This month brings a remarkable convergence of traditions, as Ramadan, the Lunar New Year, and Lent overlap. May this special moment renew our collective energy to support communities around the world and continue building bridges of solidarity, radical care, and border-defying connections.

In this issue, we highlight several campaigns and statements endorsed by ECPA in solidarity with health professionals who are speaking out against immigration detention. We also share updates on the ECPA Awards 2026 and the upcoming ICCP Lagos 2026.

We hope you enjoy this edition!

ECPA stands in solidarity with the position of the Italian Society for Migrants Healthcare (SIMM) against the discrimination of migrants in healthcare

TREATMENT IS NOT A CRIME! In defense of medical autonomy and the right to healthcare (Art. 32 of the Italian Constitution)

On February 12, 2026, at Ravenna Hospital, a police raid in the Infectious Diseases department resulted in the criminal investigation of six doctors that opposed the police action. This episode marks a serious attack on the medical profession, its ethics, and the equal care of all people. The Italian Society of Migration Medicine (SIMM), supporting the position of President of the National Federation of Physicians, Surgeons and Dentists (FNOMCeO), Filippo Anelli, dated February 13, 2026, and referring to its own appeal of June 16, 2025, supported by the same FNOMCeO prepared a letter to recall some key principles of the medical profession and of the Italian Constitution. ECPA, among other entities and organisations, is a signatory of this letter.

If you'd like to be involved, there's also a petition circulating online through Change.org.

ECPA stands in solidarity with campaigners fighting immigration detention

Campaigners in Italy are fighting immigration detention by asking doctors to stop declaring anyone fit for detention.  Nicola Cocco of the Italian Society for Migrations’ Medicine explained to PICUM that sending a person to an immigration detention centre requires a doctor’s certificate proving that they are “fit for detention” (conditions are regulated by a 2022 ministerial directive). Often, this certification is done at the emergencies by overworked doctors, with little time and no serious medical check-up. The exam typically lacks the person’s consent and is not accompanied by a cultural mediator. The result is that doctors often merely certificate that the person does not have communicable diseases. So far, 40 to 50 doctors have adhered to the campaign, which have collectively avoided that about 100 people be sent to immigration detention. Regional medical associations have not yet responded to the campaign, leaving the ethical burden on individual doctors. However, the national committee currently reforming the medical code of ethics has proposed to include a clause whereby doctors cannot be requested to declare a person “fit for detention”.

But Europe is going in the opposite direction. The EU Migration Pact is thought to lead to the detention of 70-80,000 people every year, especially at the borders, where it is harder to check abuse and respect for safeguards. The Italy-Albania deal (which would see Albania hosting people rescued at sea by Italian authorities for the examination of their asylum claims) poses serious doubts as to how people with vulnerabilities will be treated and makes rights’ monitoring extremely difficult.

ECPA AWARDS 2026

Call for nominations open from 1st March to 30th May 2026

Eligible Categories:

ECPA Lifetime Career Award: The Award is to honour individuals with outstanding, long-term scientific contribution to community psychology theory, research, and practice.

ECPA Early Career Award: This award will recognise individuals for their significant contribution(s) to the field of community psychology and who are within ten years of their last degree.

ECPA Contribution to Practice Award: The award is presented to honour individuals, groups, or organisations that have made significant contributions to the field of community psychology. It recognises bodies of work that demonstrate high-quality and innovative applications of community psychological principles, resulting in meaningful impacts on the communities served.

ECPA Best Doctoral Thesis Award: This Award is to identify the best doctoral thesis on a topic relevant to the field of community psychology completed during the prior two years. The completion date for the dissertation refers to the graduation date. We might consider accepting dissertations in languages other than English, depending on our capacity. Please get in touch with us first to discuss this.

ECPA Master Thesis Award: This award is to identify the best master’s thesis in the field of community psychology completed during the previous year. The completion date for the thesis refers to the graduation date. We might consider accepting dissertations in languages other than English, depending on our capacity. Please get in touch with us first to discuss this. For 2025, ECPA will provide 200 euros to the winner.

Procedure rules

• The awards are awarded annually.
• Nominations and self-nominations are considered only from ECPA members, except for the Masters Thesis Award.
• Nominations and self-nominations are both accepted.
• Past winners cannot be nominated for the same category of award.
• All nominations should be sent as email attachments to the ECPA Board by the deadline (May 30th) at ecpa.psychassociation@gmail.com.
• Applications for Lifetime Career Award, Early Career Award, and Contribution to Practice Award should include:
  • The nominee CV 
  • 1-2 pages letter describing the nominee’s work and why they are worthy of recognition. 
  • Details of the proposer (when applicable) and nominee’s personal data (names, address, and e-mails).
  • It is strongly recommended to accompany the submission with supporting documents, including the nominee’s published papers, book chapters, and/or other relevant outputs.
• For the Doctoral Thesis Award, please submit:
  • The doctoral thesis in its original form
  • A document (in english, max. 4,000 words) including: an abstract (~300 words); state of the art; methodology; results; discussion; conclusions.
  • CV and brief presentation of the applicant (~300 words).
• For the Master Thesis Award, please submit:
  • The master thesis in its original form 
  • A document (in english, max. 2,000 words) including: an abstract (~300 words); state of the art; methodology; results; discussion; conclusions.
  • CV and brief presentation of the applicant (~300 words).
  • The prizes will be awarded by a Committee that includes one ECPA Board member and at least two invited external experts.

11th International Conference of Community Psychology ICCP Lagos 2026

Registration Updates: Early Bird registration has now closed. ICCP is currently under the Regular Registration period, which runs from January through June 2026:

https://iccplagos.com/register/

Registration fees include visa support, airport pickup, and lunch.

Abstract Submission: The abstract submission deadline has been extended to March 16 to allow additional time for submissions. ICCP 2026 organisers are finalizing the proposal review process, and we will be reaching out to those who volunteered as reviewers with more details soon. The link for the abstract submission is here: https://iccplagos.com/call-for-abstract/

Lodging Information: The deadline to add-on lodging through the conference was February 20, 2026. If you have not registered yet, you can add-on lodging when you register. Details regarding accommodation can be found here: https://iccplagos.com/lodging/

Pre- and post-conference: 

The pre- and post-conference programs have been thoughtfully designed to both educate our guests and showcase Lagos. These experiences include curated historical tours highlighting the city’s rich heritage and significant landmarks, including the JK Randle Centre, Badagry Slave Market and ports, and the historic Point of No Return.

The pre-conference will span 2 days before the conference (August 30th and 31st). Lodging on those nights will be included in the pre-conference registration fee. More information about the pre-conference activities can be found here: https://iccplagos.com/preconference/.

The post-conference will span 3 days after the conference (September 5th-7th). Loding on September 5th and 6th are included in the post-conference registration fee. Details about the post-conference program are available here: https://iccplagos.com/postconference/

Visa and Immigration: ICCP organisers are in direct communication with the Nigerian Immigration Service (NIS). We have been advised to collect information from attendees who require visas. We are still updating the system to collect that information, and once ready, we will communicate directly with those registered. Current relevant details and required documentation can be found here: https://iccplagos.com/visa-2/

Additional Information:
Further guidance for first-time visitors to Nigeria, including information on visas, land cards, and yellow cards, is available on the conference website.

We invite you to contact us at ecpa.psychassociation@gmail.com with any suggestions of events, opportunities or papers to include in future newsletters, and don’t forget to follow us on LinkedIn, BlueSky, or Facebook.

We appreciate you for being part of our community!