As the leading organisation for psychologists in Australia, the APS quite rightly focuses most of its efforts on supporting the profession and discipline of psychology in this country. However, we are also a member of the international psychology community, and have a role to play on the world stage. Our Society has many opportunities to learn from, and share information with, other psychological organisations. We thought it helpful to share some of these examples with our members.
MOUs with other national psychological associations
We have signed Memorandums of Understanding (MOUs) with nine national psychological associations from: United States, United Kingdom, New Zealand, Canada, Japan, Hong Kong, Indonesia, China and Spain. Some of the activities that have arisen from these MOUs include hosting joint conferences with the New Zealand Psychological Society and the sharing of resources and ideas.
A role on the international stage
In the world of international psychology, there are two key psychological associations – one focused on the discipline of psychology (the International Union of Psychological Science – IUPsyS) and another focused on applied psychology (the International Association of Applied Psychology – IAAP). We are active at the highest level in both these organisations as we have an APS Past President on the Board and Executive Committee of IUPsyS, and the APS Executive Director is on the Board and Executive Committee of IAAP. This allows us to contribute towards the international development of psychology.
We are also involved in the International Test Commission (ITC), with APS representation on the Council. The ITC is an association of national psychological associations, test commissions, publishers and other organisations which promotes effective testing and assessment policies, as well as the proper development, evaluation and use of educational and psychological instruments.
The APS has also been instrumental in working towards the establishment of the Asia Pacific Psychology Alliance (APPA) with the Constitution for the Alliance ratified at a meeting in February.
The APPA will promote psychology in the region and allow for the sharing of knowledge, resources and training opportunities. Signatories to the Constitution include Australia, New Zealand, Sri Lanka, China, Singapore, Japan, Malaysia, Philippines, Vietnam, Bangladesh, Taiwan, South Korea and Indonesia.
Sharing resources and ideas
One of our responsibilities to the international community is to provide support to countries where psychology does not have such an established history. Our longstanding focus on providing resources and services for members means that we are in a position to share our resources with other psychological associations. Some examples include:
Provision of the APS Grant for Intercultural and/or International Projects that supports psychologists and community groups in developing countries or under-resourced communities, or in countries where psychology is an emerging discipline. A range of projects across diverse countries have benefited from the grant including:
- work with the local university in the town of Bor in South Sudan where a hub was established to provide a safe place for women and children from which to enable educational, employment and enterprise opportunities
- a project based at the World Health Organization in Geneva which resulted in the development of a low-intensity intervention appropriate for different cultural and humanitarian settings
- facilitating training for psychologists at the National Center Against Violence in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia.
- sharing InPsych articles of interest with the Psychological Society of South Africa for distribution in their member e-newsletter
- helping other psychological associations to develop their capabilities through a workshop given at the recent Regional Congress of Psychology held in Hanoi last year
- learning from other psychological associations – we recently hosted a visit from the Manager of Practice, Research and Policy section in the American Psychological Association to learn more about the clinical practice guides they have developed.
This list is by no means exhaustive, but provides some examples of the way in which the APS can contribute to, and benefit from, the international psychology community. If you have any further ideas as to how the APS can contribute, please contact Debbie Hsu: [email protected]