Abstract

Whilst history shares that engineering is a discipline practised in a social context with engineering projects contributing to the well-being of communities around the world, research is the lifeblood and future of any academic tradition and discipline and none more so than for engineering. The importance of academic, engineering research and its direct impact upon our daily life cannot be underestimated but what is providing cause for concern amongst ethicists, is the computer technology used by engineers to interpret, analyse, and communicate their results from their academic research with the wider academic community.

Whilst we can marvel at the design and utility of Brunel’s Clifton Suspension Bridge a first of its kind in Victorian times, have perhaps personally enjoyed the thrill of flying supersonic on Concorde, daily drive a car built by robots and make continual use of a laptop in our professional and personal life; we can equally appreciate the ground-breaking engineering research carried out by those involved in the Manhattan project and the way in which it was used to bring about an end to World War Two and the engineering research that led to landing a man safely on the moon in 1969. However, in so doing, perhaps what we have failed to consider is the level of direct human involvement in these engineering examples. Historically, academic engineering research has been facilitated by human interest and originality and the need through direct application of engineering breakthroughs to improve daily life. Such engineering innovation has undeniably been the direct result of human efforet, intellect, foresight and vision with technology playing a supporting role, rather than a leading role.

The importance of engineering research and its direct impact on our daily life cannot be underestimated. This paper examines the ethics of undertaking academic engineering research in contemporary times and the challenge artificial intelligence (AI) presents to the critical need to maintain academic excellence and intellectual and research integrity in the pedagogy and output of this academic discipline through human interest, abilities and facilitation.

Key words & Concepts: Intellectual integrity, engineering, research integrity, academic excellence, Artificial Intelligence (AI)