowton has brought a unique academic perspective to the Institute's promotion of professional ethics. Cowton's research, part-funded by the Institute, has shaped its ethics agenda for its 140,000 members in over 160 countries, along with its thought leadership on integrity and the public interest, its initiative to promote integrity in business, and the new ethics examination for aspiring Chartered Accountants.
The International HapMap project was a major international research collaboration to map the structure of common human genetic variation across populations from Europe, Asia and Africa. Mathematical Scientists from the University of Oxford played key roles in the development of statistical methods for the project, along with its overall design and management of the International HapMap Project.
Companies have used HapMap as the primary resource to design genome-wide microarrays to make novel discoveries in, for example, pharmacogenetic studies. The size of this market is estimated at $1.25 billion.
One novel discovery has led to a genetic test that is predictive of sustained viral suppression in patients treated for chronic hepatitis C. An estimated 2.7 to 3.9 million people are affected by HCV infection. This test is sold commercially by the company LabCorp and is a significant contributor to the company's testing volume. Finally, the project has been important in widening the public understanding of genetic variation.
For over a decade, Professor Julian Savulescu has produced a body of work on the enhancement of human beings and its ethical implications, including work on the ethics of genetic selection and on the ethics of using technology to enhance human capacities. This work has had an influence on public policy, in particular by influencing government bodies in Norway, the United States, and Australia, and on business and industry. It has also been used in teaching material for secondary school pupils by the Wellcome Collection. Furthermore, through the many prestigious public lectures that Professor Savulescu has given and the seminars that he has led, through the television and radio interviews that he has given, and through the extensive discussion of his ideas in the press and online, he has both contributed to the public awareness of and stimulated lively debate around such issues as what distinguishes the use of doping in sport from seemingly acceptable forms of enhancement, and what if anything is wrong with designer babies.