Education

ISD’s innovative global education programmes build the resilience of young people to hate speech, extremism and disinformation.

ISD research has shown that education plays a critical role in undermining the appeal of propaganda, hate and extremist ideologies, disrupting their impact at the roots. Our work supports the development of vital skills such as critical thinking and media literacy.

We partner with those most affected by violent ideologies, including former members of Islamist, paramilitary and white supremacist groups, as well as victims of hate-crime or discrimination. Our portfolio of programmes is underpinned by leading research into the role of education in disrupting extremism, hate and disinformation.

We design accredited digital citizenship curricula that cover essential topics for digital users, and supports schools and youth centres to engage young people in challenging issues. Topics include the spread of online dis- and misinformation, the impacts of filter bubbles and echo chambers, and the tools required to create online counter-hate and harassment campaigns. Additionally, we produce resources for parents to proactively support and guide their children’s digital education at home.

Extreme Dialogue: Compelling films tell the first-hand stories of former extremists and survivors of extremism, accompanied by a series of interactive educational resources for teachers, youth workers and young people.

Digital Resilience: Resources and curricula build the resilience of young people to extremism, hate and disinformation on social media. We provide parents, schools and youth workers with skills to support children’s digital education in engaging and dynamic ways.

Be Internet Citizens: Developed in partnership with Google, this pioneering digital citizenship programme build young people’s resilience to hate and extremism online in the UK.

Young Digital Leaders:A Europe-wide project to empower young people through digital citizenship education, and equip them with critical thinking and media literacy skills.

Extreme Dialogue launch, Canada, 2015

Be Internet Citizens training, 2018

Latest Education publications

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ISD’s Education team

Henry Tuck

Head of Policy & Programmes,

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Henry Tuck is Head of Policy & Programmes at ISD for work across Europe and the Five Eyes countries. He is responsible for the overall management of the Institute’s research programme, including oversight of all publications, research methods, and ethics across a variety of topics, from disinformation to the far-right and extremism online. Henry also leads ISD’s policy-focused work to counter online harms in collaboration with a range of key stakeholders, advising leading governments, international organisations and major private sector tech companies. He is the co-author of ISD reports An imprecise science: Assessing interventions for the prevention, disengagement and de-radicalisation of left and right-wing extremists, The Counter-Narrative Monitoring & Evaluation Handbook, Shooting in the right direction: Anti-ISIS Foreign Fighters in Syria and Iraq, and The Counter-narrative Handbook. Henry holds a Masters in International Conflict Studies from Kings College London, and a BA in Philosophy, Politics and Economics from Durham University.

Jennie King

Senior Policy Manager

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Jennie King is a Senior Policy Manager at ISD. She supports programme design, policy outreach and strategy across the organisation. Jennie previously served as MENA Regional Director Arts, Assistant Country Director Egypt and Co-Director Hungary for the British Council, the UK’s international body for cultural relations. She also served as an Attaché for the Guatemalan Diplomatic Mission. She is the co-author of the ISD report Hoodwinked: Coordinated Inauthentic Behaviour on Facebook. Jennie read Arabic and Spanish at Pembroke College, Cambridge, receiving a Foundation Scholarship and the Marie Shamma’a Frost Prize for Oriental Studies.

Josh Phillips

Project Manager

Josh Philips is a Project Manager at ISD, where he supports the development, delivery and evaluation of ISD's digital citizenship projects. Through these projects, he has written unique, accredited curricula, which have been used to teach thousands of students across the UK and Europe, as well as to train hundreds of teachers. Josh has also supported the Education team’s policy engagement, including having briefed the UK Home Secretary on ISD’s digital citizenship programming. Previously, Josh worked on the US and the Americas Programme at Chatham House and completed the Teach First Leadership Development Programme. He has co-authored and published impact reports, as well as a toolkit for NGOs to design their own digital citizenship projects. He is the co-author of the ISD reports Digital Citizenship Education: Programming Toolkit, Young Digital Leaders 2019: From Safety to Citizenship Online, and the Be Internet Legends and Be Internet Citizens: Impact Report. Josh holds an MSc in International Politics from SOAS University of London as well as a BA in English Literature from Leeds University.