The Technological University of the Shannon (TUS) is hosting the Online Workshop ‘The Multidimensional Reality of Research Ethics in Contemporary Higher Education’ on 23 April 2026.

Research ethics occupies a foundational position in universities nationally and internationally and in other public sector bodies, including government, charities and NGOs. That said, the meaning of ethics itself is both shifting and opaque; it is frequently defined in relation to deontological, justice-based, caring or utilitarian approaches, but there is often little space for practitioners, academics and policymakers to discuss the meaning of ethics itself or the challenges we face when making ethical decisions. Similarly, changes are afoot in the TU sector in the governance and management of ethics as systems and institutions merge.

This colloquium engages with these questions, focusing on the importance and role of ethics in changing university learning environments that are increasingly pervaded by Artificial Intelligence (AI), changing modalities of learning, increased neo-liberalism, ‘edu-business’ and collaboration. Led by three expert speakers, Prof Mary Donnelly (University College Cork), Dr Heike Schmidt-Felzmann (University of Galway), and Dr Jonathan Vincent (Lancaster University), it focuses on the intersections between law and ethics in clinical trials, AI, and collaboration.

An initiative of the TUS Research Ethics Committees, the TUS Graduate School, the Centre for Pedagogical Innovation and Development (CPID) at TUS, and the University Women’s Network (TUS).