CFP: Ending Institutional Corruption

Concluding a five-year project focusing on Institutional Corruption, the Edmond J. Safra Center for Ethics at Harvard University is convening a national conference in Cambridge, Massachusetts on May 1-2, 2015. As Lawrence Lessig explains, "Institutional corruption is manifest when there is a systemic and strategic influence which is legal, or even currently ethical, that undermines the institution’s effectiveness by diverting it from its purpose or weakening its ability to achieve its purpose, including, to the extent relevant to its purpose, weakening either the public’s trust in that institution or the institution’s inherent trustworthiness." Additional information about the Lab and its work is available at http://ethics.harvard.edu/lab. 

Part of the conference will include a poster session, featuring the categories of Government and Law, Academia and Non-Profits, Public Health, Economics, Psychology, and Other. The call is open to researchers, journalists, activists, and members of the public. The competitive selection process will prioritize work by affiliates of the Lab, along with any rigorous work that reports novel data, findings, methods, and analyses. Although there is no registration fee for the conference, presenters must be willing and able to attend the meeting at their own expense, and to present their poster during a cocktail hour on May 2. The Lab will pay for and display the posters themselves, based on images provided by the presenters 14 days in advance.

Proposals are due by 11:59pm Eastern Time February 1, via email to [email protected]. The submission should be on a single-page PDF with the title, category, statement of whether any member of the team has been a Center for Ethics affiliate, and a 300-word abstract discussing the poster. That page should be blinded as to the identity of the presenters, but a CV or resume should be attached separately.

Applicants will be notified by mid-February.  Questions about the poster session can be addressed to the chairpersons, fellow Christine Baugh ([email protected]) and Professor Christopher Robertson ([email protected]). Logistical questions can be addressed to Katy Evans Pritchard ([email protected]).