Research ethics courses must reflect academics’ diverse backgrounds

The idea that universities are becoming MORE ideologically diverse is laughable. And given that the humanities are increasingly the least ideologically diverse part of the university the chances of getting moral guidance from there is even more risible - free of any requirement to evidence their arguments they can't offer anything other than whatever is currently fashionably progressive.

This is conflating 'research ethics' with developing a wider basis of ethical thought on which to base all one's actions, not just your research. I teach a class called 'Professional & Social Aspects of Computing' which is the 'ethics for computing' class that all undergraduates are required to take. Research ethics is a very small part of this (they will get to grips with that in their Final Year Projects), and after learning some basic ethical theory we look at the ethical aspects of computer use, scientific development... and indeed life in general. As I tell them, I don't know what ethical issues will arise during their lifetime, but I can help them develop some skills with which to analyse such issues, formulate a response, and be able to argue the case for the opinions they hold.

Chinese proverb: "If you can cheat, then cheat!". Should this ethical guideline be accepted at your diverse university? Do researchers get to choose a morality from "a range of non-Western backgrounds"?

Of course research ethics courses should reflect the diversity of researcher backgrounds, but in increasingly interdisciplinary scientific domains and international research consortia it is vital to promote acceptable global values and principles. The problem is not just advocating the rights and protections of research subjects, and the avoidance of fraud and corruption, it is finding the best mechanisms for reward and punishments for transgression that work in widely differing cultural contexts. Those are the issues that should form the substance of such courses. Pragmatic solutions to constantly shifting moral problems.