IDEA: The Ethics Centre Discovery Modules
Find out more about discovery modules available within IDEA: The Ethics Centre
- Faculty of Arts, Humanities and Cultures
- IDEA: The Ethics Centre
IDEA Discovery Modules
Our academics are experts in their fields
IDEA: The Ethics Centre offers a range of 10 credit undergraduate Discovery Modules. Our modules allow students from across the University to study applied ethics in greater depth and develop their understanding of practical ethical challenges.
Find out more about each of the modules:
Professional Ethics: Challenges and Crises (IDEA1000)
This module is an introduction to professional ethics and examines some of the challenges and crises that might arise in professional working life.
This module has been co-designed by Drs Elizabeth Ellis, Robbie Arrell, Rob Lawlor and Luke Brunning.
Every professional, whatever their field, will face moments where doing the right thing takes genuine thought, courage and clarity. Drawing on real current issues, this module introduces you to the core concepts of professional ethics and shows how they apply to the kinds of situations that actually arise in working life.
Taught through the lens of live contemporary issues, the module helps you build a positive ethical identity as a professional, not just an awareness of what to avoid, but a confident sense of what it means to act with real integrity. Whether you're heading into business, law, medicine, engineering or any other profession, the questions explored here will be directly relevant to your future career. You'll leave with sharper ethical instincts, a stronger framework for reasoning through complex situations, and the confidence to be the kind of professional you actually want to be.
Taught this year by Dr Elizabeth Ellis, this module is open to students from across the university and requires no prior background in philosophy or ethics.
Should Scientists be Activists? (IDEA2002)
Is science better than non- /pseudo-science? Should scientists be activists? This module explores issues around trust in science, ethics of pharmaceutical companies and recreational drugs.
This module was co-designed by Drs Andy Kirton and Matilda Carter.
Many people believe that science is neutral: that it sits beyond moral, social, and political debates. But do scientists really deal solely with facts?
This module explores the role of values in science across multiple domains. Drawing on philosophy of science, ethics, and political philosophy, you’ll discuss issues that are pressing in our age of rapid technological change and scientific advancement. These include the ethics of pursuing dangerous research, the power wielded by scientific advisers to governments, and the role of profit-seeking pharmaceutical companies in the generation of research.
This is module suitable for anyone interested in power, social responsibility, and the relationship between science and society.
Taught this year by Dr Matilda Carter, this module is open to students from across the university and requires no prior background in philosophy or ethics.
Leadership Ethics (IDEA2000)
Leaders in all sectors face the challenge of helping and motivating others to identify the right goal or vision for their team/organisation, and coordinating their efforts to pursue those goals successfully. The module is an introduction to the field of Leadership Ethics and Leadership Studies.
This module has been co-designed by Drs Jamie Dow, Joshua Hobbs and Elizabeth Ellis.
What does it mean to be a good leader? Not just an effective one, but a genuinely ethical one? This module takes seriously the idea that leadership is as much a moral challenge as it is a practical one. Leaders in every sector face the task of inspiring others, setting direction, and making decisions that affect people's lives. Getting that right requires more than skill, it requires ethical clarity.
Drawing on the fields of Leadership Ethics and Leadership Studies, this module explores the values and responsibilities that underpin good leadership. What makes a vision worth following? How should leaders handle power, conflict and difficult trade-offs? What do we owe the people we lead? You'll engage with real-world cases and develop a vocabulary for thinking critically about leadership in organisations, public life and beyond.
Taught this year by Dr Jamie Dow, this module is open to students from across the university and requires no prior background in philosophy or ethics.
Love: Ethical, Social and Political Issues (IDEA2001)
Love and relationships and, in particular romantic and sexual relationships, are some of the most important things in many people’s lives. Indeed, people die for romantic love. Yet few people take the time to try to really understand the fundamental questions surrounding love: what it is, why we want it, why we love particular people in particular ways and not others.
This module has been co-designed by Drs Luke Brunning and Natasha McKeever.
Love and relationships and, in particular romantic and sexual relationships, matter greatly to many people. But few people pause to consider some fundamental questions about love: what is it, are there different kinds, why do we love some people and not others, does love make us better people, should it be supported by the state, how is love shaped by technology? There are many complex social norms around love which broad social implications; norms of exclusivity, for example, or concerning gender roles. These issues are explored through the lens of philosophy. As well as reading philosophical literature on love, you will be encouraged to draw on examples from popular culture and your own experiences where applicable.
Taught this year by Dr Luke Brunning, this module is open to students from across the university and requires no prior background in philosophy or ethics.
Ethics of Artificial Intelligence (IDEA3000)
This module explores issues of bias, transparency, accountability, creativity, personal relationships, education, democracy, and power, and asks what it means to build and deploy AI systems responsibly.
This module was co-designed by Drs Andy Kirton and Paula Satne.
We are living through a technological revolution. Artificial intelligence systems are poised to take on decision‑making roles and perform tasks currently requiring human beings across an increasing range of domains, including healthcare, finance, criminal justice, education, and daily and romantic life. This shift has been fuelled by the groundwork of massive amounts of data from the internet being collected, processed, and used to train AI systems. This raises important ethical questions about the quality of the data being used and the possible biases embedded in it, the right to privacy and ownership of those who contributed or created the data, and the environmental impact of the water and energy resources required to support the computational power needed to train and maintain these networks.
The module explores issues of bias, transparency, accountability, creativity, personal relationships, education, democracy, and power, and asks what it means to build and deploy AI systems responsibly. This module has been co‑designed by Dr Andy Kirton and Dr Paula Satne for students from any discipline. The module encourages students to think critically about the challenges and opportunities afforded by AI technology and does not require a technical or philosophical background. Whether you end up working with AI systems, regulating them, or simply living alongside them, the questions explored here will matter to you.
Taught this year by Dr Paula Satne, this module is open to students from across the university and requires no prior background in philosophy or ethics.