Field specific research ethics & AM tool Ethics for science and technology, Seminar II Antonia Kotronia Robin Tyburski Lei Tian Belinda Pettersson Rimgard

Ethical dilemma Based on a real case… During your PhD you have a collaboration with a Professor X of another group, which is highly impressed by your work. Even so impressed that they ask that you transfer your studies to join their group rather than your own. However, you are happy with your current position and stay. When you are about to defend your thesis, Professor X is part of the initial committee (which verifies if your work is good enough to pass and have the actual defense). Professor X denies your work, stating it is insufficient and cannot be defended at its current state. You suspect it is due to "hurt feelings" for your declination of the position offer, but how do you circumvent this issue? How do you proceed with the defense?

Possible responses Confront Professor X immediately Talk to the thesis supervisor Revise the thesis according to the criticism Defend the thesis without the approval of Professor X Ask for Professor X to be removed from the committee Ask for help from the PhD student council Involve the media

Values & interests at stake Own personal reputation Own research career Collaborators/organizations involved in the research Professor X’s feelings Professor X’s career Reputation of the department

Collaborators/ organizations Autonomy matrix Problem owners: PhD student and Professor X The problem: The student believes that he/she can defend, but Professor X does not Personal reputation Research career Collaborators/ organizations X’s feelings X’s career Confront P: Correct X’s behavior, set an example R: Lose good reputation due to false assumptions P: Get to defend thesis and go on with other opportuni-ties R: Work not good enough P: Thesis is defended and so are the interests of all funding agencies/colla-borators R: Unsuccessful confrontation harms the collaborators P: Problem is resolved R: X’s attiude towards the PhD student gets worse P: X withdraws criticism and career is not harmed R: Unsuccessful confrontation will lead to challenging X publicly, career may be harmed

Collaborators/ organizations Personal reputation Research career Collaborators/ organizations X’s feelings X’s career Involve supervisor P: You receive help with the case R: Supervisor does not trust you P: Might make X change his mind, thesis is defended R: Further conflict can harm the student’s future career P: Defense and publication R: Further conflict leading to delay/cancellation of the defense harms the investors P: Conflict is resolved R: The involvement of the supervisor will lead to X being more upset P: At best remains unaffected by the supervisor’s involvement R: At worst, public questioning will harm X’s career Revise thesis P: Revision will most likely lead to being allowed to defend R: X may be stubborn and still an obstacle P: Further development of the work may improve the defense R: If the defense is blocked, the student’s career is harmed P: Better research quality is beneficial for collaborators R: Delay/cancellation of the defense harms the investors P: Revision of thesis resolves the conflict R: Perhaps X’s feelings and attitude will remain unchanged, time will be lost No effect

Collaborators/ organizations Personal reputation Research career Collaborators/ organizations X’s feelings X’s career Defend without approval P: Portrayed as brave, believing in own capabilities R: Portrayed as defiant and arrogant P: Get to defend thesis, save time R: Bad support & maybe not good enough P: Good if the thesis goes as planned and the response is positive R: Bad consequences if the work was really insufficient P: May be ok, if the thesis shows to hold the expected level R: May feel disrespected, harms further collaborations No effect Ask for X’s removal from the committee Not much reputation influence P: Good in case the thesis is successfully defended R: Bad if not good enough thesis, may take time to find a replacement for X P: Positive effect if this leads to the successful defense P: Less negative feelings, relief from responsibility R: May feel hurt P: Probably no effect R: Attitude of Professor X may be discussed among colleagues.

Collaborators/ organizations Personal reputation Research career Collaborators/ organizations X’s feelings X’s career Ask PhD council for help P: May get help & support R:The council does not really know the details P: Low influence P: Positive effect if thesis successfully defended R: Problem if help is given but the thesis is not good enough R: X’s attitude may be even worse, since the PhD student has nvolved external parts P: In best scenario unaffected R: May be harmed due to bad publicity Involve the media R: The reputation of the PhD will be affected, most likely negatively R: Career is affected, most likely negatively due to gossip R: The conflict goes public and this affects all the other people involved´. Since the situation is problematic the most likely outcome is bad publicity R: Most likely connected to a lot of negative feelings and pressure

Thank you for your attention! Questions?