Professor Tom Harrison

Professor Tom Harrison

School of Education
Professor of Education and Deputy Pro Vice Chancellor: Education Innovation
Director of Jubilee Centre for Character and Virtues

Contact details

Address
The School of Education
University of Birmingham
Edgbaston, Birmingham
B15 2TT, United Kingdom

Professor Tom Harrison is Professor of Education, Deputy Pro-Vice-Chancellor and Director of the Jubilee Centre for Character and Virtues at the University of Birmingham. He holds a PhD in Education from the University of Birmingham and has over three decades of experience across higher education, policy, and the voluntary sector. 

Professor Harrison is internationally recognised for his research on character education, virtue ethics, and the ethical challenges of digital life, including online behaviour, digital-wisdom, and emerging technologies such as AI and virtual reality. He has published extensively in leading journals and books, including THRIVE: How to Cultivate Character in the Digital Age, and has contributed to major international volumes on character development. 

He played a central role in developing the Jubilee Centre’s theoretical and practical approaches to character education, which has influenced education policy in the UK and internationally. He has partnered with and advised governments, ministries of education, NGOs and other organisations across Europe, US, Asia, Africa and Latin America.  

Professor Harrison is a National Teaching Fellow and HE Principal Fellow. Beyond academia, he is a co-founder of the Association for Character Education, European Character Virtues Association and the Global Character Association.  He is also Deputy Chair of the Society for Educational Studies.  

Qualifications

  • PhD, School of Education, University of Birmingham
  • Principle Fellow, HEA
  • National Teaching Fellow
  • PGCert in Academic Practice 

Biography

Professor Tom Harrison has spent most of his career working in higher education and the not for profit sectors running educational programmes. Most recently Tom has managed projects on behalf of the Jubilee Centre for Character and Virtues, School of Education and the University of Birmingham that have had both a national and international impact. He founded and was the Programme Director for six years of the MA in Character Education. He also co-founded the Association for Character Education and the European Character Virtues Association.  In recent years Tom has been PI on projects funded by the Nuffield Foundation, Department for Education, Templeton World Charity Foundation and the John Templeton Foundation. 

Previous to joining the University, Tom worked for a number of charities and ran character education and citizenship education programmes. 

Teaching

MA Character Education 

Postgraduate supervision

Tom supervises a number of students and his research interests include:

  • Character
  • Virtue
  • Citizenship
  • Cyber-phronesis
  • Youth social action

Doctoral research

PhD title
The Influence of the Internet on the character virtues of 11-14 year olds in England. 

Research

Current Research

  • Principle Investigator – Newswise in Primary Education (Funded by the Nuffield Foundation)
  • Principle Investigator – GICD Character Education Platform (Funded by the TWCF)

Previous Research

  • Principle Investigator – Teaching Character Through Subjects (Funded by the Department for Education)
  • Principle Investigator – Cultivating Cyber-wisdom in Children and Young People
  • Principle Investigator – Teaching Videos in Distance Learning
  • Principle Investigator – Teaching Character, University of Birmingham. (Funded by the department of Education)
  • Co-Principle Investigator -  Habits of Service 
  • Co-Principle Investigator - Character, Practical Wisdom and Professional Education
  • 2015 - Principle Investigator – Building Character Through Youth Social Action - University of Birmingham 
  • 2015 - Principle Investigator –  - University of Birmingham 
  • 2012 - Co-Principal investigator, Knightly Virtues, University of Birmingham
  • 2011 - Co-Principal Investigator, My Character Project, University of Birmingham 
  • 2009- 2011 Programme Director, Engaged Project, University of Cambridge
  • 2009 - Co-Principal Investigator, Global Citizens, VESL 

Other activities

Host of the Conversations on Character Podcast

UK National Board Member for Educational Review

Grant reviewer for Newton Fund, John Templeton Foundation and Templeton World Charity Foundation

Secretary and Trustee – Association of Character Education (ACE) 

Books editor for the British Journal for Educational Studies. (BJES) 

Secretary and Trustee – Society for Educational Studies 

National Teaching Fellow – 2018

Birmingham Education Fellow – 2017

Principle Fellow – Higher Education Futures Institute 

Fellow – Higher Education Futures Institute (HEFi)

Academic Lead – What is Character; Virtue Ethics in Education MOOC

Governor – Bonsall Primary School

Publications

Recent publications

Book

Fernández, V, Harrison, T, Kristjansson, K & Bernhard, R (eds) 2024, Character Education in Europe: Challenges and Opportunities. McGraw Hill.

Harrison, T, Polizzi, G, Murfin, S & Peachey, L 2022, Futureproof: A comprehensive framework for teaching digital citizenship in schools. John Catt. <https://www.johncattbookshop.com/products/futureproof-a-comprehensive-framework-for-teaching-digital-citizenship-in-schools>

Article

Polizzi, G, Harrison, T & McLoughlin, S 2026, 'News literacy education and civic engagement among primary school children: A mixed-methods evaluation', Cogent Education, vol. 13, no. 1, 2616869. https://doi.org/10.1080/2331186X.2026.2616869

McLoughlin, S, Polizzi, G, Harrison, T, Moller, F, Maile, A, Picton, I & Clark, C 2024, 'Measuring civic engagement in young children', Journal of psychoeducational assessment, vol. 42, no. 1, pp. 14-28. https://doi.org/10.1177/07342829231205070

Harrison, T, Polizzi, G, McLoughlin, S & Moller, F 2024, 'Measuring cyber wisdom: Preliminary validation of a new four-component measure', Education and Information Technologies, vol. 29, no. 4, pp. 4317–4336. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10639-023-11953-9

Kristjansson, K, Harrison, T & Peterson, A 2024, 'Reconsidering the 'Ten Myths' about Character Education', British Journal of Educational Studies. https://doi.org/10.1080/00071005.2024.2378059

Harrison, T 2023, 'Virtual Reality and Character Education: Learning Opportunities and Risks', Journal of Moral Education. https://doi.org/10.1080/03057240.2023.2206553

Harrison, T & Polizzi, G 2022, '(In)civility and adolescents’ moral decision making online: Drawing on moral theory to advance digital citizenship education', Education and Information Technologies, vol. 27, pp. 3277–3297. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10639-021-10710-0

Harrison, T, Dineen, K & Moller, F 2022, 'Tests of life or life of tests? similarities and differences in parents’ and teachers’ prioritisation of character, academic attainment, the virtues and moral theories', Journal of Beliefs and Values, vol. 43, no. 2, pp. 137-158. https://doi.org/10.1080/13617672.2021.1920233

Harrison, T & Laco, D 2022, 'Where’s the character education in online higher education? Constructivism, virtue ethics and roles of online educators', E-Learning and Digital Media, vol. 19, no. 6, pp. 555-573. https://doi.org/10.1177/20427530221104885

Polizzi, G & Harrison, T 2022, 'Wisdom in the digital age: A conceptual and practical framework for understanding and cultivating cyber-wisdom', Ethics and Information Technology, vol. 24, 16. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10676-022-09640-3

Chapter

Brooks , E & Harrison, T 2023, Character Development in Higher Education. in MD Matthews & RM Lerner (eds), The Routledge International Handbook of Multidisciplinary Perspectives on Character Development, Volume I: Conceptualizing and Defining Character. 1st edn, Routledge International Handbooks, Routledge, pp. 174-186.

Harrison, T & Polizzi, G 2023, Cyber-wisdom education: Integrating moral theory to tackle online harms. in ANM Leung, KKS Chan, CSM Ng & JC-K Lee (eds), Cyberbullying and Values Education: Implications for Family and School Education. 1st edn, Routledge Series on Life and Values Education, Routledge, pp. 142-155. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003314509-12

Arthur, J & Harrison, T 2022, Service-Learning, character education and spiritualy in a Catholic University. in MB Isola & L Gherlone (eds), Spirituality and Higher Education: Perspectives from Service-Learning . 1st adapted edn, UNISERVITATE Collection, vol. 3, CLAYSS, pp. 135-153. <https://www.uniservitate.org/2022/08/18/spirituality-and-higher-education-perspectives-from-service-learning/>

Other report

Harrison, T, Polizzi, F & McLoughlin, S 2024, Educating and Measuring News Literacy and Civic Engagement in 9- to 11-year-olds. Jubilee Centre for Character and Virtues, University of Birmingham. <https://www.jubileecentre.ac.uk/project/news-literacy-and-civic-engagement/>

View all publications in research portal

Expertise

Character, virtue ethics, youth social action, citizenship, character and the internet

Media experience

Tom has been interviewed numerous times about digital wisdom and character education for local and national radio programmes. He has written articles for the TES, Conversation, Huffington Post and been quoted in national and local newspapers.  Tom was also a guest on the BBC Radio 4 Bringing up Britain programme about character

Policy experience

Tom has advised the Department for Education and Ofsted on Character Education.  This includes attending Ministerial round-tables, advising on DfE events and activities, presenting to DfE staff and being an advisor on a national character education survey.  He also received funding from the DfE to conduct a programme of research looking at how character can be taught through and within subjects.  Tom was the academic advisor for the Prince William award.