Thrive: How to cultivate character so your children can flourish online

Thrive by Dr Tom Harrison. An online launch event.

With Baroness Nicky Morgan, Dr Carrie James, Jessica Joelle Alexander and Dr Kelly Mendoza

To celebrate the launch of Dr. Tom Harrisons new book – THRIVE, an esteemed panel of guests will present their reflections on the importance of children and young people cultivating character and wisdom to help them to flourish in the digital age. The Internet presents children and young people with multiple opportunities – e.g., for learning, socialising and participating in society – as well as a number of risks, such as misinformation and cyberbullying.

During the event Nicky Morgan, Jessica Joelle Alexander, Carrie James, Kelly Mendoza and Tom Harrison will discuss the role of policy makers, teachers, parents and tech companies to help children not just survive, but thrive in the digital world.  The event will be chaired by Professor James Arthur OBE, Director of the Jubilee Centre for Character and Virtues at the University of Birmingham. 

We are delighted that publishers Little Brown are offering a 20% discount on this new book exclusively for attendees of the launch event and webinar. Details of how to claim this will be shared on the night.

Speaker Biographies

Baroness Nicky Morgan of Coates

Baroness Morgan of Cotes is a former Secretary of State for Education and Secretary of State for the Department of Culture, Media and Sport.  She was an MP for Loughborough from 2010 to 2019.  She was elevated to the House of Lords as a life peer in 2019.  Nicky Morgan’s first book was called Taught Not Caught; Educating for 21st Century Character. 

Jessica Joelle Alexander 

Jessica Joelle Alexander is a bestselling author, Danish parenting expert, columnist, speaker, and cultural researcher. Her work has been featured in the NY Times, Vanity Fair, NPR, Huffington Post, Mothermag and the Greater Good Science Center Berkley. Her book The Danish Way of Parenting: what the happiest people in the world know about raising confident, capable kids, is coming out in over 19 counties in 15 languages. She writes for The Huffington Post, The Copenhagen Post & The Local Denmark. Jessica speaks four languages and lives with her Danish husband and two children in Europe.  

Dr Carrie James 

Carrie James is a sociologist and a Principal Investigator at Project Zero, Harvard Graduate School of Education. Her work explores young people’s digital, moral, and civic lives. Over the past decade, Carrie has led research and educational initiatives focused on digital ethical issues, participatory politics in a connected age, and cross-cultural online learning experiences. At present, she is co-investigator of the Digital Dilemmas Project, a research and educational initiative focused on adolescent digital citizenship and well-being in networked life. Carrie’s publications include the book, Disconnected: Youth, New Media, and the Ethics Gap (The MIT Press, 2014). 

Dr Kelly Mendoza

Kelly Mendoza oversees digital citizenship education content and strategy for Common Sense Education, including the Digital Citizenship Curriculum, interactive games, professional development, and family education. Her goal is to create curricula and programs that help students think critically about the media they consume and create, and to help schools create a positive culture around media and technology. She also has developed media education resources and curricula for Classroom Champions, Lucas Learning, Media Education Lab, and PBS's Frontline. Kelly has a Ph.D. in Media and Communication from Temple University.

Dr Tom Harrison 

Dr Tom Harrison is a Reader in Character Education Pedagogy and Practice and Director of Education for the Jubilee Centre. His specialist interests are character education and virtue ethics, character, wisdom and the Internet, youth social action and citizenship education. He has published extensively in these areas as well as developing resources and training programmes for schools, voluntary sector and other organisations. Tom is the Programme Director for the MA in Character Education, a senior HEA fellow and has recently been awarded a National Teaching Fellowship. He is also the Society for Educational Studies (SES) and Secretary and Trustee for the Association for Character Education (ACE). 

Chair:  Professor James Arthur OBE 

James Arthur is Director of the Jubilee Centre for Character and Virtues. James is also Chair of the Society for Educational Studies, and was Head of the School of Education 2010-2015 and Deputy Pro-Vice Chancellor 2015-2019 at the University of Birmingham. He was previously Editor of the British Journal of Educational Studies for ten years and holds numerous honorary titles in the academe, including Honorary Professor of the University of Glasgow and Honorary Research Fellow in the University of Oxford. James was made an Officer of the British Empire by the Queen in 2018. He has written widely on the relationship between theory and practice in education, particularly the links between character, virtues, citizenship, religion and education. James established the Jubilee Centre in 2012, and the Centre has grown in size, scope, and impact since its launch at the House of Lords in May 2012.

Register for this online event