Project Overview

An increasing number of research disciplines and industry leaders embrace big data approaches as they pursue research questions and project development. However, the methods used to assemble large datasets, and their applications in decision-making contexts, challege existing ethical paradigms for data management, data integrity, human subject protections, and data use. In many fields, for example, aggregating data from different sources can make privacy protections for human subjects more complex, and raise questions about data ownership. Unfortunately, current attempts to identify and address these challenges are often focused within specific disciplines or corporate settings and offer little opportunity to integrate these evolving ethical concerns within master's and doctoral programs. 

To address the increasing use of big data in graduate student research and to prepare graduate deans as leaders in graduate training within their institutions, CGS and its partner, PERVADE (“Pervasive Data Ethics for Computational Research”), have received funding from the Office of Research Integrity (ORI) and Elsevier to host a 1.5 day workshop in June 2020. This workshop will convene thought leaders from the big data ethics community and graduate deans from research-intensive institutions to identify ways graduate deans can augment and influence the training of graduate students in meeting the challenges of using big data methods in their research. Workshop goals include identifying specific ethical challenges that arise from the use of big data methods in graduate student research, critiquing existing resources for training, identifying potential levers for change, and formulating strategies for deploying and embedding resources for big data ethics within the RCR training curriculum.

Press Release

CGS and PERVADE to Convene Thought Leaders on Ethical Issues in Big Data Research

Conference Information

Because of the uncertainties surrounding the resumption of public gatherings and travel, CGS and its partner PERVADE have postponed this workshop until February 7 and 8, 2021. The workshop will identify ways to enhance and influence the ethical training graduate students receive when using big data methods in their research and is supported by funding from the Office of Research Integrity (ORI) and Elsevier. More information about this workshop will be provided in Fall, 2020.

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