An Institutional Approach to Values: Perspectives on Scientific Data Sharing and Reuse

Congratulations to Alican Basdemir for successfully defending their PhD thesis, "An Institutional Approach to Values: Perspectives on Scientific Data Sharing and Reuse" on April 11, 2025. The thesis was supervised by Megan Delehanty and Marc Ereshefsky (co-supervisor). It was examined by Marc Ereshefsky, Megan Delehanty, Jeremy Fantl, Ken Waters, Richard Zach. Kevin Elliott (Michigan State University) served as external examiner.

What was your thesis about?

My dissertation examines the roles of institutions in managing social, moral, and political values in science with a special emphasis on data sharing and reuse. There is a growing literature on how values influence science and how these influences can be managed to distinguish between legitimate and illegitimate ones. I argue that these questions are especially relevant to individual scientists and stakeholders who make decisions about whether data should be shared, withheld, or reused as they often require adjudicating competing moral, political, and social values.

I examine multiple philosophical proposals for managing values, including those that emphasize the accountability of individual researchers, stakeholder engagement, the democratization of science, and restructuring scientific communities. Building on these approaches, I argue that institutions play a central role in value management by shaping how to identify, justify, and scrutinize values in data practices. Their roles include but are not limited to determining rules, norms, and principles for research, identifying and promoting values, as well as facilitating community engagement. 

I defend a pluralistic account of value management by which values can be managed in at least three distinct but complementary ways: identifying and selecting values, consensus, and democratic selection of values. To reflect this pluralism, I explain how different institutional strategies for data governance that can be used to manage values in different ways.

What was the most valuable outcome of the graduate program for you?

The most valuable outcome for me was the welcoming, intellectually stimulating, and friendly environment. The department provided me with a strong sense of community where I was surrounded by graduate students and faculty who were caring and supportive. They listened to my challenges and provided advice and guidance when I needed it most. In addition, the program supported me in pursuing an internship (Transformative Talent Internship) to gain hands-on experience in non-academic fields.

What are the next steps/plans for you?

I will be teaching at Mount Royal University and the University of Calgary. I plan to make more publications. In the meantime, I plan to search and apply for permanent positions - both in academia and non-academic fields.