welcome from the P-Team

Hey dear EFPSA people, sponsors and organisations! It has been several months since the last update, so we are happy to share quite some news with you. We are now back from Warsaw, where the Board of Management held a week-long meeting to discuss every single EFPSA matter and to define the next steps. We started off by implementing some EFPSA President Priit Tinits, changes to our website design. Hopefully EFPSA Vice-President Dorota Wisniewska you like it as much as we do. With the new forum set up, we would like our webpage to become the meeting point for European psychology students! Previous to the Board of Management Meeting, we had the Joint Executive Board and National Representatives Meeting (or simply said, EB-NR Meeting) in Turkey, which was a great success. The meeting was very productive for EFPSA and also allowed us to experience the Turkish culture. We would like to thank the citys municipality and of course the organisers for their amazing hospitality! Currently we are working on several topics: job descriptions for EFPSA positions, the structure of EFPSA promotion, and setting a long-term EFPSA strategy. In Warsaw, The Board of Management also voted on introducing two new functions: the Marketing Officer, on the Board of Management level, and the Training Officer, on the Executive Board level. We are doing our best to prepare a good starting point for the next mandates Board of Management. Time flies by fast, we have already reached the last months of our mandate! The change of the mandate will bring an opportunity for all European psychology students to challenge themselves through very interesting, inspiring, and fun work in EFPSA. The call for Executive Board positions will be released on March 18th. Job descriptions for the positions will be available by that time. Apply! This is an opportunity you do not want to miss! Counting the days to see 240 of you at the EFPSA Congress in the Netherlands to Free Your Mind! :D(orota) and :P(riit)
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news from the teams

Activities Office
Our focus at the time has been on monitoring the progress and helping the organisers of the most exciting upcoming EFPSA event: the EFPSA Congress in the Netherlands. However, this event is not the only EFPSA activity. Our other focus is on student exchanges we designed a promotional poster, and right now we are busy Activities Office Senior Coordinator Lisa Wagner & Junior Coordinator Vedran Leic with preparing the exchange workshop at the EFPSA Congress. In addition, we keep on updating the event calendar on the EFPSA website to keep everyone informed about psychology related events in Europe and the world. Just go to www.efpsa.org and click on Calendar (under Information on the right side) to check what is going on. You are invited to add events yourself! Just tell us about the event sending an email to activities@efpsa.org.

Promotion Office
We paid our attention on preparing promotion materials and gathering data about EFPSA. This will enable the future Marketing Officer and Promotion Officer to create a long-term marketing strategy for our federation. The promotion workshop we had during the EB-NR Meeting generated many bright ideas. We are now working through them forming an action plan to have these ideas implemented within the next months.
Communication Officer Dominika Szymaska & Promotion Officer Baran Metin

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Country Coach Team

We are working with the National Representatives of the EFPSA member organisations on a regular basis. At the moment, we are busy with creating a list containing contacts of every European psychology organisation, both on student and professional level. In addition, we have Country Coach Doro Katzenberger & been successful in reviving contacts with countries National Representatives Coordinator Mariliin Saar less active in EFPSA, and right now we are working on reintegrating them into our federation. Furthermore, we have established contacts with students from countries not yet represented in EFPSA. This is a great success the EFPSA Congress will be hosting participants from as much as ten non-member countries! It is the perfect opportunity for them to get to know EFPSA, not to mention a superb possibility for us to meet them, and learn from them. Many of our guests already expressed their interest to join EFPSA, so we are on our way to make EFPSA grow.

Web team
We have created the most visible change of EFPSA this mandate the new website with the forum. The work has been intense, as there are always things to be improved on the website. Do you have ideas? Please contact us using our new forum. You will find Webmaster Igor Srdoc it on www.efpsa.org.

Head of Finance
Kosta Bovan, the EFPSA Head of Finance, took care of ongoing financial issues like collecting membership fees and reimbursing travel costs for students attending EFPSA events. Kosta also worked on expanding EFPSAs ties - with the help from the Finnish National Representative Sami Raman, EFPSA gained a new Friend - the Finnish Psychological Association. Read more about Friends of EFPSA in this newsletter!

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Sponsorship team
The Sponsorship team prepared letters to acquire new sponsors. Good news there: we managed to get a subscriptionbased sponsorship with TherapySites.com which offers websites for therapists - please check the article in the end of this Sponsorship Senior Coordinator Laurent Schpbach newsletter for more details. If you are thinking about having a website, why not make it at TherapySites.com?

Journal of European Psychology Students team

The JEPS team has been implementing a new Open Journal System (OJS) on the EFPSA website having done two series of tests, the team is now familiar with OJSs possibilities. The new system will considerably speed up the publication process for the journal and make the review process more visible both authors and editors can check the review stage of the manuscript. The promotion part of the team has been busy with coming up with a web layout for the new OJS. For the upcoming issue, the Scientific Affairs part of the team set a temporary structure for reviewing the manuscripts. The second issue of JEPS is scheduled to be published until the JEPS Junior Coordinator Maris Vainre congress.

Grants Team
The Grants team has been working on preparing EFPSA for applying for the Youth in Action grant 4.1. With the help of a new team member - Ferhat Yarar from Turkey, we created some helpful manuals for getting this and other European grants.

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Study Abroad team

The Study Abroad team was focusing on uploading existing information about universities all over Europe to the new website. Soon, a complete database about studying abroad will be available for interested students.

Travel Network team

The Travel Network team was working on a new Travel Network website. It is not complete yet, so the new EFPSA website has been linked to the existing Travel Network site as a temporary solution. The team is also working on a new Travel Network presentation which should be premiered at the EFPSA Congress in the Netherlands. Be prepared!

Travel Network Senior Coordinator Lea Kristan & Study Abroad Junior Coordinator Alenka Murgelj

Secretary team
After the EB/NR meeting in Turkey, Moritz Jger was elected as the new Secretary General. Congrats! The newly formed Secretary team started its work by creating EFPSA Christmas cards that were sent to EFPSA people, sponsors and organisations. Once again thanks to Alexandra Ooms who drew the Christmas card! Next to all the administrative tasks evolving in the daily BMs work, the Secretary team also achieved visible improvements for the new webpage: It is always updated and being improved constantly. Thanks to the help of Povilas Katkevicius, National Representative of Lithuania, we can present a new highlight: the EFPSA forum. Go and visit it!
The complete Board of Management

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European Summer School team

The ESS team was busy to make the ESS 2010 an unforgettable event. We were working on promotion, recruiting supervisors and being in contact with the Bulgarian organising committee. Also, we enhanced the website with a news section. All the speakers and supervisors are selected already, thus we are happy to have the scientific programme settled. The application procedure for the ESS 2010 will start really soon, do not miss it!

The EFPSA Statutes Task Force

During the Executive Board/National Representatives meeting in Turkey, the Statutes Task Force presented the proposed changes in the EFPSA Statutes. The most important ones considered the definition of country, psychology student, national, local and observer organisation and how to handle abstaining votes. Alternative proposals were gathered during the meeting in Turkey. The finalised version was discussed during the second Board of Management meeting Dominika Szymanska, Nathalie Lam, Lisa in Warsaw and has been sent to the EFPSA Wagner & Aart Franken National Representatives.

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Executive Board and National Representatives meeting in Anamur, Turkey

Like every year around November, the EFPSA Executive Board (EB) and National Representatives (NRs) got together to take a look at the work done since the annual congress, and to set plans for the second half of the mandate. This time, the week between 7th and 13th November was spent in beautiful surroundings in a village named Bozyaz near Anamur in the very south of Turkey. The EB/NR meeting provided the unique chance to meet face to face for all those who are dedicated to EFPSA. It created a rich environment not only for working in teams, but also for a necessary cooperation between the teams of the Executive Board and between the Executive Board and the National Representatives. The National Representatives in turn focused on improving their promotion skills and used the opportunity to share experiences and thoughts about their tasks in EFPSA. They had their first e-voting in EFPSA and chose the organisers of the 25th EFPSA Congress (2011) and the next EB/NR Meeting. EFPSA says a warm-hearted thank you to the Turkish organising committee for making this meeting happen, and for the generous support offered by the mayor of Anamur. The participants of the EB/NR meeting are deeply moved by the hospitality of the local people for providing food for all the participants and who trusted us with hosting us in their homes. Thank you for providing us such an inspiring environment for working.

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new EFPSA webpage

The EFPSA meeting in Turkey was especially fruitful for the web team - the new EFPSA webpage was published soon after. Its fresh design facilitates finding the necessary information about EFPSA. In addition, some innovations of the webpage were implemented: the message board on the first page keeps visitors up to date with the latest news in EFPSA and with the events EFPSA recommends to attend. Moreover, this is the place for the monthly e-postcard from the Presidential team to inform students about the P-team's work in EFPSA and for EFPSA. Furthermore, a couple of completely new functions were added - the event calendar will keep users up to date with the most important congresses, seminars, lectures, gatherings and other events in the world of psychology. The new webpage not only helps visitors to keep themselves up to date with EFPSA's doings, but is becoming a portal for psychology students to help them orientate in their professional field by offering possibilities the institutions of formal education often lack. The EFPSA forum is designed to fill this gap.

new EFPSA forum

The brand-new forum is a unique platform for psychology students around Europe to exchange thoughts, reminiscence about EFPSA events, gather ideas for their next research, learn about EFPSA's doings, and last but not least, just enjoy the chance to discuss everyday matters with co-students. What better place to find to keep yourself up to date about events, meet people from all over Europe to found a research group, have an exchange, plan a trip? In addition - it's a perfect place to learn about EFPSA services, talk to the teams, and give and receive feedback not only from the EBs and NRs, but from whole Europe! But that's far from being it, this is THE place to discuss problems with your thesis, suggest how to broaden one's horizon with movies to see, books to read, and games to play. Besides, is it not the opportunity to pick up the topics you discussed with people in the last EFPSA event? The new EFPSA forum is the place to experience the versatility that you all know as EFPSA. Join, and tell your favourite psychology students to do the same. Login to EFPSA's webpage and introduce yourself to the future of European psychology. See you there!
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EFPSA Representatives in EFPA Standing Committees and Task Forces 2009-2011

EFPSA Representatives in Standing Committees:
Ethics: Dorota Winiewska (Poland) Psychotherapy: Lisa Wagner (Germany) Tests and Testing: Tuba Yilmaz (Turkey) Scientific Affairs: Vedran Lei (Croatia) Disaster, Crisis and Trauma Psychology: Ingrid Blessom (Norway) Have you ever wondered, who has a say in what is appropriate and what is not in the European psychology? Who makes the decisions? How are those decisions made? Since September 2009, EFPSA (that means we) has an excellent opportunity to represent the ideas of European students in a number of Standing Committees and Task Forces at the European Federation of Psychologists Associations (www.efpa.eu).

EFPSA Representatives in Task Forces:

Geropsychology: Vedran Lei (Croatia) Psychologists in the Educational System: Dominika Szymaska (Poland) Cultural and Ethnic Diversity: Andrs Csandi (Hungary)

The general goal of these groups is to improve the education in their respective fields. In order to achieve that, the Standing Committees and Task Forces issue certificates and compose training programmes to create standards of proper handling of contrete topics in their respective areas. The work in the committees and task forces includes a variety of activities; for example, gathering data about scientists and practisionaries in a particular field, developing programmes to advance the field of research, and train specialists dealing with the committees topics. All that often involves collaboration with professionals of the respective fields, and also working together with non-psychologist organisations, like Council of Europe, or the European Union. Does all that sound interesting? Keep reading! We are still looking for two persons willing to become a part of: Task Force on Pharmacopsychology led by Huib van Dis (Netherlands); Standing Committee on Traffic Psychology led by Jens Schade (Germany). Who can apply? All EFPSA enthusiasts, who are a member of their National Organisation and are willing to represent EFPSA until September 2011 in the above-mentioned committees.

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How much time will I need to contribute? The members of the Standing Committee or Task Force are assigned to a specific workgroup dealing with a concrete topic within the general domain of the group. You, as a future member, would have to attend discussions, sometimes read an article, or collect data. Most likely, this will take about two hours in a week. The lions share of the work is done via e-mails. Most of groups also meet twice a year face-to-face during 2-3 day conferences. For example, the Standing Committee on Scientific Affairs had a meeting on the 22nd of January 2010 in London, and the Network of Psychologists in the Educational System got together in Brussels for 2 days in January 2010. Other Committees and Task Forces are planning to meet within the next months. Will I need to do anything more? Yes, in addition to doing the work you have been assigned to and attending the meetings, you will also be asked to report about your work twice a year for internal EFPSA use. How can I apply? Send your CV & motivation letter to communication.officer@efpsa.org until the 20th March 2010.

BEST Trainers Forum Budapest

Three EFPSA Board of Management members, Lisa Wagner, Dorota Wisniewska and Dominika Szymanska, will represent EFPSA during the BEST Trainers Forum in Budapest from 26-30 March 2010. There will be up to 70 trainers from all around Europe participating. The event has two parts: one day of presentation panels and two days in Open Space methodology. It is a unique Dominika Szymanska, Lisa Wagner & Dorota Wisniewska opportunity to exchange knowledge and experiences with people involved in this field of work. The aim of EFPSAs participation is to discuss the newly created Training Officer function and the Train New Trainers Summer School idea. We are very much looking forward to this event! For more information please check http://best-budapest.hu/trainers-forum/?q=node/1
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EFPA Presidents Council Meeting

The European Federation of Psychologists Associations (EFPA) held its annual Presidents Council meeting in Brussels from 27-28 November. As the name suggests, the invited people were the presidents or representatives of EFPA member organisations. As EFPSA is an affiliate member of EFPA, EFPSA president Priit Tinits took part in the meeting as well. Despite a much larger official agenda, the meeting focused on one topic: the European common psychologist certificate EuroPsy and its implementation. EuroPsy has started as a pilot project in some countries such as Finland, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Spain, and United Kingdom. The participants of the meeting evaluated the process and discussed possible drawbacks. If you are interested in EuroPsy in your country, visit www.efpa.eu/europsy. EFPSA is also planning to release a special EuroPsy newsletter to introduce this concept to students. The event proved to be valuable for EFPSA also in another perspective. Taking place just before the opening of the congress registration, the meeting was a good opportunity to promote EFPSA and the Congress. This was especially beneficial for EFPA member countries that are not yet EFPSA members. Expressing concerns about their countries not being active in EFPSA, the representatives provided EFPSA with contacts of students to establish a connection. This was highly successful as some of those countries showed exceptionally high number of applications for the EFPSA Congress compared to earlier years.

IFISO Meeting
IFISO or the Informal Forum of International Student Organisations is a platform for student organisations to exchange ideas. This winters meeting took place in December in Calabria, Italy. EFPSA was represented by the president, Priit NR coordinator Mariliin Saar, EFPSA president Priit Tinits, and the National Tinits, second and third from the left Representatives coordinator, Mariliin Saar. Aside from EFPSA, a number of organisations were represented, varying from their scope, as well as goal orientation. AEGEE, Erasmus Student Network, Erasmus Mundus Association, also the organisations of pharmacy students, forestry students, and geography students joined the IFISO.
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EFPSA's benefit of taking part in the forum was evident. The discussions provided useful and quick tips to improve work for EFPSA. For example, communication issues were addressed with new and simple solutions. Broader cooperation ideas also appeared, also to have inter-organisational meetings for people with specific tasks like fundraising or trainers. The idea of setting up a training system within EFPSA also got an impulse from the forum. The new mandate of Board of Management and Executive Board are also likely to have the chance of benefiting from IFISOs next meeting which is about to take place by the end of Spring.

Friends of EFPSA
We are happy to announce that EFPSA made a first Friend the Finnish Psychological Association (http://www.psyli.fi)! For those of you that do not know about the Friends of EFPSA project, let us explain. Through the Friends of EFPSA project, organizations can benefit from EFPSAs extensive student support base in return of a monetary donation. Organizations which become EFPSAs friend, will be linked to on the EFPSA website, will receive our annual report, and will receive up to date information about what is happening in EFPSA. By being in contact with EFPSA, organizations will become better known by students and receive more support from students for their services and events. This in turn is likely to increase their number of potential future members for their own organization. We would like to thank the Finnish Psychological Association for their interest in EFPSA and their good will to become our friend! EFPSA appreciates this friendship and will cherish it in the future. Also, we would like to take this opportunity to thank Sami Rman, the Finish National Representative, who helped to settle this first EFPSA friendship. All of you who feel like helping EFPSA expand its list of friends; please contact treasurer@efpsa.org for more information and an application form. EFPSA thanks you in advance!

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call for Congress 2012 hosting country

The legendary annual EFPSA congress is almost here. We're all excited to meet again at this wonderful EFPSA event in the Netherlands. 2011 will take us to Poland and 2012 to.... your homeland? This is your chance to write a passage to EFPSA's colourful history. Apply to host the 26th congress in 2012, use your skills to come up with a fascinating topic, great team and organise the grand event that makes you and all the psychology students around Europe smile. Let the Secretary General (secretary@efpsa.org) know about your wish to be a candidate for 2012 congress location and then present your ideas at the General Assembly in the congress 2010 in the Netherlands. We are looking forward to visiting you!

Executive Board applications

This is your chance to take actively part in shaping EFPSA and its services. Apply to help students start their exchange semester, to run the EFPSA webpage, to be the secretary for EFPSA or to provide students with the great networking and travelling service called the Travel Network. Join the Executive Board to practice your persuasion skills by finding EFPSA sponsors, master your research and writing skills in applying for grants or take the challenge to become a member EFPSA Executive Board & National Representatives in Anamur, of the editorial board for the Turkey first European scientific journal for students - JEPS. And these are just some of the possible ways to participate in EFPSA more actively.

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Keep your eyes and ears open - the Executive Board (EB) teams will be looking for new members to their teams in the annual congress. Those with even more courage - you are welcome to run for the senior positions of the EB. The call for Executive Board positions will be released on March 18th. If you have any questions about the EB positions, contact the team you are interested in, or the Secretary General. Contact details can be found on the website. Looking forward to many new enthusiastic colleagues!

Therapy Sites
Great news for our students and wired psychologists who prefer to focus on their profession and want to leave the rest in good hands! TherapySites is the new collaborator of EFPSA! TherapySites specializes in creating websites designed for therapists that are professional, affordable, and effective. All you pay is a monthly hosting fee of $59/month with no long-term contracts. They deliver credit card processing, appointment requests, search engine optimization, and more - it's all included! Attracting new clients and generating more revenue is easy with TherapySites! If you visit this site and provide a promo code of "EFPSA", you will receive one month of free service with TherapySites, additional to the 30 days money-back guarantee trial. Get started now on www.TherapySites.com!

EFPSA miscellaneous
The first e-voting in EFPSA's history in November brought us new Financial auditors: Aart Franken and Tiina Kalda. The National Representatives agreed that in 2011, the participants of the 25th annual EFPSA Congress will be greeted with cze, as Poland will host the awaited event for the first time. The organisers have promised intriguing lectures and workshops accompanied by a wonderful scenery. The second most important event for the Executive Board and National Representatives will take place in Slovenia, where all those working for EFPSA will assemble for the EB-NR meeting in autumn 2010.
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