Many APS members attended the very successful International Congress of Applied Psychology (ICAP) which the APS hosted in July 2010 in Melbourne. One major benefit to arise from the success of the Congress was the opportunity to enhance the profile of Australian psychology in the international context. It was a great pleasure during ICAP for the Society to celebrate the recent signing of the MoU with the Canadian Psychological Association and to sign new MoUs with the Japanese Psychological Association and the Indonesian Psychology Association. Since the Congress we have also signed an MoU with the Hong Kong Psychological Society and we have previously signed MoUs with the British Psychological Society, the American Psychological Association, the New Zealand Psychological Society and the South African Psychological Society. Whilst these memoranda have been a useful step with regard to ensuring that Australian psychology takes its rightful place in the international context, the APS Board is ever mindful that the commitment to an international focus for Australian psychology is more than just signing pieces of paper.
Over this year both the Executive Director, Lyn Littlefield, and I have been forging closer links with a number of psychological societies both within our region and more broadly, with a view to ensuring that Australia takes its place as a significant player in the international psychological community.
Some members may be aware that the APS is a full member of the International Union of Psychological Science (IUPsyS). The IUPsyS works to promote "the development, representation and advancement of psychology as a basic and applied science nationally, regionally, and internationally". One of the principal activities undertaken by the IUPsyS is the hosting of the quadrennial International Congress of Psychology. Australia has previously hosted the ICP in Sydney in 1988, and I am sure those who attended that Congress can attest to its success. In 2012 the 30th ICP will take place in Cape Town, South Africa from the 22nd to the 27th of July, and this will be another opportunity for Australia to 'strut its stuff' in the international arena. In this issue there is a call for papers for ICP 2012 and a particular invitation to expatriate South Africans in Australia to renew their connection with their country of origin by attending the Congress (see page 25). Lyn Littlefield has already been invited to present two papers at the Congress and I will also be presenting. ICP 2012 also features a number of satellite conferences, including the 21st International Congress of the International Association for Cross-Cultural Psychology (IACCP) which will occur from the 17th to the 21st July 2012, in Stellenbosch, South Africa, as well as the 5th International Conference on Psychology Education (ICOPE) which will be included within the program of ICP 2012. I strongly urge all members of the Society to make the effort to get to South Africa both to have a look at one of our close neighbours as well as to enjoy the benefits of a truly great international scientific conference.
It was my great pleasure in mid-September of this year to attend the 75th annual Japanese Psychological Association (JPA) conference which took place in Tokyo. This was a true showcase of our Japanese neighbours’ resilience, who, despite the effects of dreadful natural disasters, were capable of putting on a first rate conference. I must admit to being very envious of the success of the JPA in luring 3,000 of its 8,000 members to the conference – an astounding level of participation by its members. Whilst in Japan it was possible to have meetings with, and support and encourage, Professor Saths Cooper who is Chair of the ICP 2012 in South Africa, as well as Professor Kazuo Shigemasu, who is the Chair of the 31st ICP to be held in 2016 in Yokohama, Japan.
The Society has also been pursuing closer ties within our region and it is my hope that over the next few years we will again be co-hosting a joint conference with the New Zealand Psychological Society to mirror our very successful joint conference in Auckland in 2005.
Moving even closer to home, I am sure all of the registrants at this year’s APS Annual Conference recently held in Canberra will attest to the excellence of this event. All of the keynote addresses were inspirational, but most particularly the session presented by Professor Kelley Brownell of Yale University on the causes and prevention of obesity (see page 36 for a write-up of this address). I would like to personally extend my thanks to Professor Don Byrne and his organising committee for what was a first class Conference.
At the Conference it was my pleasure to announce two new Honorary Fellows of the Society, Emeritus Professor Graham Davidson and Adjunct Associate Professor Amanda Gordon. These two psychologists have made a huge contribution both to the Society and to Australian psychology more broadly, and their life work has been appropriately recognised through attaining Honorary Fellowship of the Society (see page 44 for profiles of the two new Honorary Fellows).