Academics and Business Leaders from Sydney to Madrid take part in St Mary's Communication and Ethics Round-table

Head of the School of Arts and Humanities at St Mary’s University, Twickenham, Prof Karen Sanders, hosted a roundtable on Building Organisational Character this week. The session brought together industry professionals and world-class academics to discuss how communicators can contribute to creating ethical organisations in turbulent times. It was the inaugural event in what will be a series of Communication and Ethics Round-tables, looking at civil society in relation to communication and ethics. On this occasion Prof Sanders was also joined by St Mary's Pro-Vice Chancellor for Research and Enterprise, Ruth Kelly. Prof Sanders explained, “The idea for the round-table arose from informal conversations between colleagues about the challenges related to communication, trust and ethical practice. On the day, we were delighted to have insightful contributions from colleagues from universities from Madrid to Sydney alongside business leaders in digital media and communication. “We debated the move away from an instrumental view of the function of communication towards communication as the vital bedrock for creating human relationships and communities that can foster cooperation and understanding”. The moderated round-table discussion included Mark Payton, Editorial Director at Haymarket Consumer Media and George Pitcher, Non-Executive Chairman of Jericho Chambers and most recently Editor in Chief of the global digital news-platform International Business Times. Also taking part in the event, were communication scholars: Prof Maria Jose Canel of Complutense University; Prof Monica Herrero Subias, Dean of the School of Communication at the University of Navarra; Prof Vilma Luoma-aho from the University of Jyvaskyla; and Prof Jim Macnamara of the University of Technology, Sydney. The discussion also included St Mary’s academics Daragh Minogue and Allyson Purcell-David. The aims of the first Communication and Ethics Round-tables are to initiate a conversation about ethical communication, draw conclusions about the research, practice and educational implications of the issues discussed and ultimately establish collaborative projects and publish insight.