In the year in which we celebrate a decade of existence, we reaffirm our commitment to a living ethics, learned, discussed and practised collectively. This shared reflection was precisely what took place at the Annual Conference of the Ethics Forum, held on 20 November 2025, World Philosophy Day, which we marked with “Ethics/Philosophy/Poetry” (document available in Portuguese).
The Ethics Forum is a meeting place that aims to promote business ethics through the exchange of experiences, joint reflection and the creation and sharing of knowledge.
Made up of senior members of companies and people with proven experience in the field, the Forum meets three times a year for joint reflection and debate, sharing information with the community by promoting articles and other resources on the subject.
Since 2021, it has promoted an annual study on a topic of particular relevance to the national context, presented at a public conference that also includes a keynote lecture by an international speaker and a roundtable discussion. These national studies alternate with the triennial international study Ethics at Work, conducted by the Institute of Business Ethics (IBE), of which the Forum is a National Partner, including Portugal in 2018, 2021 and 2024. In 2022, the focus was Hybrid Work; in 2023, Generational Diversity in the Workplace.
In 2025, the study “Ethical Leadership: Voices of Leaders and Followers” emerges as an open and ongoing tool, centred on reflection and transformation rather than on the evaluation or ranking of leadership. Ethical leadership is understood as a path co-constructed by leaders and followers, where inspiring goes beyond doing what is right: it involves reflecting on one’s own being and actions, promoting ethical behaviour, setting clear boundaries and assuming responsibility for shaping organisational culture.
For more information, see Studies and Ethics at Work.
In 2023, UCP Editora created the Ethics Forum Collection, a vehicle for projecting the Forum's activity, integrating, among other things, the works published in the context of the Annual Study. This Collection is presented in a hybrid format: on paper, as an eBook, and made available in open access one year after each title's publication.
The celebration of Global Ethics Day (on 16th October) and Research Notes are other activities of the Ethics Forum. With the support of its Sponsors and its Members, the Forum creates various tools - articles, surveys, collective books and documentaries - so that organisations can think with and about ethics, in safe spaces for ethical reflection.
The Forum also has a strong link with executive training in this area through the regular business testimonies of its Members.
How it works
The Ethics Forum promotes two main activities: reflection sessions and an annual study. Meeting three times a year, each session is dedicated to a topic considered to be of particular importance, depending on the context and prior research.
Reflection on the session topic is generally carried out through activities that allow members to identify different aspects or even prototype alternative solutions or approaches.
After each session, an article is produced to share with the community. The article highlights the most relevant aspects of the Forum Members' research and reflection.
In addition to the regular sessions, the Forum organises annual conferences with international speakers on topics chosen by the members, studies and articles on important ethics issues, including the Portuguese version of the international study Ethics at Work: survey of employees and the products of these annual studies (surveys, collective books and documentaries), released in open access to celebrate the Global Ethics Day.
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