Ethical issues in engineering design - 3TU.Centre for Ethics and ...

DutchEVO, safe or sustainable?
Figure 4.2: DutchEVO design team as observed. Thomas, Pete and Dave are at
the centre because they coordinated and used information from people in the
other groups. There was also some direct contact between members of different
groups but most of the time this contact was organised via Thomas, Pete or Dave.
Most PhD students were advisors. Katinka, Alexander, Susan and Ann did not
really participate in the design. 2 They regarded DuchtEVO as a case-study for
their scientific research. They gave input in project meetings, for example on
recyclability. Katinka and Alexander should really have participated in the design
process according to the official organisation but in reality they acted as advisors
and not as team members.
When interviewed, the responsibilities that team members indicated they felt
responsible for, coincided with their task description. Those in advising roles felt
responsible for giving good advice. Students felt they had clear descriptions of
their tasks, they were confident that they knew what they had to do and what
they could expect other team members to do. Students were usually given the
task to design a part of the car, for example the suspension or the
understructure. These task descriptions were made by the supervisors in co-
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2
Dave was a PhD student when the project started. He became a lecturer during the project. Ed
was a PhD student that participated in the design project.
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