Welcome message from the Scientific Committee Co- Chairs
Conference Theme: Culture Change: Past, Present, and Future
The changing climate, shifting geopolitical landscape, and transforming politics are accelerating cultural change. Our collective futures present challenges and opportunities for development. In this Golden Jubilee congress, we take stock and ask where we have come from in the past, how culture and psychology are constituted at present, and where we are going in the future. Come and join us to participate in a continuing conversation!
Yoshihisa & Emi Kashima
Melbourne School of Psychological Sciences, The University of Melbourne/School of Psychology and Public Health, La Trobe University
Welcome message from the Chair of the Organizing Committee
The IACCP’s very first congress was held in 1972 in Hong Kong. As I write from Hong Kong, glumly protected from COVID and foreign visitors by a thick, 21-day-in-hotel-quarantine barrier, I am joyful that I can still invite you to the IACCP’s 26th International Congress – celebrating IACCP’s 50th anniversary, and that inaugural Hong Kong congress, with an online event open to many more than those who could have joined us in-person.
The theme of this year’s Congress, “Culture Change: Past, Present, and Future,” encourages us to be mindful of both cultural continuity and cultural change. Whether online or in-person, IACCP congresses and conferences have a consistent energy of their own, brought by you– our international, adventurous, open-minded, and culture-respecting participants. IACCP connects brilliant researchers from across the world and across different areas of psychology and other disciplines, providing opportunities for cross-fertilization and discovery. In this year’s congress, we will help to nurture this atmosphere with a program emphasizing the IACCP’s key ethos of DIVERSITY, both cultural and intellectual, and CONNECTIONS, both social and academic.
With the esteemed Prof. Yoshi Kashima and Prof. Emi Kashima as co-chairs of the Scientific Committee, our fantastic teams on the Organizing and Scientific Committees, and our experienced Secretariat team led by Šárka Dobiášová, we are planning an exciting scientific program, interactive intellectual experiences, and opportunities for both synchronous and asynchronous meetings of the minds. We trust that next time, IACCP will invite you to visit a beautiful new physical location as well—but we are grateful to be able to welcome you to a beautiful online one instead! Join us!
Emma E. Buchtel
Associate Professor and Associate Head, International Engagement
Department of Psychology
The Education University of Hong Kong
Message from the IACCP President Colleen Ward
XXVI International Congress of the International Association for Cross-cultural Psychology
Culture Change: Past, Present, and Future
Next year- 2022- is IACCP’s Golden Jubilee! We have come a long way since the 1972 meeting in Hong Kong that was organized by John Dawson and established our association. Among the 125 invitees to the Hong Kong conference was Harry Triandis, who will be honoured at our meeting. Also there were Walt Lonner, who founded the Journal of Cross-cultural Psychology, John Berry, who complied the first directory of cross-cultural psychologists and their research, and Patricia Greenfield, who was a member of the first IACCP Executive Council formed at the Hong Kong meeting. Both Walt and John have attended every IACCP Congress since its inception and are planning a symposium on the past, present and future of cross-cultural psychology. Patricia will deliver a keynote address “Culture Change in the Pandemic: Adapting to Survival Threat and Small-Scale Social Environments.” These sessions by our early pioneers, Walt, John and Patricia, promise to be outstanding contributions to our golden jubilee celebrations.
Our conference theme, Culture Change: Past, Present and Future, not only pays tribute to our rich and vibrant history, but also addresses current and evolving social, political and environmental challenges that affect human behaviour and experiences across cultures in so many ways. Indeed, the global covid pandemic that has physically confined and isolated us over the last two years has also shown us that there are different ways we can connect and come together. Accordingly, we are organizing our XXVI Congress online. The times are changing, and as a resilient association, we are changing with them.
Fifty years after the first IACCP conference, we have come full circle. We owe a big thanks to Emma Buchtel (Education University of Hong Kong) who is Chair of the Organizing Committee. We are also indebted to Yoshi Kashima (University of Melbourne) and Emi Kashima (LaTrobe University) who are co-chairing the Scientific Committee. Their committees have innovative plans to deliver an engaging and stimulating conference, including ample opportunities to socialize and interact with friends and colleagues. Please join us for a rewarding experience.
I look forward to seeing you at our XXVI international congress in July.
Colleen Ward
President, IACCP