NIEE proudly served as a technical cosponsor for the IEEE ETHICS-2023 conference, held May 18-20, 2023 at Purdue University in West Lafayette, IN. For those wishing to discover (or rediscover) some of the excellent scholarship presented and discussed at this event, you can find the conference proceedings on the IEEE Xplore platform. Additionally, the IEEE TechEthics group recorded a panel session during the conference, which is now available on the IEEE.tv platform: 4 + 1: The Impacts of Academia, Economics, Government and Civil Society on Sustainable Development. We hope you will explore these resources, and also keep an eye on this space for future event and initiative announcements!

A recent poll carried out by Gallup, Inc. found notable declines in public perceptions of “honesty and ethical standards” across 23 professions. In 2019, 66% of respondents rated engineers as high or very high on the scale, falling to 60% in 2023. Engineers maintained their position as the second most trusted group on the list, second only to nurses (falling from 85% to 78% over the same period) and just ahead of dentists, medical doctors, and pharmacists. Ratings for college teachers took a larger dip, falling from 49% (2019) to 42% (2023). The results also show notable differences in ratings based on the educational attainment and political orientation of survey respondents. For more details, see Gallup’s summary: Ethics Ratings of Nearly All Professions Down in U.S.