Robust Training for Aspiring Researchers
PhD students who are working in one of the 4 philosophy departments of the 4TUs are invited to become members of the 4TU.Ethics Graduate School for the duration of their studies. The 4TU.Ethics Graduate School aims to provide an excellent research-oriented education for its PhD students, and recognizes that they have varying needs (given the diversity of research projects in the Centre) and also often face additional educational requirements (by their local graduate schools). Hence we aim to provide an educational program that is flexible in terms of content and limited in size while providing robust training for aspiring researchers and professionals in the ethics of technology.
Becoming a member
To become a member of the 4TU.Centre for Ethics and Technology a PhD student needs to take both core courses, CC1 Philosophies of Technology and CC2 Writing retreat. The writing retreat needs to be taken twice. In addition, the student needs to take at least one of the listed courses (LC). You can find the full overview below.
In order to apply for membership a PhD student needs to send their Learning & Development Plan listing all the courses they intend to take to .
Planned courses
CC2 Writing Retreat June 2022
June 13 - June 17LC6 Good Technology for Users and Society
September 5 - October 24LC8 Design for Values
September 12 - September 16LC1 Philosophy of Risk
October 31 - November 4CC2 Writing Retreat Nov 2022
November 7 - November 11LC3 Philosophy of Mind, Body and Technology
November 14 - February 3, 2023LC4 Anticipation and Assessment of Emerging Technologies
November 19 - February 3, 2023LC2 Philosophy of Responsible Innovation
January 11, 2023 - January 21, 2023LC5 Continental Philosophy of Technoscience
March 20, 2023 - March 31, 2023CC1 Philosophies of Technology
May 15, 2023 @ 10:00 AM - May 26, 2023 @ 4:30 PMCC2 Writing retreat June 2023
June 5, 2023 - June 9, 2023CC2 Writing retreat Nov 2023
November 6, 2023 - November 10, 20234TU.Ethics Graduate School Course Calendar 2022/2023
» See here the 4TU.Ethics Graduate School Course Calendar 2022/2023Programme structure
The full program for a PhD student in the 4TU.Ethics Graduate School consists of several courses of 5 ECTS each (CC2, the Annual Writing Retreat is 2.5 ECTS and therefore needs to be taken twice). Two courses are mandatory ("the core courses" CC1 and CC2). From the Listed courses (LC) the student needs to choose at least one course. If a student wants to become a member of the graduate school, they need to send their Learning & Development Plan listing all the courses they intend to take to .
These courses are to provide all Ph.D. students in the 4TU.Ethics Graduate School with a common knowledge and skills base as ethicists of technology. In addition, they serve a social purpose in building the community, since all Ph.D. students of a single cohort will be taking these courses together. We are currently working on updating the course schedule.
These courses allow Ph.D. students to extend their knowledge of ethics of technology, while providing flexibility, in recognition of the differences in project topics and student background. Ph.D. students are required to choose at least one course from this list of courses specified by 4TU.Ethics.
LC2 Philosophy of Responsible Innovation (WUR/TUD)
LC3 Philosophy of Mind, Body and Technology (TUD)
LC4 Anticipation and Assessment of Emerging Technologies (UT)
LC5 Continental Philosophy of Technoscience (WUR)
Ph.D. students enrolled in the 4TU.Ethics Graduate School are expected to take part in 4TU.Ethics activities (such as the annual Ph.D. Day and the biennially Research Day) as well as local activities (such as group seminars and reading groups) that could be considered educational. Although participation in such activities is beneficial and strongly encouraged, we do not formally consider them part of the 4TU.Ethics credit-based education programme.
It is possible for PhD students to follow courses of other graduate schools that are on our 'whitelist'. However, first permission needs to be granted by graduate school director Vincent Blok. Our whitelist currently consisting of:
The Dutch Research School of Philosophy
Netherlands Graduate Research School of Science, Technology and Modern Culture