Report: Poland scoping visitAnna Pacholczyk, iSEI, University of Manchester

September 2012

Neurobiopsychology (Gdansk) professor Mariola Bidzan, director of Institute of Psychology

Cognitive science (Torun) dr Tomasz Komendzinski, Head of Studies

Cognitive Science (Poznan), dr Marisz Urabanski, Head of Studies

Cognitive Science (Krakow), professor Jozef Bremer, Director of the Institute of Cognitive Science, Neuroethics Lecturer: dr Stefan Florek, other staff

Cognitive Science (Lublin) professor Jacek Pasniczek, Head of Cognitive Science studies [telephone interview]

Where?

What kind of course?

Year Focus/strengths

Gdansk A 5-year BSc+MA, 2-year MA for biology graduates

2010 Neuropsychology, training students to work with patient groups

Lublin Starting a 3-year BSc course

2012 Linguistics and AI

Torun 3-year BSc course, starting a 2-year MA course

2009 neurorehabilitation

Poznan 5-year BSc+MA course

2007 Psychometrics, cogsci of intelligence in healthy population

Krakow A three-year BSc course

2009 Philosophy

To assess the state of ethics education, with particular focus on neuroethics and applied ethics

To learn from the experiences of ethics teaching

To assess exact needs as to teacher training, content, materials depending on teaching methods

To learn about attitudes towards ethics education

To assess the scope for co-operation, challenges and possibilities

Email or phone contact with basic information about the network and its aims followed by an interview (in one case a phone interview)

A semi-structured interview, with a marked scope for discussion

A more formal meeting usually followed by a less formal discussion part

Little formal teaching as a part of a separate course. Neuroethics not taught.

Caveat: in Krakow a Neuroethics an optional neuroethics course offered from this year onwards but, most probably, not start running due to low student interest

Ethical reasoning skills, research ethics mainly conveyed during courses preparing for empirical research and in supervisor-student contact when discussing research project. Virtue-based, professional ethics perspective.

A perceived need for more research ethics teaching on courses with a strong empirical component.

Ethics often perceived as an academic humanities subject, strongly connected to philosophy but with little application and utility for researchers. ‘Ethics? In my opinion it has nothing to do with cognitive science.’

On the one hand, there is a perception of ethics as a purely theoretical subject, on the other hand a recognition that there need to be more discussion about the ethical aspect of scientist’s work

E.g. There is a recognition that students are not prepared to go beyond compliance with ethical guidelines, and sometimes also struggle with compliance.

There is a fear that neuroethics as a subject would turn out to be a dry list of facts and ethical issues, in the best case only ‘raising awareness’ but fail to develop student’s skills

Various systems of ethical approval A need for more training for students

A recognition of lack of ethical expertise of members of ethics committees (beyond professional ethics)

A recognition of lack of more systematic knowledge about the ethical issues and social context about the members of committees

1. ethical questions that arise from neuroscientific orneurotechnological advances

2. Research ethics training3. moral reasoning skills4. social responsibility of researchers5. Legal and policy issues in neurocognitive

research6. right vs legal in neurocognitive research

Lack of expertise in teaching applied ethics; this exacerbated by reluctance to involve philosophers from other departments

Lack of materials to make courses ‘hands-on’, skill-focused

Lack of resources for developing staff’s skills

In some places: demographics+rigid organisational structure, course characteristics

students have some courses in English

Openness and readiness for co-operation

Cognitive science as a degree is very new in Poland with first course recruiting in 2007, so there is organisational flexibility

Some expertise in the neuroscience of morality

Good idea about desired learning outcomes

Poznan: an declaration of interest in introducing a optional neuroethics course on the third year if supported

Torun: a possibility of introducing an optional course and designing 1.5- year postgraduate diploma

There is lack of expertise and so training of staff would be needed.

Assess more carefully how our course can fulfil their needs with regard to expected learning outcomes

Provide materials

Think about teacher training- how? When?

Think about further funding – EU funding?

Don’ts Do’s

A purely philosophical, factual, sociological subject matter

An ideological agenda Only theoretical

considerations History of ethics or

bioethics, purely philosophical examination of concepts or dry facts about law, regulation

Mainly lectures Topics not related to

cognitive scientist work

Skills development: moral reasoning, analysing a situation from a moral point of view

Embedding moral reasoning in a legal and regulatory context

Focused on being directly applicable and action-guiding

Direct relevance to research- case studies, examples focused around area of research in the given institute

Developing the attitude of social responsibility

Training future ethics committee members

Transferable skills Connecting the knowledge

about ethical issues/regulation to what and how can be done