Professor James O’Higgins Norman

Professor of Education and Society | UNESCO Chair on Bullying and Cyberbullying
Director, DCU Anti-Bullying Centre
DCU Institute of Education

Professor James O’Higgins Norman is Professor of Education and Society and holds the UNESCO Chair on Bullying and Cyberbullying at the DCU Institute of Education. He is also Director of the DCU Anti-Bullying Centre, a designated university research centre focused on bullying and online safety across educational and organisational settings.

His research, which addresses school bullying and digital safety, has been supported by a wide range of funders including the European Commission, Government of Ireland, Irish Research Council, Enterprise Ireland, Rethink Ireland, and several philantropic foundations such as Vodafone Foundation Ireland, Meta, and the Equinix Foundation.

A clinical sociologist by training, Professor O’Higgins Norman is dedicated to applying theory and evidence-based research to the intersection of real-world issues and education. He has served in numerous advisory and leadership roles, including as Chair of UNESCO’s Scientific Committee on Bullying and Cyberbullying, the World Anti-Bullying Forum, the Ministerial Steering Committee on School Bullying, and the National Advisory Council on Online Safety. He has also contributed to the NCCA’s Sub-Committee on Intercultural Education for Primary Schools. His work has been presented at major international bodies including the OECD, United Nations, WHO, and USAID.

Professor O’Higgins Norman is a founding Editor-in-Chief of the International Journal of Bullying Prevention and has served on the editorial boards of the Journal of Pastoral Care in Education and the Journal of Religious Education. His research has been widely published in leading academic journals, including the British Journal of Educational Psychology, Feminist Media Studies, and the Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health. He is also co-editor of the Wiley-Blackwell Handbook on Bullying.

In recognition of his impactful research, he received the DCU President’s Award for Research Impact in 2020. He was also honoured with the DCU Invent Commercialisation Award in both 2019 and 2022 for his work on bullying and digital safety in partnership with social media and telecommunications organisations.