Social
psychology is a flourishing field in Belgium, and counts many researchers,
including a large number of doctoral students, doing cutting-edge work in
well-renowned research units. This work is often presented at
international conferences, but, except for the annual BPS meetings where
we share time and attention with other fields of psychology, social
psychologists in Belgium had not yet found a national forum for sharing
their on-going work.
The
aim of the Workshop
on Social Psychology in Belgium
was to provide such a forum. The format of this meeting was intended to
encourage thorough discussion on the research presented. This was achieved
by having all presentations in one room, and by providing the same time
slots for discussion of each presentation as for the presentation itself.
The
success of the workshop can be measured by the facts that a very large
proportion (around three quarters) of social psychologists working in
Belgian universities participated in the workshop, and that all
universities were represented. After the scientific programme some ideas
were discussed on how to conciliate future workshops with the busy
research and conference schedule of social psychologists in Belgium. It
was agreed that a different university should organise the next workshop,
and that it should be scheduled for a time of the year set further from
the annual Belgian Psychological Society meeting or from the Summer
international conference calendar (e.g. Fall).