Co-founder and member of the executive board · established 2022
European Character and Virtue Association
A European forum for research, training and networking in character education — universities, academic networks and practitioner associations
Established in 2022, the European Character and Virtue Association (ECVA) brings together universities, research centres and practitioner associations that work on character and virtues in education. Roland Bernhard co-founded the association and serves on its executive board as Treasurer; through ECVA he initiated and leads the twelve-country research project TEPACE, and with Martin Brestovanský he organised the association’s 2025 conference in Vienna.
Executive board
Who carries the association
ECVA describes its mission as “promoting character virtues education, facilitating engagement among members, and influencing policy decisions”: a platform for member organisations across Europe, the sharing of research, ideas and policy proposals, greater visibility for European universities in character education worldwide, and a voice in policy debates that affect the character development of young people. A peer-reviewed, open-access European Journal of Character and Virtues is in preparation. ecva-character.org →
ECVA’s research project
TEPACE — Teachers’ and Parents’ Perspectives on Character Education in Europe
In 2023 Roland Bernhard initiated, under the auspices of ECVA, a comparative study of what teachers and parents across Europe think about character education. It grew into a consortium of twelve countries and 47 researchers, with 10,909 respondents in the first comparative report. He leads the project together with Martin Brestovanský, Verónica Fernández-Espinosa and Tom Harrison; the main results were presented at the ECVA conferences in Rome (2024), Vienna (2025) and Trnava (2026), where a policy panel discussed them and the Trnava Declaration on Character Education was launched.
Annual conferences
Where Europe’s character education community meets
Madrid · Universidad Francisco de Vitoria
Roland Bernhard presented, with Torsten Hitz, on challenges and opportunities for character education in Austria and Germany.
Rome · Università Europea di Roma, 26–28 June
Roland Bernhard organised the international TEPACE symposium — 23 contributors from eight countries — and presented, with Johannes Gasser, how AI tools can help create character education materials.
Vienna · KPH Vienna/Lower Austria, 24–26 June
“What makes a life of flourishing? Exploring the intersection of character education, life skills and competencies” — organised by Roland Bernhard and Martin Brestovanský, co-hosted by the Jubilee Centre for Character and Virtues and Trnava University: 130 participants from 23 countries, opened by a video greeting from Roberta Metsola, President of the European Parliament. More →
Trnava · Trnava University
“Bridging the Knowledge–Action Gap in Character Development”, co-organised by Roland Bernhard: the main results of TEPACE, a policy panel with representatives of the Slovak Ministry of Education, the Global Character Alliance and ECVA, and the launch of the Trnava Declaration on Character Education.
Stockholm · 30 June – 2 July
“What makes a school or university a ‘community of character’?” — hosted by AcadeMedia in cooperation with the Jubilee Centre for Character and Virtues and Universidad Francisco de Vitoria. Conference page →