On the afternoon of March 25th, the College of Electrical Engineering held a lecture focused on maintaining academic integrity and ethics in Room 609 of the Electrical Engineering Building. Li Zetao, Dean of the college, hosted the lecture, which was attended by all of the college’s postgraduate students.
After exploring the etymology of the Greek word “Akademeia”, Li Zetao presented some ethics-related cases from real life experiences and discussed varying norms including: research criteria, ethical principles, citation requirements, annotation standards, and evaluation specification. According to Li, as research criteria is based on research results and aimed at innovation, issues of ethical concerns should not be overlooked in the quest for scientific discovery. He insisted that researchers should always cite original authors. This is how researchers show respect to scholars. In light of several infamous scandals related to Jan Hendrik Schön, Taira Kazunari, and Woo Suk Hwang, Li Zetao warned that students can cause irreversible consequences for themselves and society if they fail to maintain ethical honesty in the course of scientific research. He noted that academic standards are concerned with ethical principles which aim to pursue truth and objectivity. As a scholar, one should uphold academic standards and embrace a sense of obligation. He insisted that students should seek and explore knowledge with integrity and sincerity, rather than resorting to unethical alternatives.
Lastly, Li Zetao strongly urged students to feel proud of themselves as academic researchers and always stick to the moral values and ethical standards of the profession.
Text: Fan Luqin (College of Electrical Engineering)
Photography: Qin Dian
Chief Editor: Peng Yu
Translator: Li Xiaorong
Proofreading: Zoe Novak, Zhou Jie
