Conversations on Character

Presented once again in partnership with the Sport Legacy Foundation in this special bonus episode, the final edition of Conversations on Character for 2022, Professor Tom Harrison welcomes World Cup Winning Cricketer, Director of Surrey County Cricket Club, Trustee of Chance to Shine and Founder of The ACE Programme Charity, Ebony-Jewel Rainford-Brent MBE.

In this conversation Ebony reflects on how she developed positive virtues as young black woman playing cricket, what ‘being better’ means for her, how responsive coaching, positive facilitation, and adaptive engagement has been key in redefining remodelling so that it more effectively supports a more diverse pool of grassroots talent in sport, and who for her personifies courage.

In the final episode of our miniseries on the character developing potential of sport and in celebration of the 2022 Birmingham Commonwealth Games Conversations on Character welcome’s West Midlands cricketing hero Moeen Ali OBE.

Worcestershire, CSK, Warwickshire, and Phoenix All-rounder, the England short form Vice Captain Moeen talks to Professor Tom Harrison about his early days on the cricket pitch and the resilience required to become a success, the sense of humility his family help forge in him and how that has shaped how his gives back to his community, his place as a role model for young people and what legacy would mean to him.

In the latest Conversations on Character: Commonwealth Games Special we welcome GB&NI Paralympian Medallist, 2015 US Open Singles champion, and 12 times Grand Slam winning Doubles Wheelchair tennis player (including a calendar grand slam in 2014 and 5 Wimbledon titles) Jordanne Whiley MBE.

Part of the special mini series looking at the character developing potential of sport, Jordanne shares the particular importance of determination and resilience throughout her career, the unique role her parents played as role models in her life, the place of the positive virtues traits that allowed her to not just return but thrive on the court after having her son, and who for her is a leading exemplar of courage.

In the fourth of our Commonwealth Games Special's, Conversations on Character welcomes England Cricket Allrounder Heather Knight OBE. 

England’s World Cup Winning Cricket Captain and one of Wisden Cricketers of the Year for 2017, in this episode Heather reflects on her role as a mentor, the virtue traits required to make a successful captain and leader, and why is it important that children and young people, especially young girls, are positively supported and encouraged to play and stick with sport early on in thier lives.

In episode three of this special miniseries celebrating the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games, Professor Tom Harrison speaks to three sixth Form Students from Waverley School part of the Waverley Education Foundation Trust

A partner of the Sport Legacy Foundation, and recipients of the coaching programmes coordinated by Sport for Life International (an initiative ran by the SLF) Imad, Isah, and Zoyah share how they make a difference in their communities, who their role models are and the virtues of their sporting heroes, and how they believe the Games could inspire a generation and bring a city together.

The second guest of this Commonwealth Games special mini-series is the ICC General Manager of Cricket, Wasim Khan MBE.

A former double winning Country Championship cricket player with Warwickshire, Managing Director of the Pakistan Cricket Board, and CEO of the Chance to Shine campaign and Leicestershire County Cricket Club, Wasim talks with Professor Tom Harrison about those character traits that have been integral to his career since breaking though in the 90’s, his work at Chance to Shine, and his hopes for how the Women’s T20 Cricket, making its debut at the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games, could inspire both a generation and a city.

Conversations on Character returns for a third series, celebrating the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games, for which the University of Birmingham is a headline sponsor, and the role that character development through sport can play in it’s legacy

The first guest of these special episodes is John Crabtree OBE. Among many prestigious roles held throughout his career, John is the Lord Lieutenant of the West Midlands and the Chair of both the Birmingham 2022 Organising Committee and the ‘United By 2022’ Board of Trustee’s. In this episode John reflects on his own understanding of service to one’s community, the unique challenge of and character strengths required when leading a global sporting event as well as founding a legacy that will last, and who for him best exemplifies the virtue of courage.

In the final episode of Conversations on Character’s second series, we welcome leading American educator, teacher, school leader, and character scholar Dr. Karen E. Bohlin.

The former head of Montrose school, MA, USA, Karen reflects on her 18 years at the helm, why she was inspired to found the LifeCompass Institute during that time and its impact in the first five years, how research and a love of literature has informed her practice and why she has now been drawn back to academia and what is to come working with the Abigail Adams Institute and Boston University’s Centre for Character & Social Responsibility.

In Series Two, Episode Nine of Conversations on Character we welcome Dr. Eugene Ohu, Senior lecturer in the Department of Organisational Behaviour/Human Resource Management at Lagos Business School, Pan-Atlantic University, Nigeria. 

With host Dr. Tom Harrison, Eugene shares with the lasts updates from his work as the principal investigator at the Virtual Human Computer Interaction (VHCI) Lab, what defines a uniquely African approach to character and how his ongoing partnership with the Templeton World Charity Foundation has allowed him to take a global approach to his research.

Turning our attention to the development of good character through a virtue led approach to professional practice, Conversations on Character welcomes Tina Russell, Professional Conduct and Ethics Lead for the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD).

Tina reflects on how the people profession has evolved over the last 15 years, how the people profession will need to respond as people return to more conventional working practices post pandemic, her contributions to the Centre publication, Bringing Character to Life: Virtues in Business and Finance, how peer to peer support has been central to addressing ethical dilemmas and whom for her is a leading exemplar of service.