Before we taught a course for graduate students, we had to learn the field of research ethics ourselves.
We then had to develop our skills as teachers of this field. The learning process that we engaged in took
several forms: We sought out and studied the cases and case material in the field; we spent time ensuring
that the scientists gained an understanding of ethical theory and that the philosophers gained an
understanding of scientific practices; and we developed our abilities in applying ethical theory to cases in
research ethics. This work was done within the University Seminar series discussed earlier, within a
Moral Theory Study Group, and within a series of meetings of the faculty teaching team called Core
Group Meetings. The final development of the faculty as teachers of research ethics came through
teaching the graduate course itself.
The role of the University Seminar in faculty training was alluded to in Sections 1 and 2. The
University Seminar was a testing ground for material. Cases were explored and discussed, issues were
raised and evaluated, and topic areas were sorted and reviewed. The University Seminar gave both
faculty who were teachers in the course and those who were simply interested in the subject (about 40
participants) a forum for discussion. It gave a wide range of faculty from different scientific disciplines a
chance to express their opinions about cases and issues. An essential aspect of this forum for the course
itself was that when material was presented in class in front of the students, faculty were not hearing it
for the first time. In this way differences of opinion between faculty members were “hashed out” prior
to class sessions. We strongly recommend that anyone planning a course in research ethics, particularly
those planning to team teach, participate in a series of seminars or informal study groups prior to
bringing the material to students.