Ethical competence and foresight competence

Ethical competence

Ethical competence is manifested as the ability to recognize and resolve conflicts related to right and wrong, prioritizing ethical values and having the courage to act according to them in unclear and difficult situations. At Laurea, ethical competence provides tools to develop professional skills as well as the quality of research and development activities.

See how diversely ethical competence manifests in Laurea’s RDI activities: Ethics as a resource (Theseus)

At Laurea, the ethical problems of social and health care professionals have been studied in research and theses carried out by staff, and comprehensive models for ethics teaching have been developed for the needs of continuous learning.

• Aspects of Ethical Conflicts and their Implications for Work-Related Well-Being: A Cross-Sectional Study among Health and Social Care Professionals
• How should I act correctly? Integrated ethics teaching in social and health care

In international projects, Laurea has been responsible for creating ethical rules of conduct and for the ethical evaluation of products and services.

Laurea’s projects include several ethical perspectives, such as improving the status of vulnerable groups, supporting citizens’ opportunities to influence, cybersecurity and promoting sustainable development.

Experts by experience play an important role in Laurea’s projects. Laurea has a virtual Experience Knowledge Centre that coordinates and shares information about experiential expertise to all who are interested.

Foresight competence

Foresight is the systematic and conscious examination of future alternatives using various types of knowledge. Foresight looks at likely possibilities and also creates entirely new visions of the future. The future can be influenced by actions and choices.

At Laurea, foresight competence is manifested as futures awareness and versatile methodological expertise in teaching, projects and stakeholder collaboration. Laurea staff have been trained as futures experts, among other things, using Sitra’s futures frequency method.

This aims to strengthen future-oriented mindsets and practices and to promote anticipation of changes in the operating environment. An example of this is the application of futures work in municipal co-development.

In Laurea’s projects, futures competence plays an important role in solving societally important problems. Special attention is paid to security resilience, i.e. the ability to prepare for, adapt to and thrive in future uncertainties and challenges. Laurea’s futures experts are active in national and international networks.