BPS Psychology Careers Festival a resounding success

With over 160 speakers across 68 online sessions, there was an abundance of expert advice and guidance at last week's BPS Psychology Careers Festival.

Tickets for the innovative online Remo platform, which allowed delegates to ask live questions and engage with speakers, were sold out, with many people purchasing livestream tickets to watch presentations and discussions via YouTube.

The festival's four stages included a Pathways Stage, allowing participants to 'dive deeper' into specific occupations within psychology, and an Inspirations Stage showcasing varied and unusual career pathways.

The Main Stage included keynote speakers and the opportunity to hear about the impact psychology careers can have, including keynote presentations from festival 'headliners'.

'All psychologists do the same thing – Myth!'

While many delegates were in higher education or early career psychologists, some sessions were geared towards younger participants at GCSE or A-Level/Highers level. These included the return to the festival of 'My Super Mind', an event on the Main Stage Monday to help younger people understand what psychology is and what careers are possible in the field.

As well as debunking some common myths about psychology, several speakers from the BPS's North West of England branch shared their journeys into psychological professions and shared a strong message that 'psychology is open to all'. My Super Mind was in its third year and is always a popular session.

Animal therapy…in a prison

Each of the BPS's divisions, networks of psychologists within fields like clinical, forensic and occupational psychology, ran sessions exploring pathways into their disciplines.

Other festival slots were taken by companies and organisations as diverse as the charity Beyond Autism, and Serco, who ran a series of sessions on career pathways within their prison services.

One of these sessions, from forensic psychologist Shannon Batt, talked about the positive contributions psychology can make in the 'ever-changing and sometimes volatile environment' of a remand facility.  Here psychologists can 'help create a more stable and supportive environment where prisoners can learn positive skills.' Even, as Shannon illustrated, when that involves snakes!

"One of our most popular interventions is animal therapy. What we've been finding is that the guys can identify with what the animals have been through, and choose an animal based on that. Most of the animals have been rehomed after being through trauma, and they're now helping people – so they end up thinking 'maybe I can too'."

Shannon's session took place on the Pathways Stage on Tuesday.

All the way to Saturday

The festival concluded with a closing ceremony on Saturday afternoon, headlined by psychologist, podcaster & media expert Dr Tara Quinn-Cirillo.

Tara spoke about her work of 'bringing the principles of psychology to communities', which included founding the Conversation Starter community project after the pandemic to 'tackle emotional health issues such as loneliness and isolation'. This is just one way she described using an 'evidenced based and robust model' from her experience in psychology 'to support my local community and beyond'.

Natalie Billing, BPS Careers Manager, who also spoke at the closing ceremony, said:

"Over the week, our speakers covered a vast range of psychological career options, different pathways into those careers, and workshops to help support those entering the field. We also saw 2800 attendees join us, nearly doubling last year's reach, which is fantastic.

"A big thank you the hard work and professionalism of all those from the BPS who contributed to the festival, all our speakers, and, of course, our delegates. See you next year!"