Dr Michael Weatherburn and Greg Artus from CLCC prepared a bespoke introductory session on ethics for the MSc Security and Resilience: Science and Technology degree.

The MSc, which has over 50 students, has been running for 5 years. Security, defence and resilience is perhaps one of the most obvious areas where the development and application of science and technology have major ethical consequences. The MSc course touches on ethics in places but this was the first dedicated session, delivered as a pilot to gauge how students would engage with the topic.

Greg addressed relevant ethical frameworks, specifically consequentialism, which is of particular relevance to the security and defence sectors. Michael then led case studies of dual-use technology and cyber security. 

The response was even better than hoped. There was a clear and universal interest in understanding ethical frameworks in more detail and in having more discussion and debate on applying these to real-world examples. We are now planning to include this as standard in the course programme and are exploring how we can expand for future years.