This doctoral program provides advanced training in managing questions of ethics in public life, drawing both on social science methodologies and on analytical methods of ethics and political philosophy. It builds on Carleton’s experience and strengths in interdisciplinary programming, in this case combining Philosophy (in Carleton’s Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences) with the various disciplines of Carleton’s Faculty of Public Affairs. The program’s interdisciplinary character and range distinguish it from other programs in applied ethics, which are in general taught mainly by philosophers and are discipline-specific. Most advanced applied ethics programs concentrate on a single area, such as bioethics, business ethics, global ethics, or environmental ethics. This PhD program will bring together students working on any ethics/public interface on which Carleton faculty have expertise. The program also provides training in the theory of organizational ethics and the practice of ethics officers by means of academic and practicum courses. Accordingly, the program will prepare its graduates for both academic and non-academic careers.

The 10-credit, four-year doctoral program and the associated 3.0-credit, two-year Master’s Diploma programs share a core course in the first year team-taught by one faculty member who has expertise in the social sciences and another who is expert in ethics or political philosophy. The programs then branch off from there. A parallel course, restricted to entering doctoral students, guides their first steps towards a viable research topic. The doctoral program also includes a mandatory practicum. The practicum is supported by a large network of ethics officers, practitioners, and consultants, and others who have interests and responsibilities for value-based work in government, civil society, and the private sector. In part, this network is represented by the Ethics Practitioners Association of Canada, which is headquartered in Ottawa.

The PhD program is made up as well of two comprehensive examinations and a thesis and defence component. Every doctoral student will be co-supervised by at least two faculty members who approach the student’s research topic from diverse perspectives but with complementary strengths.