Photo by Nathan Dumlao on Unsplash
Codes of ethics are a background to many of our lives and individually we may be required to comply with many different codes. But what are they really for? They are most frequently brought out when wrongdoing is suspected, but could they also be positive forces for change in our complex, conflicted world?
Might overhauling the collective ethics of the built and natural environment sector be a means for the professions to develop a trusted role in society, en route to being part of the solution to environmental and social problems?
Recently the growing urgency for creating a safer, sustainable, equitable and prosperous world has led to arguments for such codes to deliver far more significant outcomes.
The debate will ask whether professional ethics:
· should be radically strengthened in the face of multiple, interdependent crises?
· can be framed to help professions play a more strategic role in society?
· might transcend professional, disciplinary, sectoral or national boundaries?
· should be used to encourage social transformation and betterment?
· potentially threaten the autonomy and moral agency of individual professionals?
Ethics is a sensitive, often contentious, and sometimes deeply personal issue. Yet, it is also societal, and frequently, a political or legal matter. It can unite and divide, empower and constrain, even discipline. It may be embodied in practice or ignored entirely. Ultimately, who is the ‘professional’; a self-interested, economic actor or someone responsible for navigating forces and obligations that extend far beyond their control?
Chair: Simon Foxell, the Edge & Author of Professionalism for the Built Environment
Speakers:
Dr Efrosyni Konstantinou, Director of Ethics at the Bartlett School of Sustainable Construction
Richard Bayfield, Vice President Institution of Civil Engineers (ICE), Chair Conflict Avoidance Coalition
Jeff Malpas, Emeritus Distinguished Professor, University of Tasmania
Venue: UCL, Room 225, Central House,
14 Upper Woburn Place, London WC1H 0NN
Time & date: 17.30 for 18.00 – 20.00, 14th April 2026 (in person only)
Event registration at: https://ED193-Professional_Ethics.eventbrite.co.uk