Teaching AI and data ethics in an ‘Ethics and Governance’ Master’s course

This paper describes the design and delivery of the stand-alone “Ethics and Governance” course at the University of Greenwich (United Kingdom), initiated as part of the novel MSc degree “Data Science and its Applications.” Grounded in intersectional feminist tradition, the aim of the course was to help students evaluate the broader societal and systemic implications of data-driven technologies. This is a necessary ability for data scientists since these technologies have been shown to embed and exacerbate existing social inequalities. Here, we describe our approach and the constitutive elements of the course—in particular, its interactive and discussion-based setup, the use of a diverse set of ethical and critical theories, the focus on power dynamics, and the emphasis on participatory approaches. We then offer some reflections on our experience on the first delivery of the course and ideas for future adjustments.