Navigating Ethics and Social Justice in Research

Ethical issues are central to academic research—but university ethics approval procedures can make questions of care, harm, fairness and accountability into a bureaucratic process that centres institutional liability. And as ethically troubling and potentially harmful research continues to be published in academic journals and books, it is clear that institutional ethics processes are necessary but not sufficient in ensuring that research does no harm and makes a positive contribution.

Often, the potential harm is in how research is reported in the media, or in (mis)interpretation and (mis)use by political actors. The value of scholarship in arts, humanities, and social science disciplines continues to be loudly denounced in public discourse by actors whose political and/or commercial interests are threatened by its conclusions and even its starting assumptions, as for example in high-profile reactions against critical race theory and gender studies.

Against this backdrop, it is vital that academics think about ethics and social justice beyond a tick-box exercise. This workshop will address questions such as:

• How do we identify our ethical and political commitments, and how do these inform our research agendas?
• To whom are we accountable in our scholarship?
• How should we negotiate our various responsibilities as researchers?
• When we produce academic knowledge, who do we speak (or write) for, with, to, and about?
• Can (and should) academic scholarship be activist - and if so, how?