Context & Challenge
Design ethics is often taught as theory, with frameworks, principles and checklists. What students rarely get is a practitioner showing them how it actually plays out in the messy middle of real work. This lecture was built around that gap: using a live current dilemma from my own practice at UNICEF as the opening case, before moving into landmark examples of design decisions that travelled into policy and law.
My approach
The session opened with a live poll asking students how responsible they felt for their project's impact. Results were shown live, then revisited at the end. More than an ice breaker, the poll provided important insights abotu the shift of perception that the session would bring to the participants.
before and after results, clear positive trend towards more responsible and ethical practice
The central case study traced the ripple effect of the infinite scroll mechanism from one engineer's decision to Brazil's 2026 national ban. The case was presented and followed by a practical activy, where the students were invited to map intended, unintended, and potentially catastrophic consequences using the Consequence Scanning tool.
Impact in numbers
- from 33% to 80% of participants reported responsible design as an active part of their decision-making at the start of the session