Discover VR for the fight against bullying!

Discover VR for the fight against bullying!

Presenting the final results of the project “VR not bullies”

Virtual reality as a tool for countering bullying amongst youth

The final event of Virtual reality as a tool for countering bullying amongst youth (VR NOT BULLIES project) was implemented successfully online on Tuesday, 18th May, with the participation of the project partners and speakers from the Greek project partner, “The Smile of the Child”.

VR NOT BULLIES is an ERASMUS+ Project that started in September 2018 and it will be completed in a few days. The project was implemented in 4 countries; Croatia, Latvia, Romania and Greece and “The Smile of the Child” is the Greek partner. Its innovation is about using virtual reality technology and equipment to counter bullying among youngsters.

The President of “The Smile of the Child” and President of the “European Antibullying Network - EAN”, Mr. Costas Yannopoulos, welcomed participants and talked about all the initiatives that the Organization has undertaken in the fight against bullying. Ms. Piji Protopsaltis, Coordinator of the Cooperation Department at “The Smile of the Child” and Coordinator of the European Antibullying Network - EAN, presented briefly the EAN Network and its activities. The Coordinator of the National Center of Missing and Exploited Children Mr. Stefanos Alevizos, presented how useful Virtual Reality (VR) may prove, as a method for the prevention of bullying and as an educational tool for teachers.

The Project Manager, Ms. Eva Jurkovic, MA psychologist from the Croatian Organization Center SIRIUS, presented the project activities and the intellectual outputs in detail, as well as its rationale and its impact on young people, also made obvious on the two presented VR videos tackling school bullying.

Ms. Anna Priedola, Head of the Art Research Laboratory of Liepaja University, talked about the filming experience, since the scenarios and the shooting for the VR NOT BULLIES project was conducted with the exclusive responsibility of the Latvian partner.

Presentations about the implementation process across the project partners were made by Ms. Foteini Papadatou, Psychologist in the Prevention and Awareness Department, “The Smile of the Child” (GR), Ms. Csilla Lazar, Executive Director of the Spektrum Educational Center Foundation (RO) and Ms.Tatjana Bračun Haddad, Headmaster of Croatian Primary school “Stjepan Benceković” (HR), sharing their experience and feedback both from teachers and students who participated in the project.

Finally, all partners expressed their strong will to continue implementing the project by own means and to the extend this is feasible, as well as their committment to keep conveying their know-how and experience to other students and teachers.