Ethical Infrastructure Research Articles

Conflict of Interest: Legal and Ethical Aspects in Local Self-Government in Slovakia

Serving the public interest should be perceived as a fundamental goal of public administration. Regarding the complexity of social reality, various motives could influence public officials’ behaviour and decision-making. Conflict of interest is mostly discussed as an issue, which relates to activities of elected officials. In this sense, the paper concentrates on rules and standards connected with the conflict of interest, which have to be observed by the public officials. The paper tries to be an interdisciplinary insight and emphasizes the legal and ethical approaches to the examined issue. In this sense, the paper tries to examine the managing of risks and impacts of the examined issue at the local level of self-government in the Slovak Republic. The hypothesis is based on the precondition that ethical norms can define aspects of the conflict of interest more precisely than the relevant legal acts. In the paper, the methods of content analysis, abstraction, comparison and synthesis are involved. The benefit of paper is based on the finding that ethical norms could define important aspects of the conflict of interest more precisely than legal acts. The author presumes that complementarity of legal systems and ethical infrastructure could minimize contradictory and negative impacts of the conflict of interest. Based on this fact, local self-government units should adopt codes of ethics if they want to improve the managing of risks and impacts of the conflict of interest.

Antecedents of ethical infrastructures against workplace bullying

PurposeDrawing on the resource-based view, the purpose of this paper is to examine the extent to which the level of the organization’s human resource management (HRM) practices, perceived financial resources and organizational size predict the existence of a well-developed ethical infrastructure against workplace bullying.Design/methodology/approachThe human resource (HR) managers or the main health and safety representatives (HSRs) in 216 Norwegian municipalities responded to an electronic survey, representing some 50 percent of the municipalities.FindingsThe level of high-quality HRM practice predicted the existence of an ethical infrastructure against workplace bullying, particularly informal systems represented by a strong conflict management climate. Perceived financial resources did not predict the existence of such ethical infrastructure. Organizational size predicted the existence of policies and having training against bullying.Practical implicationsThis study informs practitioners about organizational resources associated with organization having a well-developed ethical infrastructure against workplace bullying. A high level of high-quality HRM practices seems to be more important for the existence of a well-developed ethical infrastructure against workplace bullying compared to financial resources and organizational size, at least as perceived by HR managers and HSRs.Originality/valueThis study provides empirical evidence for the importance of having a high level of high-quality HRM practices as predictors of the existence of ethical infrastructure to tackle workplace bullying. An essential finding is that the existence of such an infrastructure is not dependent on distal resources, such as organizational size and perceived financial resources.

Contextual determinants of HR professionals’ self-perceptions of unethical HRM practices

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to examine human resources (HR) professionals’ self-perceptions of ethically questionable human resource management (HRM) practices (i.e. disregard for the individual, favoring those in power and discrimination). The research sought specifically to determine how these perceptions are influenced by their organizations’ ethical infrastructure and corporate social responsibility (CSR) practices.Design/methodology/approachData were collected from 134 HR professionals using an anonymous structured questionnaire.FindingsThe scope of organizations’ ethics programs and the degree of importance given to developing an ethical infrastructure were found to predict the level of acceptance of unethical HRM practices related to discrimination. These practices are also less acceptable to professionals from organizations that are perceived as more socially responsible regarding their employees.Research limitations/implicationsAdditional studies with larger samples are needed to determine more clearly not only the influence of contextual determinants, but also the practical consequences of high levels of acceptance of unethical practices in HRM.Practical implicationsOrganizations can decrease their HR professionals’ acceptance of ethically questionable HRM practices by developing and emphasizing a strong ethical infrastructure and CSR practices, especially those affecting employees.Originality/valueHR professionals’ perceptions of ethical issues have rarely been analyzed using empirically tested methods. By surveying HR professionals, this study contributes to a fuller understanding of their perceptions regarding the ethics of their own practices. The results show that contextual determinants play an important role in predicting the level of acceptance of unethical HRM practices, especially those leading to discrimination.

The Ethical Underpinnings of World Class Universities

The public benefits of higher education have long been recognized. Higher education contributes to the public consensus; it transmits knowledge and attitudes toward the role of the citizen; and it may model good behavior in the face of controversy and sometimes intellectual acrimony. Great universities, perform these functions very well. This is among the reasons why attention has been paid to the characteristics of world class universities [1–3] as well as to the threats to university quality in the form of corruption in higher education. Attention has focused on the definition of corruption, the degree to which corruption occurs, and its economic impact [4–7]. This paper combines these lines of scholarship and explores the degree to which world class universities exhibit ethical qualities. The study defines ‘ethics’ in the management of a university. This includes mission statements which mention ethical issues, transparency in governance and fiscal affairs, codes of conduct for faculty, administrators and students, procedures for adjudication of infractions, and other elements. It then proposes a rating for the ethical infrastructure elements. Universities have been divided into two groups. First are universities listed on the Times Higher Education Supplement (THES) international ranking. The second are random samples of universities in countries which use English, Korean, Japanese, Georgian, Chinese, and Russian languages as the medium of instruction. The paper poses three questions. First, how common is it for internationally-ranked universities to exhibit ethical char-acteristics on their websites? The answer is unambiguous: 98 % of the world class universities have established an ethical infrastructure of some kind. Second, which areas of the world are more likely to have universities which exhibit a depth of ethical infrastructure elements on their websites? In terms of countries, the most comprehensive ethics infrastructure can be found in Britain, the U.S., and Japan. Lastly, what is the relationship between the level of international ranking and the depth of ethical ingredients? The strength of the relationship is weak, suggesting that the depth of ethnical infrastructure is not an important determinant of ranking. However given the fact that virtually all ranked THES universities, across 40 counties, mentioned ethical infrastructure elements, suggests that having an ethical infrastructure is an important ingredient associated with other elements in a university’s reputation.

Population Data Science: The science of data about people

IntroductionSocietal and individual benefits of data-intensive science are substantial but raise challenges of balancing individual privacy and public good, while building appropriate governance and socio-technical systems to support data-intensive science. We set out to define a new field of inquiry to move collective interests forward.
 Objectives and ApproachOur objectives were: 1. To create a concise definition of the emerging field of Population Data Science; 2. To highlight the characteristics and challenges of Population Data Science; 3. To differentiate Population Data Science from existing fields of data science and informatics; and 4. To discuss the implications and future opportunities for Population Data Science. Objectives 1 and 2 were met largely through International Population Data Linkage Network (IPDLN) member engagement, Objective 3 was evaluated via literature review, and Objective 4 was achieved through iterative and collective work on a peer-reviewed position paper.
 ResultsWe define Population Data Science succinctly as the science of data about people. It is related to, but distinct from, the fields of data science and informatics. A broader definition includes four characteristics of: i) data use for positive impact on individuals and populations; ii) bringing together and analyzing data from multiple sources; iii) identifying population-level insights; and iv) developing safe, privacy-sensitive and ethical infrastructure to support research. One implication of these characteristics is that few individuals or organisations possess all of the requisite knowledge and skills comprising Population Data Science, so this is by nature a multi-disciplinary “team science” field. There is a need to advance various aspects of science, such as data linkage technology, various forms of analytics, and methods of public engagement.
 Conclusion/ImplicationsThese implications are the beginnings of a research agenda for Population Data Science, which if approached as a collective field, will catalyze significant advances in our understanding of society, health, and human behavior and increase the impact of our research.

The Role of Supreme Audit Institutions in Promoting and Strengthening Ethics and Integrity in the Public Sector. Possible Models and Tools to Follow

This paper intends to provide an overview of the main concepts and issues concerning ethics infrastructure and associated components integrated into the internal management control, and of the role of SAIs in strengthening ethics and integrity, specific valuation models and tools of ethics and integrity in public entities. It also reflects the good practice and punctual approach of several relevant supreme audit institutions that managed to innovate in the field of analysis and assessment of risks and vulnerabilities specific to ethics and integrity in the public sector. As research methods used in this paper we mention: logical method, analysis and synthesis, as well as the documentary studies, especially developed and promoted by institutions and major organizations worldwide: United Nations - the UN, Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development - OECD, World Bank, International Organization of Supreme Audit Institutions - INTOSAI, relevant supreme audit institutions, and so on. The novelty of this paper is the highlight on the importance of ethics and integrity of public sector entities, trying to raise the awareness about the need for a functional ethical infrastructure and the illustration of possible approaches, models, and tools that can be used by external public audit institutions in evaluating ethics and integrity.

International Evidence on the Determinants of Organizational Ethical Vulnerability

AbstractThis paper proposes a model to explain what makes organizations ethically vulnerable. Drawing upon legitimacy, institutional, agency and individual moral reasoning theories we consider three sets of explanatory factors and examine their association with organizational ethical vulnerability. The three sets comprise external institutional context, internal corporate governance mechanisms and organizational ethical infrastructure. We combine these three sets of factors and develop an analytical framework for classifying ethical issues and propose a new model of organizational ethical vulnerability. We test our model on a sample of 253 firms that were involved in ethical misconduct and compare them with a matched sample of the same number of firms from 28 different countries. The results suggest that weak regulatory environment and internal corporate governance, combined with profitability warnings or losses in the preceding year, increase organizational ethical vulnerability. We find counterintuitive evidence suggesting that firms’ involvement in bribery and corruption prevention training programmes is positively associated with the likelihood of ethical vulnerability. By synthesizing insights about individual and corporate behaviour from multiple theories, this study extends existing analytical literature on business ethics. Our findings have implications for firms’ external regulatory settings, corporate governance mechanisms and organizational ethical infrastructure.

A Position Statement on Population Data Science: The Science of Data about People.

Information is increasingly digital, creating opportunities to respond to pressing issues about human populations using linked datasets that are large, complex, and diverse. The potential social and individual benefits that can come from data-intensive science are large, but raise challenges of balancing individual privacy and the public good, building appropriate socio-technical systems to support data-intensive science, and determining whether defining a new field of inquiry might help move those collective interests and activities forward. A combination of expert engagement, literature review, and iterative conversations led to our conclusion that defining the field of Population Data Science (challenge 3) will help address the other two challenges as well. We define Population Data Science succinctly as the science of data about people and note that it is related to but distinct from the fields of data science and informatics. A broader definition names four characteristics of: data use for positive impact on citizens and society; bringing together and analyzing data from multiple sources; finding population-level insights; and developing safe, privacy-sensitive and ethical infrastructure to support research. One implication of these characteristics is that few people possess all of the requisite knowledge and skills of Population Data Science, so this is by nature a multi-disciplinary field. Other implications include the need to advance various aspects of science, such as data linkage technology, various forms of analytics, and methods of public engagement. These implications are the beginnings of a research agenda for Population Data Science, which if approached as a collective field, can catalyze significant advances in our understanding of trends in society, health, and human behavior.

The Role of Shared Vision in the Effect of Perceived Code of Ethics on Corporate Reputation Management: A Study in the Banking Sector

Avoiding the pitfalls of unethical behaviour and establishing an ethical climate within the firm requires an ethical infrastructure. A code of ethics is increasingly a critical component of a firm’s ethical infrastructure that managers can employ (McKinney, Emerson, and Neubert, 2010: 507). Besides, the relevant literature points out that reputation of the company must be purposefully managed so that it becomes the best possible source of sustainable competitive advantage and potential for increasing corporate value (Wiedmann and Buxel, 2005: 146). The primary aim of this empirical study is to reveal the relationship among ethical codes (EC), corporate reputation management (CRM) and shared vision (SV). For this purpose, data were gathered from employees working in both state and private banks in Aksaray province. The participants of the study are 76 bank employees from 13 out of 30 bank branches located in the city centre. The findings of the study revealed that there is a strong relationship among all the variables. The hierarchical regression analysis showed that although SV has a positive and meaningful effect on corporate reputation, it does not moderate the relationship between EC and CRM. Findings are discussed and implications for future research are also presented in the study.

Ethics – Information or Giving-Form

There are three ways of introducing and actually using ethics in schools: the informative one, the formative one and the institutional one. The first is theoretical teaching ethics. The second refers to building. The third is related to the creation of ethical infrastructures. We shall advocate here for the second form and put it in contrast with the first which is considered today as the only one practicable in Romania. We refuse to admit that the role of the first years of human living is the most important period in the moral constitution of the child. In Romanian schools character building is almost inexistent. The profound root of this situation and the illusion that we did our best to change this state, is our incapacity to distinguish between giving a moral form to a human being and inform her on moral questions. The implications of adopting this distinction are vast: to reconsider the importance of kindergarten and of the initial learning as having a similar importance as higher education and therefore similar budgets and much more political support; rethinking the universities' mission and the kind of relations they have with the secondary schools; the role of family, church, schools and local community in the formation of strong moral characters; and most difficult, to assure the convergence of all these factors. How to cite: Muresan, V. (2017). Ethics - Information or Giving-Form?. Postmodern Openings , 8(1), 9-14, http://dx.doi.org/10.18662/po/2017.0801.01

Keeping David From Bathsheba: The Four-Star General’s Staff as Nathan

ABSTRACTReaders of reports on ethical failures by four-star general officers must wonder, “Don’t they have staffs to ensure that the general follows ethics rules?” The Department of Defense publishes robust ethics guidance in several documents; however, a staff’s best efforts to implement this guidance may fail to make an impression on a senior leader who is susceptible to the “Bathsheba syndrome,” an allusion to the biblical account where the prophet Nathan rebuked King David for his moral failings. This paper proposes a methodology to enable senior headquarters staffs to play the role of Nathan in supporting ethical behaviors by high-level officers. It examines the mechanisms that embed ethical behavior within members of those staffs in carrying out their three principal roles of advising, scheduling, and transporting the four-star officer. The authors offer a framework based on an ethical infrastructure of organizational climate that focuses the staff’s daily efforts to mitigate risk across seven ethical “danger areas” that threaten ethical failures by senior officers.

Ethical Infrastructure and Successful Handling of Workplace Bullying

<div class="page" title="Page 1"><div class="layoutArea"><div class="column">Antecedents and consequences of workplace bullying are well documented. However, the mea- sures taken against workplace bullying, and the effectiveness of such measures, have received less attention. This study addresses this knowledge gap by exploring the role of ethical infrastructure in perceived successful handling of reported workplace bullying. Ethical infrastructure refers to formal and informal systems that enable ethical behavior and disable unethical behavior in organizations. A survey was sent to HR managers and elected head safety representatives (HSRs) in all Norwegian municipality organizations. Overall, 216 organizations responded (response rate = 50.2 percent). The ethical infrastructure accounted for 39.4% of the variance in perceived suc- cessful handling of workplace bullying. Formal sanctions were the only unique and signi cant contributor to the perceived successful handling of workplace bullying. The results substantiate the argument that organizations’ ethical infrastructure relate to the HR managers and HSRs’ percep- tions regarding their organizations’ handling of workplace bullying. </div></div></div>

Ethical Infrastructure and Successful Handling of Workplace Bullying

Antecedents and consequences of workplace bullying are well documented. However, the mea- sures taken against workplace bullying, and the effectiveness of such measures, have received less attention. This study addresses this knowledge gap by exploring the role of ethical infrastructure in perceived successful handling of reported workplace bullying. Ethical infrastructure refers to formal and informal systems that enable ethical behavior and disable unethical behavior in organizations. A survey was sent to HR managers and elected head safety representatives (HSRs) in all Norwegian municipality organizations. Overall, 216 organizations responded (response rate = 50.2 percent). The ethical infrastructure accounted for 39.4% of the variance in perceived suc- cessful handling of workplace bullying. Formal sanctions were the only unique and signi cant contributor to the perceived successful handling of workplace bullying. The results substantiate the argument that organizations’ ethical infrastructure relate to the HR managers and HSRs’ percep- tions regarding their organizations’ handling of workplace bullying.

From ethical codes to ethical auditing: An ethical infrastructure for social responsibility communication

Organizations’ communication and social responsibility have been conceived and used as two completely separate areas, whose relationship is merely instrumental. This has led to a current lack of trust in the mechanisms and procedures of corporate social responsibility information. This article proposes an ethics of communication that defines how to ethically manage corporate social responsibility communication which is capable of specifying the relationships that link ethics, communication, and responsibility. The objective is to present the basic traits of new codes of ethics generation that include both compliance measures and their external verification by ethical auditing. The proposal is important because it establishes an ethical infrastructure from which to recover trust in corporate social responsibility communication. The employed methodology is reconstruction, based on Habermas’ Theory of Communicative Action, and also transparency and participation claims that result from discourse ethics.

Ethics and social responsibility in practice: interpreters and translators engaging with and beyond the professions

ABSTRACTInterpreting and translation are unregulated activities in most countries, yet interpreters and translators perform challenging work in sensitive domains, such as the law, medicine and social work. Other professionals working in these sectors must complete formal ethics training to qualify, then subscribe to Codes of Practice or Ethics. When they face ethical challenges in their work, they can access ongoing support. They must undertake regular refresher training in ethics. Interpreters and translators rarely have access to this sort of ethical infrastructure. This places the onus on interpreters and translators to reflect on ethical aspects of their practice, for reasons related to both professional performance and social responsibility.This contribution presents original UK-based research with one type of professional ‘clients’ who rely on interpreters and translators, social workers and social work students prior to their first work experience placement. Findings suggest that insufficient attention has been paid to such professional clients and that ethical aspects of professional communication can be compromised as a result. By framing ethics training and ongoing support in terms of social responsibility, we point to some ways in which the different professional groups might communicate and work more effectively with one another and with service users.

Ethically challenging situations faced by professional carers of people with dementia: training materials and the need for an organizational ethical infrastructure

Context, aims and objectives: Caring for people with dementia in an ethical manner is not an option but a fundamental component of good care. However, professional carers of people with dementia in care homes and hospital settings sometimes find themselves in situations in which it is hard to decide what, if anything, would be the right thing to do. It is particularly difficult to make such decisions when each possible option seems to be good for some people but not for others. In addition, professional carers may hold very different ideas about what is (morally) right or and on what basis a certain approach would or would not be ethically justifiable. Such issues are further complicated when acting ethically in the context of professional dementia care is incompatible with respecting established professional and institutional procedures or formal guidelines for care. Although the wellbeing of the person with dementia must be the central concern when providing care in care homes and hospitals, this must be balanced against other concerns related to the wellbeing and rights of other people such as informal carers (i.e. relatives and friends), co-residents with and without dementia and professional carers. In everyday practice, it can sometimes be a challenge to achieve this.Achieving ethical care and learning how to deal with such situations takes place in a particular working environment, which is affected by a range of factors such as staffing levels, skills and training, collaboration with colleagues, the hierarchical structure, budgets, laws and organisational procedures. Despite these constraints, which determine to some extent the range of actions options available to individuals and teams, health and social care professionals must accept personal responsibility for ethical care and address ethical dilemmas and challenging situations when encountered. To achieve this, they must be able to count on the support of their organisation. Ethical care must be a priority for those responsible for running the care homes and hospitals in which they provide care for people with dementia. It is essential that those responsible for the organisation/provision (rather than the direct/person-to-person delivery) of dementia care build an organisational ethical infrastructure (i.e. a general context/environment allowing ethical analysis and empowering professionals who have to tackle ethical dilemmas with skills and opportunities to share their thoughts).The objectives of this workshop are:1. to present a structured approach/training materials to tackle ethically sensitive situations in the professional care of people with dementia2. to promote discussion on the need for an organisational ethical infrastructure and what this should consist of.Target participants: The workshop is targeted at health and social care professionals involved in providing care to people with dementia in care homes or hospital settings, as well as at high level representatives of such organisations (e.g. those responsible for training, management and wellbeing of professional carers in those settings). Involving the two groups in the same discussion should help promote greater understanding of the needs and challenges of each in relation to the overall goal of providing ethical care, which is essential for person-centred care.Proposing structure and timing: The proposed workshop would be informal in style, starting with an overview of the challenges faced by professional carers, the need for guidance as well as a supportive organisation, and the proposed components to tackle ethically challenging situations (15 minutes). The group would then be asked to split up into two smaller groups, to reflect on a vignette of a ethically challenging situation and then to report back to the group. The larger group would then briefly discuss each presentation (20 minutes’ group work followed by two presentations/discussions of 10 minutes each). This would be followed by a facilitated discussion about the kind of support needed at the level of the organisation (10 minutes) and summing up (5 minutes)

An Analysis of the Ethics Infrastructure and Ethical Climate in Slovenian Public Administration

Abstract In consideration of the fact that public administrations worldwide face a number of challenges, many governments are dedicated to improving the ethical climate in public administrations. The same issue is also the focus of the attention of many transnational associations. The basic goal is to ensure the development of comparable ethical climates, ethical behaviour in different public administrations and to develop comparable, suitable ethics infrastructures to enable this. Modern public administrations must bring ethical conduct to the fore and resist unethical behaviour. There are different ideas on how to build ethics infrastructures in public administrations, and examples of good practice that could facilitate the development of such infrastructures are found in the public and private sectors of different countries. In this paper, we connect ethics infrastructures and ethical climates. The evaluation of Slovenia’s ethics infrastructures is based on the framework prepared by the OECD, using its questionnaire developed by Victor and Cullen. The results show that there is no general relationship between ethics infrastructures and ethical climates in public administrations. Nevertheless, some determinants of ethics infrastructures correlate to a high degree to the ethical climate, the strongest impact on ethics climates being the ethical infrastructure’s determinant “public involvement and scrutiny”.

Embedding Academic Integrity in Public Universities

Particular concern about academic ethics in higher education and research institutions (HERIs) in Lithuania was addressed in 2009 by the national decision to establish an Office of Ombudsman for Academic Ethics and Procedures (Office). The decision was taken during the approval of the revised Law on Higher Education and Research by the Parliament of Lithuania. Following two failed attempts to appoint an ombudsman, the Office began to function in 2014. Since then, the ombudsman, alongside other state institutions, has been empowered to implement national higher education and research policy. At the outset of the Office activity it is important to consider how public HERIs institutionalise academic integrity, i.e. how they create an ethical environment within the academic community and what means are used to support it further. Collecting data from codes of ethics, regulations of academic integrity committees and interviews, data analysis shows that academic values manifest unevenly in teaching/learning and research. Most efforts concern the behaviour of students rather than the behaviour of academic staff (teachers and researchers). Moreover, ethics infrastructure gives a misleading image, as it lacks harmony and compatibility, despite the fact that there is a myriad of means to foster ethical behaviour. Universities should make greater effort to connect academic values with operations in teaching/learning and research.

Etyczne podłoże postaw maklerów papierów wartościowych i doradców inwestycyjnych

Przedmiotem opracowania jest zbadanie doktrynalnych spoiw infrastruktury etycznej, które winny służyć zapewnieniu właściwej postawy moralnej profesjonalistom narażonym na pokusę przeprowadzenia transakcji spekulacyjnych. W szczególny sposób problem ten dotyczy osób zatrudnionych w sektorze usług finansowych na stanowisku maklera papierów wartościowych i doradcy inwestycyjnego. Obszar badawczy został celowo ograniczony do tendencji formalizacyjnych etyki oraz roli procesów kodyfikacyjnych w jej kształtowaniu. Przede wszystkim po to, by wykazać redundantny wpływ unormowań etycznych na wybrane elementy rozwoju moralnego człowieka. Nadto niniejsza praca kładzie akcent na pełniejsze, niż to było dotychczas, wyjaśnienie regularnie występujących niedociągnięć argumentacyjnych narosłych wokół instytucjonalizacji etyki zawodowej z uwypukleniem tych racji, które dezawuują jej znaczenie przy rozstrzyganiu dylematów moralnych. Naszkicowana problematyka została przedstawiona na podstawie aktualnego dorobku doktryny, włączając się w ten sposób w wartki nurt jej rozważań.

Ethical challenges at the science-policy interface: an ethical risk assessment and proposition of an ethical infrastructure

Developing an interface between knowledge holders, stakeholders and decision makers on biodiversity issues, just as any science-policy interface, will face many challenges. In the crucial endeavour to tackle all those challenges, determining an ethical course of actions will be essential to the prestige and credibility of such an interface. The paper identifies and assesses potential ethical risks that may arise in interactions between science, society and policy and uses the Network of Knowledge (NoK) process as an example to show how an ethical infrastructure could be developed for minimizing the ethical risks and their potential consequences. Indeed, when various actors from different spheres (politics, academia, lobbyism, media, etc.) are called upon to interact within one process as complex as the NoK, the integrity and credibility of the latter are at high risk of being compromised if the ethical risks are not adequately addressed. In order to limit those risks, which science-policy interfaces such as IPCC and IPBES have already encountered, we propose to set up an ethical governance infrastructure that will guide (and regulate) interactions among internal actors of the NoK (knowledge coordination body, secretariat, expert working groups, etc.) as well as with external actors (requesters, stakeholders, etc.). A thorough evaluation of the interaction between the actors for every step of the process is carried out and potential ethical risks are identified. Suggestions as to how the risks can be handled and prevented are presented and integrated as part of an ethical infrastructure. The main objective of the paper is to address how a science-policy interface and the scientific community as a whole would benefit from implementing ethical measures and instruments to help prevent sensitive issues and undesired consequences undermining credibility and legitimacy.