The ethical lens Trinity’s Professor of Ecumenics, Linda Hogan explains why campuses and workplaces are seeking ethical solutions to 21st century challenges L inda Hogan, Professor of Ecumenics, is in demand as an ethicist, both within the university and beyond: she represented Ireland in the negotiation of the UNESCO Recommendation on the Ethics of Artificial Intelligence. She has been high profile within the university since serving as vice-provost from 2011 to 2016 and running for the provostship in 2020, an experience she describes as ‘refreshing’ in that all three candidates were women, ‘which took gender off the table’ but ‘frustrating’ because it was during lockdown so the entire campaign took place online and she ‘missed the personal connection with people’. (She also has the distinction of being named, in the Sunday Times in 2013, as a potential candidate for first female cardinal, though the article went on to admit the unlikeliness of a ‘married feminist’ being appointed, however liberal the new pope). As Vice-Provost, she was known for getting difficult things done by building consensus, including rethinking the undergraduate curriculum and developing the new Strategic Plan. This leadership style, together with her disciplinary expertise in ethics, is what now sees her in such demand for initiatives across the campus. Ethics investigates the principles governing the moral evaluation of conduct and the practical reasons why people should act one way rather than another. While it has its roots in ancient philosophies and world religions, it has always had broad application to emerging issues – as a young lecturer in the early 1990s, Hogan
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