Fall Schedule for Illinois Tech Responsible Conduct of Research Workshops

Dear Illinois Tech Researchers,

With the progress of science, the research community faces new challenges. For example, investigators must be able to demonstrate how to combine artificial intelligence and research ethics. Funding organizations such as the National Science Foundation and National Institutes of Health recently issued new training requirements to make sure that everybody is on the same page and conducts studies responsibly.

Awardees of federally funded grants must complete the mandatory training, “Responsible Research and Building an Ethical Culture.”

Please register for one of the two workshops:

This semester for the first time Illinois Tech offers the RCR talks on specific subjects. Everybody is encouraged to attend:

Designing a Better Future: Ethics in Biomedical Innovation

September 13

We will explore ethical considerations in biomedical engineering, fostering critical thinking and understanding of the societal implications of technological advancements. Topics include AI in healthcare, organ transplantation, and augmented humans. Dr. Abhinav Bhushan, Associate Professor of Biomedical Engineering at Illinois Tech, will lead the discussion.

Topics include:

How can we balance technological innovation with ethical considerations?
What role should society play in regulating biomedical engineering advancements?
How can we ensure that these technologies benefit all people, regardless of socioeconomic status?
What are the long-term implications of these advancements for humanity?

Is AI Coming for Your Research?: From Research Ethics to Ethics in Research

September 19

How are you using artificial intelligence in your research? How is it changing your research field, and what questions do you have about its responsible use in the research process? Join fellow Illinois Tech researchers with your questions in a joint discussion with research from Worcester Polytechnic Institute. The discussion will be led by
Dr. Gillian Smith, Association Professor of Computer Science and the Ethics in Robotics Lab at Worcester Polytechnic Institute, and Yunus Doğan Telliel, Assistant Professor of Anthropology and Rhetoric at Worcester Polytechnic Institute.

Ethics for and about Biologists

October 11

All researchers encounter ethical issues in their professional lives, but those of us engaged in life-science research have a particular set of ethical challenges because we deal with people and the environment. Fraud and plagiarism, which can occur in any research setting, are particularly prevalent in biological and biomedical settings. Of the top 20 names on Retraction Watch’s leaderboard for retracted papers, 14 are in medicine or biochemistry. We’ll discuss the ethical issues that are peculiar to medicine and biology. Dr. Andrew Howard, Associate Professor of Biology and Physics at Illinois Tech, will lead the discussion.

Publishing Ethics

November 13

This session covers the ethical aspects of publishing your research, including common ethical issues in journal submissions, preprint sharing, and compliance with funders’ public access mandates to help maintain research integrity during publication. Charles W. Uth, Senior Engineering Librarian, Galvin Library at Illinois Tech, will lead the discussion.

Topics include:

Plagiarism and self-plagiarism
Authorship and contributor roles
Ethical considerations in open access publishing
Understanding and complying with public access mandates, including identifying reliable open access publishing options (journals, repositories, and platforms)

Please address all the questions to Kelly Laas at laas@iit.edu.