The UNC School of Education hosted the 2023 World Anti-Bullying Forum (WABF), advancing the worldwide fight against bullying, over three days — Oct. 25-27 — in Raleigh. WABF 2023 marked the first time the biennial event was hosted outside of Europe.
UNC School of Education faculty member, Dorothy Espelage, Ph.D., the William C. Friday Distinguished Professor of Education and a global leader in bullying prevention research, organized and co-emceed the event. Over the course of two years, Espelage and a team of UNC School of Education staff members, and graduate and undergraduate students developed the Forum’s programming and secured critical partnerships and sponsorships, including a presenting sponsorship by BRP – a global leader in the world of powersports products.
WABF 2023 drew nearly 600 attendees – researchers, practitioners, policymakers, educators, youth, and additional professionals representing more than 30 countries – who presented at or engaged in more than 70 events, including keynotes, workshops, symposia, paper sessions, a poster session, and more. Educators from 13 North Carolina school districts and Carolina Community Academy were in attendance. Several of those educators, many of whom work in districts that partner with the School, attended with funding provided by the UNC School of Education.
During the Forum’s opening ceremony, Fouad Abd-El-Khalick, dean of the UNC School of Education and Alumni Distinguished Professor, delivered greetings from the School and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and praised Espelage’s career and its impact. Abd-El-Khalick underscored the ways in which the School’s vision, mission, and guiding pillars, as well as research and programming, align with and support the important goals and work of the Forum.
“Bullying, in all its manifestations, greatly diminishes the potential for both student learning and growth,” Abd-El-Khalick said. “We owe school students safe and nurturing environments where they are enabled to . . . [realize] their full potentials.”
He also underscored the need for continued, wide-ranging collaboration around research and implementation to move the needle on the ubiquitous challenge of bullying in schools.
The Forum’s opening ceremony also featured remarks from Her Royal Highness the Crown Princess of Denmark and North Carolina Governor Roy Cooper. Both welcomed attendees to the event and North Carolina, spoke to the impact of bullying on young people, and lauded attendees’ commitment to prevent bullying.
“While it is important to care for each individual child, we need to understand the social dynamics that give rise to bullying in order to effectively prevent and intervene in such situations,” said the Crown Princess of Denmark, who launched the Mary Foundation in 2007 to fight social isolation. “By collaborating and sharing knowledge and resources, we can make a greater impact and create a safer and more inclusive environment for all children.”
“A quality education is the great equalizer. It provides opportunities for children,” Gov. Cooper said, “and bullying can threaten it. Our schools need to be nurturing environments for students so they can learn and they can grow and can succeed.”
Over the Forum’s three days, six keynote addresses – delivered by Debra Pepler, Ph.D.; Kevin Runions, Ph.D.; Christina Salmivalli, Ph.D.; Oliver Chan, Ph.D.; Enrique Chaux, Ph.D.; and Sameer Hinduja, Ph.D. – represented a range of bullying research and perspectives from five continents.
Sameer Hinduja, Ph.D., a leading cyberbullying scholar and professor at Florida Atlantic University, emceed alongside Espelage and led a session that convened professionals from social media platforms that included Instagram, TikTok, and Snapchat.
A UNESCO-led session helped to advance a more inclusive definition of bullying. James O’Higgins Norman, Ed.D., UNESCO chair on bullying and cyberbullying, and definition working group members from around the world, including Espelage, presented and provided rationale for the following definition:
“School bullying is a damaging social process that is characterized by an imbalance of power driven by social (societal) and institutional norms. It is often repeated and manifests as unwanted interpersonal behaviour among students or school personnel that causes physical, social, and emotional harm to the targeted individuals or groups, and the wider school community.”
During the Forum’s opening night dinner, an awards program recognized youth panelists from the day’s earlier sessions, 10 graduate students who attended WABF 2023 with funding from the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, the best paper appearing in the International Journal of Bullying Prevention (IJBP) since the previous WABF, and the BRNET-WABF Career Achievement Award recipient.
The IJBP best paper award was accepted by Barbara A. Spears, Ph.D., from the University of South Australia on behalf of her co-authors for the paper “A Qualitative Meta-Study of Youth Voice and Co-Participatory Research Practices: Informing Cyber/Bullying Research Methodologies.” The award’s presenters called the paper one of the first qualitative meta-studies in the research area and noted that it models the feasibility and potentiality of its methodological approach for future work.
The 2023 BRNET-WABF Career Achievement Award was presented to Dorothy Espelage by Susan Swearer, Ph.D., and Wendy Craig, Ph.D., of BRNET and Frida Warg and Magnus Loftsson, Ph.D., of Friends. BRNET, or the Bullying Research Network, is based at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and promotes and assists international collaboration among bullying and peer victimization researchers. Friends, which launched WABF in 2017, is a Swedish NGO founded to provide adults with research-based tools to prevent bullying among children and young people.
The award, which was first presented to Robert Thornberg, Ph.D., of Linköping University in 2021, recognizes someone who has made distinguished theoretical and/or empirical contributions to research on bullying, is recognized as an international leader in bullying research, and has led and/or supported international collaborations.
Espelage has devoted 30 years to extensive, collaborative, and international research and practice to prevent bullying. She also was praised for her work to mentor young researchers, to bring research to practice and practice to research, and to center the voices of young people.
“This is hard work. It’s been a hard three decades,” Espelage said during her remarks. “We will continue to do this. Let’s do it together.”
During the closing ceremony, Stavanger University in Norway was announced as host of WABF 2025.