Organizations

Center for Humanities and Digital Research

The purpose of CHDR is to initiate and support both advanced research and teaching in the arts and humanities and interdisciplinary scholarship across the university. The institute provides space, resources, expertise, programming and digital research support for anyone seeking to:

• collaboratively address issues of central concern to our time and place,
• to connect history to the present,
• and to explore new ways of understanding, and educating others about, the diversity of cultures and ideas in our society and around the globe.

UCF Center for Ethics

The College of Arts & Humanities and the Department of Philosophy have partnered with the Office of Research to create and lead the UCF Center for Ethics. The faculty-driven Center for Ethics will sponsor research, lectures, conferences, and other academic projects that explore ethical issues from an interdisciplinary perspective. The work of the center will focus on important initiatives not only from the university and its colleges, schools and departments, but also other institutions and research centers.

Initiative for Ethics in Entertainment and Media

Together with the Nicholson School of Communication and Media and their Film and Digital Media Departments, as well as other university departments, the Initiative for Ethics in Entertainment and Media will focus on ethical issues that pertain to practices in the entertainment and news media. These include a wide range of questions about:

• the fair reporting of news and information
• journalistic integrity
• honesty in academic and scientific publications
• accuracy in the media representation of various viewpoints, including racial, gender, ethnic, religious and business perspectives
• privacy of information
• internet crime
• censorship

Initiative for Ethics in New Sciences and Technologies

Ethics in New Sciences and Technologies will be a specialized initiative to support research of ethical issues in nanoscience, genetic engineering, neurosciences, artificial intelligence and robotics, and space related sciences. This initiative will sponsor projects in:

• Nanoethics: the effects of nanoscience/nanotechnology on health, privacy, and quality of life. Nanoscience includes the possibility of sensory enhancement and protracted longevity, but also unintended consequences that may develop as the technology advances. The Philosophy Department already participates in NSF funded programs with AMPAC and with CREOL here at UCF, providing the Ethics in Research component of their Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU) programs.
• Bioethics: the effects of advances in biomedical sciences and research in genetics
• Neuroethics: the effects of research in the cognitive neurosciences and the technology of neuro-enhancement, issues that are closely related to questions about the nature of agency, free will and human interaction. Related issues in the cognitive sciences that involve advances in artificial intelligence, robotics, and group cognition will also be supported.
• Ethics in space sciences

UCF Philosophical Society

The UCF Philosophical Society was formed as an official UCF student organization in August 2002. There are regular meetings and new members are welcome from all disciplines. Please visit the Philosophical Society’s Facebook for more information.

The advisor for the UCF Philosophical Society is Michael Strawser. The officers are the president, vice president, treasurer and secretary.

Religious Studies Club

The Religious Studies Club mission is to spread knowledge and understanding of the various religions as well as cultures from all over the globe by offering an exciting way to meet new people and to truly look at every religion from different point of views.

For more information, visit their Facebook group.

UCF Ethics Bowl Team

The UCF Ethics Bowl team has been competing regionally and nationally since 2004. Teams compete by arguing the ethics of social, political and moral issues relevant to our world today, with an end goal of learning from both one’s own team and from the competing groups. The UCF Ethics Bowl team won the national Intercollegiate Ethics Bowl competition in 2011 and the Mid-Atlantic Regional in 2018. They have qualified to participate in the national competition in 2019.

To participate, contact Michael Strawser.

Killjoy Society

The Killjoy Society at UCF is a Womxn’s Philosophy Society at UCF. Meant to be a space where womyn are empowered to safely and confidently engage their academic philosophical pursuits, their mission is to “give voice and consideration to the marginalized in all realms of philosophy, and foster a communal approach to diverse idea sharing and constructive real-world problem solving.”

For more information, visit their Facebook group.