Peter K Smith
Goldsmiths, University of London (United Kingdom)
Characteristics of bullying by age and context
Participants: Claire Monks1; Muthanna Samara2; Luke Roberts3; Miguel Nery4
1University of Greenwich; 2Kingston University London; 3Resolve Consultants LTD; 4Lisbon University
Symposium Summary
Bullying in school has generated a massive volume of research in recent decades. But what similarities and differences are there with bullying at different ages and in different contexts? This symposium brings together some varied perspectives on this, with each paper summarising research at that age stage/context and considering issues of conceptual overlap or distinction with other ages and contexts. Different terminologies – unjustified aggression, abuse, bullying, harassment – may be used, but are we considering broadly similar phenomena? Peter Smith will introduce the symposium and give a brief summary of the research program on school bullying, as a background. Claire Monks will then discuss the kinds of unjustified aggression seen in preschool, as a precursor of school-age bullying. Muthanna Samara will consider forms of abuse, or bullying, in family contexts, including between siblings. Luke Roberts will present work on forms of bullying in young offender institutions. Finally, Miguel Nery with overview research into the types of bullying and harassment seen to youth in sports training.
Short CV
Peter is as an Emeritus Professor, continuing with research, writing, and international collaborations. He is at the Unit for School and Family Studies, which he headed from 1998-2011. He is a Fellow of the British Psychological Society, the Association of Psychological Sciences, and the Academy of Social Sciences. In 2015 he was awarded the William Thierry Preyer award for Excellence in Research on Human Development, by the European Society for Developmental Psychology, and in 2018 the Student Wellbeing and Prevention of Violence (SWAPv) Award, from Flinders University, Australia. In December 2018 he is receiving an Honorary Doctorate from the University of Vienna.
Peter has received external funding in recent years from the EU (DAPHNE, COST), British Council (PMI2), DCSF, EHRC, FamilyLives, DigitalMe, ESRC, and QNRF. He is currently co-PI of an Erasmus+ grant on participatory exploration of cyberbullying, young people and socio-economic disadvantage.
Peter is an Honorary Member of the of European Antibullying Network, and of the Antibullying Alliance in the UK. He has given presentations on ways of tackling school bullying to a range of organisations, including recently the Flemish Ministry of Education, Born This Way Foundation (USA), ISPRA, EDUC, Ministry of Education in Singapore, and Prince of Songkhla University in Thailand. He is participating in the 2018 Battle of Ideas program in London, on the role of grandparents.