Dr Alan Kearns, Professor Bert Gordijn, and Dr Gabriel Flynn Host the 30th Annual International Vincentian Business Ethics Conference (IVBEC)

Each year, the IVBEC welcomes leading academics, business professionals, and young scholars’ examination of and reflection on current ethical issues affecting businesses, as well as economic, political, and social life. This international conference was organised by the School of Theology, Philosophy, and Music in conjunction with the Institute of Ethics and DCU Business School.

The theme of the Conference was: ‘New Frontiers in Business Ethics’, and the campus of All Hallows provided a perfect setting to bring together scholars and practitioners from around the world to reflect on, and debate, various issues emerging from new innovations and technologies and their impact on society, from a business ethics perspective.

Plenary speakers were: Professor Janine Bosak (DCU Business School), Professor David G. Collings (Trinity College Dublin), Mr Colm Kincaid (Central Bank of Ireland), Dr Cristina Neesham (Newcastle University, UK), Professor James R. Otteson (University of Notre Dame, US) and Professor Alejo José G. Sison (University of Navarra, Spain).

The Fourth Industrial Revolution (Schwab 2016) is constantly reshaping our way of living, working, interacting in social and digital contexts, and it is impacting on healthcare, education, business, etc. New innovations bring along new ethical challenges and questions, relating to the purpose and use of these new technologies, their contribution to human flourishing and the good of society, and their availability to people globally. 

These ethical challenges must be systematically addressed, not only in everyday practice, but also in academic debate. In light of technological changes in the post-COVID-19 context, business ethics, as a discipline, is witnessing a renewal on a wide range of topic areas: What are the new relevant questions that business ethics needs to address? In the aftermath of various crises, how should business ethics critically respond and richly contribute to this pivotal moment in the history of humanity? Looking to the future, how can business ethics scholarship keep pace with continuous transformation?
 
Through plenary and parallel sessions, this conference provided a platform for reflective thinking, constructive dialogue, and for sharing of insights in order to address the proliferation of ethical questions and challenges in a rapidly changing world. The conference provided an opportunity to bring together scholars and practitioners from around the world to take time to reflect on and debate various issues from a business ethics perspective.