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Combatting bullying in schools, and more especially the bullying of minority groups, is a priority both nationally and internationally. Prof Rivers' research on homophobic bullying and bystander wellbeing has directly influenced the development of school-based intervention programmes, teacher education, and government policy in the US, Australia, Canada, and UK. It has been cited widely by policy makers internationally and has been used as evidence of the need to develop and promote anti-bullying initiatives.
Professor Peter Smith's extensive programme of research into bullying and the prevention of bullying has translated into research reports and summaries for the Department for Education, the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC), and the National Children's Bureau. These have been disseminated as expert resources to scores of relevant organisations and public bodies. The EHRC report was used in Parliament to argue for an amendment to the Education Bill.
Smith chaired a Europe-wide funded project on cyberbullying, the findings and recommendations of which have been presented to policymakers and educational practitioners internationally. He was on the Advisory Board of the Anti-Bullying Alliance, working to help reduce bullying in UK schools.
Bullying occurs when pupils persist in being physically or psychologically abusive to less powerful peers. While it used to be seen as `just part of growing up' and `character-building', it is now recognised as a serious societal problem that demands attention, and schools must take active steps to combat it. Professor Boulton's research contributed to this shift and has ensured bullying continues to be taken seriously. His work has produced novel findings on the damaging psychological impact of bullying, why pupils become involved, and has guided policy and advice offered by governments in the U.K., U.S. and elsewhere, and by other national bodies (NSPCC).
Bullying has for many years been acknowledged as a serious problem in schools (Smith & Brian, 2002). Research has shown that being a victim of bullying can have serious and long-term negative effects on psychological well-being (Hawker & Boulton, 2000). This case study outlines the impact of survey-based work, undertaken in schools by the Unit for Child and Youth Studies, exploring school engagement, bullying and wellbeing, which has identified and increased awareness of cyberbullying. This knowledge has been integrated into the development of government policy, as well as school and local authority interventions, on cyberbullying and e-safety more broadly.
The research focuses on developing an understanding of the nature and extent of bullying behaviour within secure services, which has extended to developing methods of measurement, training and policy creation. This is a novel research area developed by Jane Ireland and colleagues, initially at UCLan and in HM Prison Service. It was later extended to NHS secure settings and other sites nationally and internationally. Key applications of this research include the preparation of policy and strategy documents that have formed the basis for anti-bullying strategies in HM Prison Service, NHS high secure psychiatric institutions, and the Canadian Correctional Service.
The research underpinning this case study focuses on understanding the nature of school-based bullying and the effectiveness of systems to address it. Through practitioner-orientated books, training schemes and websites, this research has been widely used in a range of government and NGO publications and resources. In addition, through the research focus on bullying as a systemic problem and understanding how peer support schemes can combat it, Cowie has contributed to bringing about change in the way schools in the UK deal with bullying. This is evidenced by the widespread use of peer mentoring, peer mediation and advocacy schemes, which can be seen on school websites and in government reports.
Research by the University of Nottingham has played a leading role in developing national, international and industry guidance on practical approaches to tackling the problem of psychosocial risks in the workplace. The European Commission, the World Health Organisation, the Health and Safety Executive, major global corporations and small and medium-sized businesses have supported and adopted the frameworks and recommendations resulting from this work. In the UK alone the guidance is estimated to have contributed to a saving of almost £2bn over 10 years by helping to improve employees' health and so reducing the costs associated with work-related illness.
The impacts are: (1) Introduction of anti-bullying policies by thirteen schools in Tira City in the Arab sector of Israel; (2) Policy changes by the Islamic (Sharia) Religious Courts in the Arab sector to ensure that bullying issues are routinely taken into consideration (for the first time) when making child custody decisions; (3) Changes in programme delivery by two charities that aim to reduce violence between children in the Arab sector. This work builds directly upon research conducted at Kingston University and during several visits to Israel supported by the university since 2010.