Research Ethics

Through a National Science Foundation grant, Teaching Research Ethics: An Institutional Change Model at Western Michigan University, the Center for the Study of Ethics in Society developed programs and materials on the teaching of research ethics. The goal of the project was to foster a sustainable environment in which researchers reflect on and understand the underlying principles that form the basis of ethical practice and apply them in the context of their research. As a result of that three-year project, the center oversaw the WMU Research Ethics Resource Center from 2006-2011 with the support of the Office of the Vice President for Research.

In 2024, the Ethics Center held a National Science Foundation-funded conference exploring privilege in STEM research and research ethics training in cooperation with the Association for Practical and Professional Ethics. An outcome of the conference is to generate a toolkit of best practices for participants and others to begin to use in training on research ethics that would improve the scientific environment.

The Ethics Center continues to sponsor occasional speakers and discussions of issues in the ethics of research. It also serves as a repository for research ethics materials.