Michel Bourban is going to give a very interesting talk entitled ‘Convergences and Gaps between Environmental Ethics, Climate Ethics, and Research Ethics: A Scoping Review’ at the Philosophy Section Tech Values Colloquium at the University of Twente on Thursday, March 13th. As an essential part of this presentation, he will present the results of a very important RE4GREEN deliverable entitled ‘Mapping of Environmental and Climate Ethics in the Context of the Sustainability Transition.

Abstract of the presentation:

“The relationship between research and innovation (R&I) and environmental change is a complex one. This is not only due to the socio-environmental impact of R&I, but also to the fact that some technological innovations have the potential to advance one environmental goal at the expense of another. This complexity, and the backdrop of the biodiversity and climate crises, make it clear that the natural environment needs to become a subject of concern in research ethics frameworks. This scoping review identifies cross-cutting concepts between the key topic areas of environmental ethics, environmental justice, climate ethics, climate justice, and research ethics and integrity. It also highlights an important gap in the literature between research ethics and the other key topic areas and points to the importance of updating existing research ethics frameworks to incorporate environmental concerns from an environmental ethics and climate ethics perspective. Finally, it reveals an over-representation of studies focused upon climate change, at the expense of other environmental issues, as well as an over-representation of research on the ethics and governance of geoengineering, even though this family of technologies is still in the early stages of research and development”.

Reflexivity plays a critical role in qualitative research methods as it encourages researchers to critically examine their own biases, experiences, and perspectives, enhancing the depth and credibility of their findings. By being reflexive, researchers can better understand how their positionality influences the research process, leading to more ethical and transparent work. But how can we cultivate reflexivity? RE4GREEN colleague Natalie Evans shares some insights from the upcoming RE4GREEN toolkit, which promotes environmentally conscious approaches to research and innovation.
The resource shown here is Coloring Connections (available at: https://lnkd.in/eFmxRDmV). Led by Petra Verdonk, this interactive volume offers exercises designed to encourage reflection on responsible research, particularly in relation to gender, intersectionality, and health amidst the climate crisis.
Stay connected and join our mailing list to receive updates on open-access training materials focused on environmental justice and sustainability for responsible researchers: https://lnkd.in/g-r74B4C. 

Learn more about the latest news from RE4GREEN in the 2nd RE4GREEN newsletter!
The newsletter includes information about the project, updates on RE4GREEN’s participation in conferences and the stakeholder advisory board, a brief description of progress in different work packages, and the project’s future prospects.
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The 1st promotional video for RE4GREEN is here! This video presents in an aesthetically elegant way an overview of the research project, the innovative methodology it uses, and the partners who have been tasked to carry out this exciting project. Watch here!

Learn more about RE4GREEN’s latest news in the 1st RE4GREEN newsletter!

The newsletter includes information about the project, updates regarding RE4GREEN’s participation in conferences and the stakeholder advisory board, and a brief description of the progress in different work packages.

You are one click away! To download the newsletter click here.

RE4GREEN consortium members Michel Bourban and Dominic Lenzi from the University of Twente participated in the 4TU.Ethics ESDiT conference 2024 titled “Rethinking Ethics – Reimagining Technology”, organized by the 4TU Centre for Ethics and Technology and the ESDiT program from 02-10-2024 to 04-10-2024 at the University of Twente and covered eight thematic tracks:

Track 1: AI – Intelligent Artifice?
Track 2: Bodies, Minds, & Subjects
Track 3: Concepts & Values
Track 4: Disruptive Technology & Health
Track 5: Geo-Technology & Bio-Technology
Track 6: Methodological Issues, Questions & Practices
Track 7: TechnoPolitics
Track 8: General – Philosophy and Ethics of Technology

RE4GREEN was represented with a paper presentation titled “Synergies and Tensions between Environmental Ethics, Climate Ethics, and Research Ethics: A Literature Review of Crosscutting Concepts” (Track 5: Geo-Technology & Bio-Technology).

“With this in mind, the objective of this literature review is to identify crosscutting concepts within environmental ethics, climate ethics, and research ethics, in the context of research and innovation. Mapping these concepts is important for the development of a research integrity and ethics framework that can adequately support research and innovation in service of a just green transition. There is a plurality of concepts within climate ethics and environmental ethics, some of which intersect with established concepts within research ethics, such as integrity, responsibility, harm, and rights. At the same time, there are also gaps between these sets of literature that have developed separately. This is the case of concepts within climate ethics and environmental ethics that do not have well-established analogous concepts within research ethics, but which are relevant for a just green transition, such as global justice, intergenerational justice, interspecies justice, and planetary justice.”

Read the full abstract here.

This internal training will introduce you to the essential concepts of an ecofeminist approach to addressing the climate crisis, followed by a brainstorming session on how we can use these concepts in our work. Additionally, we will incorporate key terms from the forthcoming gender glossary to develop our collective understanding. Following this introduction, we will cover some of the basics of feminist recruitment techniques to start considering their application in our social labs.

We take every opportunity to communicate and gain new knowledge on research ethics and research integrity.
The 3rd Research Ethics Cluster Meeting by IRECS was dedicated to developing recommendations for addressing ethical challenges in technology research from countries outside the European Union (mainly Asia and Africa) and relevant ethics networks (e.g., ARIGGE). More specifically, the aim of the 3rd Research Ethics Cluster Meeting by IRECS was to identify ethical challenges in global technology research, focusing on differences in value systems and decision-making processes.
During the 3rd Research Ethics Cluster Meeting by IRECS, we were able to gain a broader and more international understanding of the challenges in ethics and integrity research.

RE4GREEN project participated in the Poster Walk of the 8th World Conference on Research Integrity in Athens, 2-5 June 2024. Members of the coordination team, Dirk Lanzerath and Fabian Fischbach, presented the project’s progress.

 The presenters delivered a concise three-minute presentation, outlining the project’s progress these first four months: the basic objectives, the main outputs of the project and the social lab methodology, which is a fundamental part of the project’s methodology in order to enable participation of research and innovation stakeholders to support green transition.

*RE4GREEN poster is available for those registered at the conference’s virtual platform.

EARMA annual conference took place from 23^rd to 25^th of April 2024, in Odense, Denmark. With more than 1500 participants from over 50 countries, a broad spectrum of topics was discussed, with a strong emphasis on emerging technologies, such as AI and their impact on research management, policy-oriented actions on the EU and national level, institutional best practices and lessons learned, and responsible research and innovation.

On the 24^th of April, an interactive session on “Shaping the future of responsible research” took place. The session focused on policy-related impacts of EU-funded projects, mostly in the fields of research ethics and integrity.

The keynote input was delivered by Dorian Karatzas, head of the EC’s DG RI Sector Research Ethics and Integrity. The RE4GREEN project was presented by the EARMA EU projects’ team: Borana Taraj, Teodora Konach and Janina Bau.