Programme / Ethical Engineering for Social Justice

This session will address current concerns of Social Justice and ethical challenges arising from the rapid advances in technology.  Reporting on major initiatives taken by the IEEE, leading engineers from the IEEE will share their views on fostering Social Justice and seeking answers to current issues related to ethical assurance and problems ranging from the rise of artificial intelligence to emerging issues in the development of standards supporting Ethical Design. These will be augmented by presentations by young South Africans on contemporary problems, social justices and ethical challenges being faced in the development and  implementation of technologies and their embedding in social moirés.

The session will consist of the following four presentations, followed by a panel discussion. The presentations will cover the following topics:

1. The latest advances on technology ethics and two IEEE initiatives namely: IEEE 7000 Standard, and the Ethics Certification Programme for Autonomous Intelligent Systems (ECPAIS).  
2. The Competency Framework for practitioners in the Ethics Certification Programme for Autonomous Intelligent Systems (ECPAIS), reflecting good Social Justice practice. 
3. The results of research work for the creation of an inclusive, diverse, and values- and ethics-driven framework for adopting, developing, using or operating, and managing Autonomous Intelligent Systems (AIS) in organizations and settings of all sizes.

Technology is used to support and empower communities with the skills and insights to fully participate in effecting Social Justice, and thus stabilizing and growing their communities. Communities, once empowered, can use data to drive social changes directly, and as a resource that can be used to collaborate with government, local NGOs, and global partners to effect Social Justice.