International Union of Psychological Science (IUPsyS)  

Guidelines for Selecting a Site for the International Congress of Psychology

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The International Congress of Psychology is held every 4 years, under the auspices of the International Union of Psychological Science. The IUPsyS Assembly generally chooses a host country for this Congress 8 years in advance of the Congress. The host country must be a member of IUPsyS. It is then the responsibility of the National Member (and its scientific community) to organize the Congress - including developing the program, issuing calls for participation, publicizing the Congress, arranging accommodation, arranging special programming, and usually arranging additional funding through grants, sponsorship, and the like.

To establish the feasibility of submitting an application, you might begin with an overview of your country/city as a Congress venue:

  • Is there a conference venue to host at least 5000 participants?
  • Are there sufficient hotel rooms (approx. 2000) close to the conference venue (or is transportation to the conference venue easy and frequent) that allow a range of rates?

How are Countries Selected?

If you believe your country/city would be appropriate for hosting an International Congress of Psychology, and if your country is a member of IUPsyS, you may wish to submit an application. It is the IUPsyS Assembly that votes for the selection. Although it is hard to predict just what features of a proposal define the voting outcome, the Assembly typically takes the following items into account (the order of the items which are listed here is not necessarily in the order of importance):

  • Geographical Rotation among continents and countries for the International Congresses of Psychology (ICP; under the auspices of IUPsyS) and the International Congresses of Applied Psychology (ICAP; under the auspices of IAAP): In an attempt to guarantee broad geographical coverage, the Assembly will be likely to favour applications that enable access across the major regions of the world. An additional factor is the location of large concentrations of psychologists. Therefore, some regions may be chosen more frequently than others.
For your information, here follows a list of recent and future Congress venues:
1988 ICP Australia
1990 ICAP Japan
1992 ICP Belgium
1994 ICAP Spain
1996 ICP Canada
1998 ICAP USA
2000 ICP Sweden
2002 ICAP Singapore
2004 ICP China
2006 ICAP Greece
2008 ICP Germany
2010 ICAP Australia
2012 ICP South Africa
2014 ICAP France
  • The scientific community in the Congress country is responsible for the scientific program: You should provide evidence that the scientific community in your country is willing and sufficiently able to develop a strong and balanced scientific program with broad international representation.
  • Exchange: Developing a good program also requires communication with scientists all over the world. Is there a strong tradition of efficient scientific exchange between your country and the scientific world?
  • Communication: There is a requirement for intensive and frequent communication between the Congress organizers and the IUPsyS Executive Committee. For example, the overall structure of the scientific program, Congress publications (abstracts, proceedings), and other Congress details need to be approved by the IUPsyS Executive Committee, and other organizational components need to be discussed. It is therefore important that you can guarantee good communication with the IUPsyS Executive Committee and particularly with its officers.
  • Costs for participating in the Congress are another factor. The Assembly will expect that the Congress registration fee will be reasonable, that there is a range of good hotel rates (particularly including inexpensive ones), and that travel costs can be kept as low as possible. For your information the registration fees for ICP 2000, 2004 and 2008 using early bird registration as reference were/are :

          Stockholm: 311 US$
          Beijing: 300 US$
          Berlin: 300 EUR
           

  • Despite efforts to keep costs low, travel is expensive for young psychologists, and for psychologists from the developing world and transition countries (e.g., Eastern Europe, Russia). It is therefore important to provide a plan that will guarantee special fees, housing, and support for those colleagues. This plan should be clearly outlined in the budget, including special provisions for ARTS programmes.
  • A balanced budget needs to be provided in outline. According to the IUPsyS Rules of Procedure, the local organising committee is entirely responsible for covering costs (in case of surplus, the IUPsyS Rules of Procedure provide information about the procedure to be followed). Thus, it is important to show realistically how the income (registration fees and other) will cover your costs. It may be helpful to consult the preceding organisers of Congresses in drafting the budget.
  • Remember the budget needs to cover the expenses of the IUPsyS Executive Committee meeting which is typically held in the Congress country three years in advance of the Congress. Moreover, the IUPsyS Executive Committee appoints one of its members to be the liaison person to the Congress and that person's costs needs to be covered for frequent attendance at the meetings of the local organising committee; the frequency depends on the existing communication with the IUPsyS Executive Committee but may mean at least once a year.
  • The International Congresses of Psychology adhere strictly to the ICSU principles of free circulation of scientists. Provide evidence that any scientist, from whatever country, will be allowed to enter your country without special requirements (except for the regular passport and visa). Based on former bids, it is a good idea to include an official letter from your country's government, stating explicitly that your country adheres to the ICSU principles of free circulation of scientists.