From July 23 to July 25 2025, in partnership with ISPA University, SCRA, SIPCO and SPPC, ECPA was honored to host an international conference of community psychology, bringing together more than 80 members from 13 countries!!

This was our first opportunity to meet each other in person after a long gap, and it coincided with ECPA's 20th anniversary! It was an emotional encounter between old and new companions, inspired by the theme "Building Community Strenght in Uncertain Times".

In our welcoming panel, “From Marco Cavallo to the Jenin Horse: The Role of Healing Justice and Liberation Struggles in the Face of Ongoing Colonial Violence”, the conference theme was contextualized by our amazing speakers Isabel Leal, Maria João Vargas-Moniz, Sofia Ramalho, Dr Samah Jabr and ECPA's President, Francesca Esposito. Their interventions drove us from the hopeful beginnings of ECPA into the struggles of our present moment, particularly focusing on the genocide unfolding in Palestine.

We had three intensive days of working groups, workshops, plenary sessions, and more, where participants engaged in rich discussions and forged new collaborations. The topics were diverse and thought-provoking, ranging from climate justice to critical academic work, participatory methodologies, strategies of resistance utilized by communities affected by gender, racial, class and health inequalities, community-led knowledge production, mobilities justice, the digital turn in community-based research, the rise of authoritarianism, the struggles for deinstitutionalization, among others. 

A wonderful sense of community was perceived in the debates, where we were called to play a critical role in these challenging times, standing together, in solidarity, to respond to growing geographies of fear, hate, and despair. We are certain that now more than ever, we must nurture community-led, bottom-up geographies of solidarity, love, hope, joy and collective care.

There was also time for three very special visits to local projects and initiatives where participants could have a sense of the diverse histories of Lisbon's resident communities. Participants had the opportunity to visit a Housing First project, walk in the city centre guided by Monisha Sur, a Bangladeshi entrepreneur that made Lisbon her home (Migrantour Project) and to immerse themselves in the history of Black communities through Project Noz Stória, another city walk guided by the amazing Sinho (José Baessa de Pina).

We closed the conference with an inspirational panel entitled “Envisioning Radical Futures for Community Psychology and Beyond: Challenges, Hopes, and Aspirations” where our wonderful speakers Iolanda Evora, Zaida Morais de Freitas and Moshood Olanrewaju led us through creative experiences, critical thinking and alternative ways of perceiving the world we share. An invitation to reflect on our future collaborations!

We held our 2025 general assembly in person, at the ISPA-IU in Lisbon, on July 25, between 15:30 and 17:00 (GMT + 1).

The Assembly was chaired by Francesca Esposito, ECPA President for the 2024–2025 term, alongside other ECPA Board members attending the Conference, namely Cinzia Albanesi, Fortuna Procentese, Dora Rebelo, and Nicola Rainisio.

The minutes can be found in our website, here.

Some of the highlights concern our plans for the future and we would like to launch a CALL TO ACTION to get more of our members involved in the following tasks:

• Constitution of an Ecpa Award Committee: Serdar M. Değirmencioğlu and Wolfgang Stark expressed interest in being part of this Committee. They would be thrilled if more members would join!
• New internal list serv/mailing list: it was decided that the ECPA team will set up a new internal mailing list dedicated to the exchange of opportunities, research projects, events, information amongst members - with optional subscription. Please express your interest in helping us with this task!
• ECPA Charter of Values and Principles: It was decided that ECPA will embark on a collective process to define its own ethical values and principles, providing a solid foundation for members in these challenging times. We would love to form a small working group to draft a proposal!
• Regular hybrid meetings: The suggestion to hold regular hybrid meetings to exchange information amongst community psychology groups across Europe emerged during the Assembly. These meetings can also be a nice way to cultivate relationships amongst us. We would love to organize at least one or two per year, with your support!
• Mapping and creating visibility on the experiences of community psychology that are happening in the different countries of our members. It would be wonderful to receive updates from different countries on a regular basis and to have dedicated ECPA members to compile them and share them regularly!

Please register your interest in these opportunities of collaboration using this form!