School of Psychological Science

La Trobe University, The Australian National University, and The University of Melbourne, in conjunction with SASP, were proud to present the inaugural Australasian Summer School in Social Psychology.

The Summer School aimed to provide an intensive learning and networking environment modelled on the European Social Psychology Summer School. It was a fantastic opportunity for postgraduate students from Australasia to further their knowledge and experience in social psychology and to establish strong networks with academics and postgraduate students in the area.

The Inaugural Australasian Summer School in Social Psychology was organized by a group of postgraduate students from La Trobe University. The Summer School was held from the 6th to the 11th of February 2004 at the ANU Kioloa Coastal Campus near Bateman’s Bay, New South Wales. Twenty-five students from nine universities around Australia and New Zealand attended, completing a five-day workshop in one of three streams:

Dr Craig McGarty (The Australian National University) and Dr Colin Leach (University of California, Santa Cruz) led students through an examination of theoretical and methodological issues of group-based identity, opinion, emotion and action, via the process of preparing a grant application.
The stream led by Dr Deb Terry and Dr Julie Duck (both from The University of Queensland) focused on the upcoming federal election as an applied context to examine stability and change in intergroup relations. This group developed a research question, outlined a conceptual model, and designed a questionnaire for a study of individual and group-based predictors of a desire for a change in government
Dr Nick Haslam (The University of Melbourne) and Dr Michael Halloran (La Trobe University) led students through discussion of essentialism and relativism and their relationship to social psychology theory and research, based on a series of selected readings. The work of the core streams was interspersed with special presentations by Dr Craig McGarty (A Technique for Dealing with Non-independent Data), Dr Michael Platow (Giving Professional Presentations), and Professor John Turner (The Origins and History of the Social Identity Tradition).

The venue was very peaceful, in a fantastic beach location, with resident wildlife (kangaroos, tree snakes, and, of course, flies and mosquitoes). Highlights included Craig (“the Activities Director”) conducting a trivia quiz, midnight walks along the beach (and the standoffs with the kangaroos on the way), teaching Colin to play cricket on the beach, watching mobile phone withdrawal sufferers walking around with arms in the air trying to get reception, and relativism in action as the Victorians enjoyed the warm surf while the Queenslanders found the water too cold.

Overall the Summer School went off without a hitch. Everyone had a great time (both at work and at play), and students evaluated the experience very highly. The students rated the learning, facilities, and organization positively (all above 4 on a 5-point scale), with glowing comments in terms of academic usefulness and networking with other postgraduates. The staff and students involved were in favour of making this a regular event. This Summer School sets a precedent for further attempts to provide postgraduates with this valuable learning and networking experience, and demonstrates that Australasia has a vibrant and interested postgraduate community who must be afforded as many opportunities for professional development as their international peers. Clearly, a regular Summer School would be a viable and worthwhile addition to the services offered by our organization.

Many thanks from the organizing committee, to the people who helped make the summer school such a success including:

the sponsors – SASP, La Trobe University, The University of Melbourne, and the Australian National University.
the academic staff - who generously dragged themselves away from work and family commitments to lead core streams or give presentations.
the postgraduates - who brought along enquiring minds and a sense of fun. Julian Oldmeadow, Chris Tanti, Maree Daly

Julian Oldmeadow and Melissa Lehmann returned from Germany where they attended the European Association of Experimental Social Psychologist's Summer School. The two week summer school brought together over 60 postgraduate students from around the world to participate in intensive workshops on various prominent areas of social psychology. This year the summer school was hosted by Phillips University in the quiet town of Marburg , an hour north of Frankfurt . Much work was done and much fun was had over the two weeks. It was a great opportunity to get involved with new and unfamiliar areas of social psychology, to meet many of the names we all know including the likes of Tom Pettigrew, Klaus Fiedler, Daan van Knippenberg, Felicia Pratto, and many others, and to network and socialise with postgraduates from every continent. Both Julian and Melissa were very grateful for the opportunity to attend the summer school and to be the first postgraduates to represent La Trobe University, and highly recommend postgraduates in their first and second years of candidature to consider applying for the next summer school to be held in 2004.