A promise and a task

'Psychology helps,' said Christoph Steinebach, President of the European Federation of Psychologists' Associations (EFPA), at the European Congress of Psychology's opening ceremony. 'That's an important message.' Steinebach reflected on connections in these post-pandemic times, invoking the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals to ask 'What do we want to reach for?'

Steinebach's own answer was 'self-determination in social responsibility'. The Congress theme, of 'Uniting communities for a sustainable world', was 'a promise and a task'. For psychologists, Steinebach added, it's about 'reflecting on what we are doing and why'.

This was after the Mayor of Brighton and Hove, Jackie O'Quinn, had welcomed visitors to this 'inclusive, sustainable and modern city', and the British Psychological Society's Chief Executive Sarb Bajwa reminded us 'just how much the world has changed in the last four years'. He was looking forward to hearing 'perspectives of Psychology from different nations and cultures'. Society President Nicky Hayes was keen to return to the 'valuable informal networking' that a face-to-face event provides.

After the Congress, Steinebach added: 'The route to the ECP2023 convention centre took us through pedestrian traffic lights with the familiar prompt, "Push button. Wait for signal". In view of the many challenges facing our society, we have long known which buttons to push. And we need to get a move on! At the congress, there were now many signals! The motto of the congress highlighted the role of social communities, many contributions made clear the contribution of psychology to solving global problems. Also, it helps to change the perspective, like EFPA Aristotle Award winner Giuseppe Riva pointing out the opportunities offered by Artificial Intelligence to be seen also as Positive Technologies. With all this, ECP2023 sent a strong signal to the world that Psychology unites communities for a sustainable world!'

Nicola Gale, EFPA Vice President, said: 'ECP2023 was four years in the making, years in which the world has changed significantly. This was reflected particularly in the panel events on the main stage, which were a highlight of the congress. Never has psychology been more pertinent to societal challenges, and we were delighted to hear from speakers on poverty from the BPS campaign, Portugal and the president of the International Union of Psychological Science from Colombia; climate crisis experts from European universities and a UN representative from the American Psychological Association (APA); and on the impact of the pandemic from our partners in European mental health organisations and UK politics and advisors. EFPA is already looking forward to picking up these important conversations at ECP2025 in Cyprus.'

In our July/August edition we heard from the keynote and invited speakers.

You can find additional reports here on our website, including Professor Robin Banerjee (University of Sussex) on kindness, Arthur C. Evans Jr (CEO of the APA) on personal and organisational change, Dr Lisa Cameron MP on getting involved with politics, Professor Eva Selenko on poverty and precarity, and rounding up more.