Ethics/Human Values

SSIT Technical Committee on Ethics & Human Values

Committee Statement of Purpose

Ethical decision-making, behavior, and practices are integral to engineering, and they hold heightened significance for an organization with a mission “to foster technological innovation and excellence for the benefit of humanity” (IEEE). The SSIT Technical Committee on Ethics & Human Values encourages engineers to reflect on and act in accordance with their ethical and other professional responsibilities, and to center human values in their decision-making processes both within the workplace and beyond.

Committee activities focus on fostering engagement with ethical issues relevant to IEEE/SSIT members’ fields of interest, the broader engineering community, and the public. Such issues include but are not limited to:
• ethical practices in the workplace,
• the ethics of research and innovation,
• the ethics of technology design, development, deployment, and use,
• engineering and technology ethics education, and
• the role of engineers, technologists, and relevant organizations in addressing ethical issues and public policy.

The Committee strives to create forums for examining ethical issues pertaining to technology and society. It supports educational, outreach, and other professional development activities of interest to students, educators, researchers, industry practitioners, policymakers, and others across different career types, fields, and geographic regions. The Committee promotes awareness of and communication about ethics and human values in all IEEE regions and in cooperation with other IEEE entities and related professional societies.

We welcome all who are interested in ethical issues related to technology and its societal implications to engage in the conversation.

Revised: 3 October 2025

Committee Membership includes: