Psychology Student Conference to become annual event!

On Friday, May 10^th, the Psychology Department of the University of New York in Prague held its first student research conference, entitled:

International Student Research Symposium: Building a Global Community in Psychological Science for the 21^st Century.

The event was held in partnership with New York University, and invited students to present their original research in panel discussions as well as a poster session, with 98 students in attendance.  Our panels were moderated by faculty from UNYP, Empire State College and La Salle University, so it was a great chance to introduce our university and our partners to our academic colleagues from across the country and around Europe.

Institutions represented at the conference included, Charles University (Philosophical faculty, Humanities Faculty, Center for Theoretical Studies, and the Sexology Institute of the First Medical Faculty). Other schools in Prague were represented, such as the Czech Technical University and the Prague School of Psychosocial Studies, as well as students who travelled here from Palacky University in Olomouc and Masaryk University in Brno.   New York University’s American students were not the only students from abroad in attendance, in addition to students from Webster University in Vienna, we had guests from  University College London and Universita’ degli studi di Padova.  Together with our own psychology students from over 15 countries attending, this was truly an international event.  Also representatives of the Czech Association of Psychology Students and European Federation of Psychology Students were in attendance and we have set up the groundwork for our students to become more involved in these prestigious organizations.

Students presented their original work on a variety of interesting topics, and the conference was enjoyed by everyone.  It was followed by a reception at the Hard Rock Café sponsored by UNYP which gave students a chance to socialize and build friendships as well.

The conference was completely organized by the officers of the UNYP Psychology Club and the many psychology students who helped with the organization, set up and running of the event.  They all did a terrific job to make this a highly professional and well-run event, and the guests were already asking if it will be an annual event.  

We showed ourselves to be a serious institution that cares about scientific research and academic cooperation. Overall, it was a great chance to introduce UNYP psychology students to the local academic environment, hear about interesting research and position UNYP firmly as one of the leaders in psychology education in the Czech Republic.