Ethics Institutes, Centers, and Foundations
Character is the only secure foundation of the state.
The Center engages in research, education and advocacy to foster the development of character, democratic citizenship and civil society.
The Self, Motivation & Virtue (SMV) Project was a 3-year research initiative supporting innovative, interdisciplinary research on the moral self. Its goal was to fund cutting-edge scholarship on virtue and moral development, with a special focus on exploring new ways of measuring virtue and how it develops in humans.
Character Scotland is an educational charity formed in 2009 by a group of academics, educationalists, entrepreneurs and parents for the purpose of promoting the development of character in young people and intentional character education in schools.
The Kennedy Institute of Ethics at Georgetown University helped to invent the field of bioethics, beginning a tradition of creative leadership in practical ethics that continues into the twenty-first century.
The Ethics Institute at Kent Place School is a first-of-its-kind Institute at the primary and secondary school levels. We believe promoting the process and practice of ethical thinking and ethical decision-making in the youngest of children prepares them to be the most effective leaders and compassionate citizens of tomorrow.
The Religious Ethics Area is concerned with the meaning, merits, and validity of religion for the lives of human and non-human animals and the ordering of societies and ecosystems.
Inspired by our motto, Pro Humanitate – for humanity – Wake Forest aspires to educate leaders and citizens of character. For the past seven years, our faculty have been among the world’s experts in the study of character. The Program for Leadership and Character is now using this cutting-edge research to develop creative, liberal arts-based programming to transform the lives of our students.
Character Lab is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization founded in 2013 by one scientist and two educators: Angela Duckworth, author of Grit: The Power of Passion and Perseverance and the Christopher H. Browne Distinguished Professor of Psychology at the University of Pennsylvania; Dave Levin, co-founder of the KIPP public charter schools; and Dominic Randolph, Head of School at Riverdale Country School. Our mission: to advance the science and practice of character development.
The Parr Center for Ethics is the public face of the University’s commitment to research, teaching, and conversation about ethics. We organize a wide range of events each year—from public talks by some of the world’s leading scholars to discussions in elementary schools and senior centers—aimed at advancing our understanding of moral questions and our ability to live ethically together. We’re also home to both the North Carolina and the National High School Ethics Bowl.
As an ethics center in a Jesuit university, we have a special interest in the role of religion in ethics and the formation of moral character. We offer dialogue, research, and curriculum across a wide range of religious traditions. We provide a free Faith Formation (Catechesis) curriculum to foster religious development and character building. The lesson plans use picture storybooks and experiential learning to promote moral values and ethical behavior.
Led by Cardiff Law School and based at Cardiff University, this virtual centre connects researchers and practitioners in medicine, science, information technology, the social sciences and humanities. The Centre, pioneered by Dr Jennifer Gunning, was launched in January 2003 and is committed to providing a virtual learning environment for the cross-disciplinary teaching of ethics. In March 2004, Professor Søren Holm joined CCELS as its first Director. In December 2009 Dr Nicky Priaulx was appointed as its new Director. Its series Ethics, Law and Society is published by Ashgate.
The mission of the Center for Character and Social Responsibility is to support the professional development of individuals and institutions which seek to expand their awareness, knowledge, and skills in the areas of character development and social responsibility consistent with principles of healthy personal development.
The Center for Applied Christian Ethics (CACE) supports the mission of Wheaton College by promoting and encouraging the formation of moral character and the application of biblical ethics to contemporary moral decisions.
The Ethics Institute exists to serve the needs of the Dartmouth community as well as the larger academic community, through research and dialogue on emerging ethical issues.
An interdisciplinary “think and do” tank committed to promoting moral reflection and commitment, conducting interdisciplinary research, and shaping policy and practice.
An international leader in the exploration of ethics, the Emory Center for Ethics is dedicated to exploring how ethical issues underlie the decisions that shape our minds, lives, and society. To do so, scholars from across the university gather at the Center to collaborate and study. The Center also hosts public programs, partners and consults with private and public community organizations, and teaches students at every level of university life. The Center is committed to asking tough questions and developing strategies to help enable people and organizations put ethics into practice.
Founded in 1976, the Ethics and Public Policy Center is Washington, D.C.’s premier institute dedicated to applying the Judeo-Christian moral tradition to critical issues of public policy. From the Cold War to the war on terrorism, from disputes over the role of religion in public life to battles over the nature of the family, EPPC and its scholars have consistently sought to defend the great Western ethical imperatives—respect for the inherent dignity of the human person, individual freedom and responsibility, justice, the rule of law, and limited government.
The Ethics Resource Center (ERC) is a private, nonprofit organization devoted to independent research and the advancement of high ethical standards and practices in public and private institutions. For 89 years ERC has been a resource for institutions committed to a strong ethical culture.
The Edmond J. Safra Center for Ethics seeks to advance teaching and research on ethical issues in public life. Widespread ethical lapses of leaders in government, business and other professions prompt demands for more and better moral education. More fundamentally, the increasing complexity of public life - the scale and range of problems and the variety of knowledge required to deal with them - make ethical issues more difficult, even for men and women of good moral character. Not only are the ethical issues we face more complex, but the people we face them with are more diverse, increasing the frequency and intensity of our ethical disagreements.
The Poynter Center is an endowed ethics research center at Indiana University Bloomington. The Poynter Center is dedicated to studying a broad range of ethical issues in American public life. Interdisciplinary in aim, the center uses the full resources of Indiana University to initiate research and teaching across traditional academic boundaries.
The Institute for Communitarian Policy Studies at The George Washington University, the nation’s leading center for communitarian policy research, is a nonpartisan research organization dedicated to finding constructive solutions to social problems through morally informed policy analysis and open moral dialogue.
Founded by Dr. Rushworth M. Kidder in 1990, the Institute for Global Ethics (IGE) is an independent, nonsectarian, nonpartisan, 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization dedicated to promoting ethical action in a global context. Our challenge is to explore the global common ground of values, elevate awareness of ethics, provide practical tools for making ethical decisions, and encourage moral actions based on those decisions.
Josephson Institute develops and delivers services and materials to increase ethical commitment, competence, and practice in all segments of society. A nonpartisan and nonsectarian 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, the Institute is funded by individual donations, foundation and corporate grants, fees and contributions for services, and sales of educational resources. The Institute also works collaboratively with influential organizations and individuals in a variety of fields.
The Markkula Center for Applied Ethics, located at Santa Clara University in Silicon Valley, California, provides resources for analyzing real-world ethical issues and develops tools to address them.
The Notre Dame Center for Ethics and Culture is the leading center for scholarly reflection within the Catholic intellectual and moral tradition.
Established in 1990 through the generosity of Laurance S. Rockefeller ‘32, the University Center for Human Values fosters ongoing inquiry into important ethical issues in private and public life and supports teaching, research, and discussion of ethics and human values throughout the curriculum and across the disciplines at Princeton University.
The Maguire Center for Ethics and Public Responsibility is a university-wide center that supports student and faculty ethics-related education and activities, as well as outreach to community, private and public institutions.
Imagine a place where great minds are brought together to confront the problems of the day, where original interdisciplinary thinking is the norm, where ideas can change our world. The Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences (CASBS) is such a place. As technologies have become smarter, and as globalization, immigration, and other events transform social practices, behavioral science is increasingly important for predicting future developments and understanding their impact. At CASBS, we make behavioral science relevant.
St James Ethics Centre is a centre for applied ethics serving as an independent reference point in the ethical landscape. The Ethics Centre's mission is to encourage and assist individuals and organisations to include the ethical dimension in their daily lives, We seek a (better) world where people have the capacity to do the right thing.
The Murphy Institute seeks to educate students and the interested general public in the understanding and analysis of the most challenging economic, moral, and political problems of our time; to support and advance the finest applied research in public policy, public affairs, civic engagement; and to inspire and inform all of its constituencies through its programs, scholarship, instruction, and events with the objective of advancing human prosperity and well-being.
The Center for Values and Social Policy was founded in 1980 in order to bring the resources of philosophical analysis to bear on matters of social philosophy. The concerns of the Center include both theoretical and applied topics in moral, social, political, and legal philosophy. The Center is unique among ethics centers in that it is tied directly to the philosophy department and so encourages robust debate not only on the applied questions, but also on foundational metaethical concerns.
Founded in 1996, the School of Law's Center for Ethics and Public Service (CEPS) is an interdisciplinary program devoted to the values of ethical judgment, professional responsibility, and public service in law and society.
Founded in February 1984 by decisions of the Faculty of Arts, the Senate and the University Court, the Centre is in its fourth decade of operation. It is the oldest university centre or institute for philosophy, ethics and policy in the United Kingdom and has served as a model for similar institutes elsewhere in the UK and internationally.
The mission of the Center for Ethics is to provide educational and professional resources to promote ethical systems and individual responsibility in the academic and greater business community through close interaction with the University.
The Centre for Ethics at the University of Toronto is an interdisciplinary centre aimed at advancing teaching and research in the field of ethics, broadly defined. The Centre seeks to bring together the theoretical and practical knowledge of diverse scholars, students, public servants and social leaders in order to increase understanding of the ethical dimensions of individual, social, and political life.
The Center for the Study of Ethics (CSE) is a unit of the Office of Academic Affairs. The purpose of the CSE is to promote the study of interdisciplinary ethics. Interdisciplinary ethics includes traditional moral philosophy and the integration of theory and practice across the disciplines and professions. Center activities include public forums and extra-curricular support of faculty and student scholarship.
The Center for Ethics at Vanderbilt exists to promote increased attention to the ethical issues and problems that people face in their everyday and professional lives, providing Vanderbilt and its local, national, and international communities with opportunities to develop a greater range of ethical awareness, an intensification of ethical sensibility, and imaginative strategies for responding to ethical problems and conflicts.
The purpose of WMU's Center for the Study of Ethics is to encourage and support research, teaching, and service to the university and community in areas of applied and professional ethics. These areas include, but are not restricted to: business, education, engineering, government, health and human services, law, media, medicine, science and technology.
The Kegley Institute of Ethics believes that quality teaching in ethics requires a commitment to understanding more than theory alone. Teachers and students alike must experience ethical dilemmas as they occur in real world settings. Thus one major task of the Institute is to maintain internship-type arrangements in business, medical, educational, and media environments. Further, Institute Associates regularly provide workshops on ethics education for both business and campus organizations. Associates are also frequently called upon to give guest lectures for groups ranging from the Sixty Plus Club to hospital residents to business administration classes.
The mission of the International Center for Ethics, Justice, and Public Life is to develop effective responses to conflict and injustice by offering innovative approaches to coexistence, strengthening the work of international courts, and encouraging ethical practice in civic and professional life.
