​The Joint Meeting of Directors of the Key Ethics Research Institutes of the Ministry of Education

 (China Ethics Online) On October 11th in the evening, at the check-in time of the first Guojie Forum and the award conference for the second Luo Guojie Ethics Education Fund, the Research Center of Ethics and Moral Construction of Renmin University of China, key research base of the Ministry of Education, held the joint meeting of the directors of all key ethics research institutes. Attendees include Professor Cao Gang, the director of the Research Center of Ethics and Moral Construction of Renmin University of China; Professor Jiao Guocheng, the director of academic committee of the center; Associate Professor Zhang Xiao, the vice director of the center; Associate Professor Wang Fuling, the office director of the center; and Professor Wang Xiaoxi, the director of the Institute for Economic Ethics; Professor Qiao Farong, the director of the Institute for Enterprise Ethics; Professor Li Yitian, the director of the Institute for Marxist Ethics; Professor Li Jianhua, the director of the Institute for Political Ethics; Lu Chunyang, the director of the Institute for Professional Ethics; Researcher Qiu Renzong, the director of the Institute for Bioethics; Professor Wang Lulu, the director of the Institute for Rural Morality and Cultural Revitalization; Researcher Sui Yan, the director of the Institute for World Folk Culture; Professor Li Lun, the director of the Institute for Ethics of Science and Technology. 

Director Cao Gang awarded the appointment letters to the directors. Director Cao Gang first thanked the institutes for their great contributions to the center’s academic research and social services. Cao Gang said, under the support of the institutes, the Research Center of Ethics and Moral Construction has held or held in cooperation a series of academic conference brands, such as the National Economics Ethics Seminar, the Political Ethics Seminar, the Marxist Ethics Forum, the Beijing Bioethics Forum, etc. A series of platform for display of achievements were founded, such as Chinese Ethics Yearbook, Marxism and Ethics, Chinese Social Moral Development Research Report, East Asian Philosophy of Journal, publishing a number of influential academic achievements. A sequences of social service activities were launched, such as China-Asean Folk Culture Forum, Beijing Humboldt Education Forum, etc. The influence of the Research Center of Ethics and Moral Construction has been continually enhanced. All institutes are expected to continue to support the work of the center, and build it into an academic center for ethics research. 

Professor Jiao Guocheng reviewed the history of the Research Center of Ethics and Moral Construction. With the powerful support from all directors, a good long-term development plan and phased tasks will be made. The Guojie Forum, Luo Guojie Ethics Education Fun and other research work will make solid progress. And the ethical research undertaking initiated by Mr. Luo Guojie will be pushed forward. 

Professor Wang Xiaoxi summarized and reported the work of the Institute for Economic Ethics in recent years. He said that related works published by the institute are all marked as funded and supported by the base. And the yearbooks of China's Economic Ethics, published for many years, have become quite impressive. It is hoped that the base can further support the institute. They can specially design major subjects for the base, and employ a group of adjunct professors in the name of the base to further strengthen the research strength. 

Professor Qiao Farong said, the Institute for Enterprise Ethics is set in Henan University of Economics and Law, which has greatly promoted the discipline construction, scientific research and social service of the school. It is hoped that the base can further clarify the responsibilities and rights of the institute, strengthen the support, especially to support a group of young people and encourage them to actively participate in the academic work of the institute. 

Professor Li Yitian said, since the establishment of the institute for Marxist Ethics, they mainly accomplished ‘five ones’: Firstly, one forum, the National Marxist Ethics Thoughts Seminar, has been held for five times; Secondly, one journal, the Marxism and Ethics, the first issue of which has been published; Thirdly, one set of books, A Series of Books on Marxist Ethics in the New Era, a sequences of books of which have been published; Fourthly, one project, The History of Marxism Ethical Thoughts, a major project of National Social Science Fund; Fifthly, one team, a number of researchers were accumulated around the project. 

Professor Li Jianhua said, gathering related research strength of political ethics from scientific research units in universities and colleges over the nationwide, the Institute for Political Ethics has established a website and opened an official account on Wechat platform called ‘Ethics and Publicity’ and a series of publications named ‘Ethics and Public Affairs’. They hope in the future the base can issue a management method of the second-level research institute, strengthen the support to the institute, and also strengthen the human resources development, so that the second-level research institute can have successors. 

Director Lu Chunyang said, it is the mission of the Institute for Professional Ethics to promote the application and empirical research of occupational ethics, improve the ethical spirit of professional groups in various industries, accumulate the benefits of humanity, promote the research of occupational ethics facing the majority of vocational colleges, develop a series of teaching materials on professional ethics, and promote the formation of codes of professional ethics in various industries. It is hoped that the base can pay more attention to professional ethics and devote more resources to vocational colleges. 

Researcher Qiu Renzong said, after the establishment of Institute for Bioethics, Beijing Bioethics Research Forum was opened, and a research platform for bioethics was preliminarily established. Later, their research will focus on cutting-edge technology such as gene editing, medical artificial intelligence and robot, synthetic biology, neural ethics as well as problems related to public health. They will launch a series of books towards medical and clinical workers, integrate strength over nationwide, hire some adjunct researchers to advance the study of bioethics. 

Professor Wang Lulu said, since the establishment of the Institute for Rural Morality and Cultural Revitalization, closely relying on the research strength of Nanjing Normal University in the rural area, a research team has opened an official account on the Wechat platform named ‘Morality and Culture in the Rural Area’. A lot of field work has been carried out on rural issues. They plan to hold an academic forum in the first half of next year. 

Researcher Sui Yan said that since its establishment, the Institute for World Folk Culture has co-organized activities on China-Asean Folk Culture, prepared for the establishment of the ‘Encyclopedia of World Folk Culture’, and invited ambassadors abroad to launch a series interviews and reports on ‘Ambassadors Talk about the World’ to gradually enhance its social influence. In the future, it is planned to employ leaders of traditional culture at home and abroad, inheritors of intangible cultural heritage as adjunct researchers to gather a group of representatives of traditional culture and enhance the strength of the institute. 

Professor Li Lun said that as the youngest institute of the base, the Institute for Ethics of Science and Technology will rely on Dalian University of Technology, a university with expertise in engineering, pay attention to the construction of interdisciplines, focus on the development of humanities and social sciences with its own characteristics. Since its establishment in June this year, a seminar of big data ethics has been held in the name of the institute, and the sixth Cyber Ethics Seminar will be held in the future. It is hoped that the base will increase its support and recommend professors to deliver lectures in Dalian University of Technology. 

It is known that the Research Center of Ethics and Moral Construction of Renmin University of China is established in 2000. It is one of the Hundred Key Research bases of Humanities and Social Sciences of the Ministry of Education. Nine sub-institutes of the center includes the Institute for Economic Ethics, the Institute for Enterprise Ethics, the Institute for Marxist Ethics, the Institute for Political Ethics, the Institute for Professional Ethics, the Institute for Bioethics, the Institute for Rural Morality and Cultural Revitalization, the Institute for World Folk Culture and the Institute for Ethics of Science and Technology. It is a collaborative innovation center for cross-university and cross-disciplinary research.