The Open University Ethics Centre

The environment... Globalisation... Poverty... War... Corporate fraud... New technologies...

Ethical debate has moved to the very top of the world agenda in the 21st century. We in the emerging global society urgently need:

• clarity on what we really think about the big ethical issues, and why
• empowerment to articulate our key core beliefs clearly in ethical debate, to play our part in global human development, and to challenge corruption, injustice, and suffering
• implementation of ethical ideals-ensuring that theory translates into practice by identifying social, corporate, and individual responsibilities, auditing aid programmes, diagnosing failures and analysing successes.

At the initiative of the Vice-Chancellor 2002-2009, Professor Brenda Gourley, The Open University established a visionary new international and interdisciplinary Ethics Centre which will meet these needs by:

• research to clarify our understanding of the key ethical concepts that we all use
• new courses, open to everyone, that use imaginative teaching methods and innovative e-resources to spread ethical understanding as widely as possible
• public debate at both national and international levels about the most pressing moral problems that our global society faces.

These objectives exactly fit The Open University's own agenda in research, education, business-leadership formation, and social justice. The Open University has a strong and expanding research culture, and a distinguished position at the cutting edge of electronic education technology. An Ethics Centre based at The Open University is perfectly placed to exploit these advantages to the full.

Professor Timothy Chappell, previously Director of the Arts and Humanities Research Council's Scottish Ethics Network, was appointed Director of the OU Ethics Centre in 2006. Under his direction the Centre is developing a range of potentially high-impact projects.

If you would like to make a donation to help the work of The Open University Ethics Centre, please follow the link for further information. Here you can find out how to make sure that your donation goes specifically to The Ethics Centre.