Dr Laura D’Olimpio

Dr Laura D'Olimpio

School of Education
Senior Lecturer in Philosophy of Education

Contact details

Telephone
+44 (0)121 415 8148
Email
l.dolimpio@bham.ac.uk
View my research portal
Address
School of Education
University of Birmingham
Edgbaston, Birmingham
B15 2TT, United Kingdom

Dr Laura D’Olimpio is a Senior Lecturer in Philosophy of Education at the University of Birmingham, UK. Prior to taking up this position in 2019, Laura was Senior Lecturer in Philosophy at The University of Notre Dame Australia.

Laura completed her PhD ‘The Moral Possibilities of Mass Art’ at The University of Western Australia. She is co-founder and co-editor of the open access Journal of Philosophy in Schools  and Chairperson of the Federation of Australasian Philosophy in Schools Associations (FAPSA). She is also a regular contributor to The Conversation, Philosophy Now magazine, The Ethics Centre, and ABC Radio National’s Philosopher’s Zone and The Minefield. Laura’s first book, Media and Moral Education: a philosophy of critical engagement (London, Routledge, 2018) won the 2018 PESA (Philosophy of Education Society of Australasia) Annual Book Award.

Laura is currently working on her second book, The Necessity of Aesthetic Education: The Place of the Arts on the Curriculum, which is due to be published with Bloomsbury in 2020.

Qualifications

  • PhD in Philosophy, University of Western Australia (UWA)
  • Bachelor of Arts with Honours in Philosophy, UWA

Teaching

Postgraduate supervision

Laura D'Olimpio supervises postgraduate research students working in the fields of philosophy and philosophy of education. 

She has particular expertise in the following areas:

  • Moral education
  • Moral philosophy and applied ethics
  • Aesthetics; particularly aesthetics and ethics
  • Philosophy in schools
  • Media, mass art, technology and digital literacy
  • Philosophy of film and literature
  • Virtue ethics and character education
  • Public philosophy

For more information on research degrees, please visit the Postgraduate Research pages.

Research

Laura D’Olimpio is currently working on the Philosothon Project; a research grant awarded to FAPSA (the Federation of Australasian Philosophy in Schools Associations) from the Templeton Religion Trust to further develop Philosothons in Australasia, particularly focussing on low socio-economic and remote schools.

Laura’s recently published first book, Media and Moral Education: a philosophy of critical engagement (London, Routledge, 2018), claims that philosophical thinking skills support the adoption of an attitude she calls ‘critical perspectivism’. Critical perspectivism gives citizens the ability to engage with multiple perspectives, particularly those received via online media, in a critical and compassionate manner. This monograph won the 2018 PESA (Philosophy of Education Society of Australasia) Annual Book Award.

Laura is currently writing her second book, The Necessity of Aesthetic Education: The Place of the Arts on the Curriculum, which defends the necessity of arts education for all school-aged students on the basis of its distinctive value. This monograph is due to be published with Bloomsbury in 2020.

She is also collaborating with Michael Hand on a project on education against extremism. The project will explore conceptual and definitional questions pertaining to extremism, along with whether and why it is objectionable, and whether and how schools should equip children to resist it.

Publications

Selected publications

Books

D’Olimpio, L. (forthcoming) The Necessity of Aesthetic Education: The Place of the Arts on the Curriculum, London: Bloomsbury.

D’Olimpio, L. (2018) Media and Moral Education: a philosophy of critical engagement, London: Routledge

Winner of the 2018 PESA (Philosophy of Education Society of Australasia) Annual Book Award. 

Journal Articles

D’Olimpio, L. (forthcoming) ‘Moral education within the social contract: whose contract is it anyway?’ Journal of Moral Education. 

D’Olimpio, L. & Levine, M. P. (forthcoming) ‘Reluctant Heroes and Itchy Capes: The Ineluctable Desire to be the Saviour’. Journal of Aesthetic Education.

D’Olimpio, L. & Peterson, A. (2018) ‘The Ethics of Narrative Art: philosophy in schools, compassion and learning from stories’ Journal of Philosophy in Schools 5(1) special issue ‘Why should philosophy be taught in schools?’ Ed. Michael Hand, pp. 92-110. https://www.ojs.unisa.edu.au/index.php/jps/article/view/1487

Tarrant, S. & D’Olimpio, L. (2017) ‘Philosophy in the (Gender and the Law) Classroom’ Analytic Teaching and Philosophical Praxis Vol 38, pp. 1-16. http://journal.viterbo.edu/index.php/atpp/article/view/1000/826

D’Olimpio, L. & Teschers, C. (2017) ‘Playing with Philosophy: Gestures, Performance, P4C and an Art of Living’ Educational Philosophy and Theory, 49(13) special Issue ‘Aesthetic Education’ Ed. Elizabeth Grierson, pp. 1257-1266. DOI: 10.1080/00131857.2017.1294974

D’Olimpio, L. (2016) ‘Trust as a virtue in Education’ Educational Philosophy and Theory, Special Issue ‘Trust and Schooling’ Ed. Bruce Haynes, pp. 193-202. DOI:10.1080/00131857.2016.1194737

D’Olimpio, L. & Teschers, C. (2016) ‘Philosophy for Children meets the Art of Living: a holistic approach to an Education for Life’ Philosophical Inquiry in Education 23(2), pp. 114-124.  http://journals.sfu.ca/pie/index.php/pie/article/view/422

D’Olimpio, L., McCarthy, A., & Pedersen, A. (2016) ‘Cultural DeCoding: a humanities program for gifted and talented high school students seeking university entrance’ Journal of Philosophy in Schools 3(1), pp. 84-103. http://www.ojs.unisa.edu.au/index.php/jps/article/view/1301

D’Olimpio, L. (2015) ‘Trust, Well-being and the Community of Philosophical Inquiry’ He Kupu 4(2) Special Issue ‘Well-being in Early Childhood Education’, pp. 45-57. https://www.hekupu.ac.nz/article/trust-well-being-and-community-philosophical-inquiry

D’Olimpio, L. (2014) ‘Thoughts on Film: Critically engaging with both Adorno and Benjamin’ Educational Philosophy and Theory 47(6), pp. 622-637. DOI: 10.1080/00131857.2014.964161  DOI: 10.1080/00131857.2014.964161 

Book chapters 

D’Olimpio, L. (forthcoming) ‘Multiliteracies and the critical thinker: philosophical engagement with mass and new media in the classroom’, in Michael Hoechsmann, Paul R. Carr & Gina Thésée (Eds) Education for Democracy 2.0: Global voices for critical media literacy, Rotterdam: Brill / Sense Publishers.

D’Olimpio, L. (2017) ‘Thoughts on film: critically engaging with both Adorno and Benjamin’, in Elizabeth M. Greirson (Ed) Activating Aesthetics, London: Routledge.

D’Olimpio, L. & Teschers, C. (2016) ‘Drama, gestures and philosophy in the classroom: playing with philosophy to support an education for life’, in Maughn Gregory, Joanna Haynes and Karin Murris (Eds) The Routledge Handbook of Philosophy for Children, London: Routledge. 

Book reviews 

D’Olimpio, L. (2017) Against Value in the Arts and Education, S. Ladkin, R. McKay & E. Bojesen (Eds), reviewed for British Journal of Educational Studies 65(4): 1-3.

D’Olimpio, L. (2016) Philosophy in Schools: An Introduction for Philosophers and Teachers. S. Goering, N. J. Shudak, & T. E. Wartenberg (Eds), reviewed for Journal of Philosophy in Schools 3(1), pp. 104-106.

D’Olimpio, L. (2015) Identity and Personhood: Confusions and Clarifications across Disciplines, Laurance J. Splitter, reviewed for Journal of Philosophy in Schools 2(2), pp. 83-84.

D’Olimpio, L. (2014) Grounds for Respect: Particularism, Universalism and Communal Accountability, Kristi Giselsson, reviewed for Research in Ethical Issues in Organizations vol.12, pp. 167-176.

View all publications in research portal

Media experience

Laura was the top contributor to The Conversation for the University of Notre Dame Australia (2014-2018). She has written for public philosophy publications such as Philosophy Now magazine, ABC’s Religion and Ethics website, and is currently writing for The Ethics Centre. 

She is often interviewed on the Australian Broadcasting Association (ABC) and is a regular contributor to their Radio National programmes, including Philosopher’s Zone and The Minefield.  Laura is a member of the Media Committee for the Australasian Association of Philosophy (AAP). 

Selected public philosophy publications: 

Articles