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We are pleased to share with all our members the recipients of the 2025 ECPA awards, attributed by our Awards' Committee:
Lifetime Career Award
The Committee unanimously attributed the award to Bruna Zani.
Prof. Bruna Zani is a renowned scholar, recognised nationally and internationally for her decades-long contribution to community psychology. She is among the few European scholars to have successfully bridged social and community psychology in an innovative way. Prof. Zani has combined teaching, research, and civic engagement, nurturing a new generation of scholars and significantly shaping the discipline. She has held executive positions in community psychology associations in Italy and across Europe, demonstrating exceptional competence and effectiveness. Her commitment continues as President of the Istituzione G. F. Minguzzi (Metropolitan City of Bologna), an innovative and vital institution dedicated to the study and development of mental health policies. These achievements make her a distinctive and influential figure in the field.
The ECPA Best Doctoral Thesis Award
The Committee decided to confer the award to Christian Compare.
The Doctoral thesis by Christian Compare, titled “An Analysis of Service-Learning Effects on Students, Communities, and Institutions,” is an excellent contribution. It is a study on community service learning, a field relevant to community psychology, as it links academic teaching and research to the community. Three studies have been performed to research the impact of community service learning on students, on the community, and on faculty members. Namely, study 1) is a quantitative assessment of the impact on students enrolled in a service-learning course compared to traditional courses; study 2) focus on the experiences of community partners, explored with qualitative methods; finally, study 3) explores the perspectives of faculty members through qualitative interviews. The doctoral thesis is a good example of a well conducted doctoral thesis in community psychology.
The ECPA Master Thesis Award
The Committee decided to assign the award to Francesca Margherita De Falco.
The Master thesis by Francesca Margherita de Falco addresses the theme of acculturation from an ecological perspective, employing semi-structured interviews within the epistemological framework of grounded theory. The candidate shows significant mastery of both the relevant scientific literature and the methodological tools of qualitative research, arriving at conclusions that may serve as an excellent foundation for future studies and reflections. The study is situated within the field of community psychology and, if further developed, has the potential to make a valuable contribution to advancements in this field.
CONGRATULATIONS TO ALL!!!
NOTE: The Committee also recommended the good practice of granting awards only when there is more than one application. Although this rule had not been explicitly stated previously, it will be applied in future with the exception of the Life time Career Award.
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