Anti-bullying researchers, trainers and practitioners in ABC are marking multiple milestones in their work this November.
Following on from the important consultation with the Joint Oireachtas Committee on the Online Harassment Bill, it has been a generally busy month here at ABC.
ABC’s Dr. Angela Mazzone presented a poster at the prestigious International Bullying Prevention Conference 2019 in Chicago, USA on the topic of “The Association Between Defending and Emotional Symptoms” in relation to bullying behaviour. For background, “defenders” are usually described as children with good social and emphatic skills. However, recent research has shown that defending may also be associated with psychosocial difficulties, because youth who defend their peers are involved in a traumatic event. Angela’s research noted that the study findings add new knowledge to the literature on psychosocial difficulties of defenders and call for further investigation of the outcomes of defending behaviour. Angela’s poster can be viewed here.
ABC received a visit from two visiting researchers: Dr. Ann Burke from Memorial University Newfoundland presented on a study related to data collected in Canada. Anne also delivered a session to Norwegian students at Dublin City University undertaking the “Prevention and Intervention of Bullying in Learning Environments” course led by Dr. Tijana Milosevic and Dr. Robert Slonje which was very successful. Dr. Niamh O’Brien from Anglia Ruskin University in Essex presented on “Applying a Participatory Research approach to the Production of Bullying Knowledge”. Niamh’s seminar was informative and interactive for all who attended. ABC are very thankful to Ann and Niamh for visiting us and sharing their work with the team.
Dr. Tijana Milosevic (pictured) discussed bullying and cyberbullying at the Brave New Media Forum in Belgrade, Serbia, together with the Serbian Commissioner for the Protection of Equality. The event was organized by Deutsche Welle Akademie with a number of young people from the country and the region, and supported by OSCE.
Dr. Mairéad Foody presented on her research work to the Department of Education on 24th October on cyberbullying and the non consensual sharing of sexual images among Irish post-primary students. Mairéad’s ongoing research in this area is due for publication in 2020 and has already been referenced in ABC’s consultation to the Joint Oireachtas Committee for the upcoming Online Harassment Bill.
ABC currently has a number of ongoing collaborative projects in the areas of: Roma based bullying, bullying and cyberbullying of Gifted adolescents, disablist bullying, and the teacher-led FUSE project for tackling bullying and online safety.
