Dear colleagues,

A warm welcome to the new issue of our NewsMagazine! An important task of the NewsMagazine is to inform you about changes within and outside our association. And there is no shortage of change! So it's all about the handover from our previous Executive Director, Sabine Steyaert, to our new Executive Director, Isane Aparicio. We are delighted that this handover has been so successful. It is certainly a great challenge to get to know the many players inside and outside the association and this will certainly take some time. But it is also a great challenge to hand over responsibility to other hands after so many years of responsible professional activity in the management of our Head Office. We are delighted that we were able to say thank you to Sabine Steyaert at our recent Council meeting in Naples as part of a lively celebration. In the meantime, we have already had the opportunity to experience the first meetings with our new Executive Director. We were all impressed by the competence, energy and enthusiasm with which Isane Aparicio is dedicating herself to her new tasks.

Goodbye Sabine, hello Isane!

By Ole Tunold,

EFPA Vice President Governance
February 2024

The heading alludes to the 1970 Cliff Richard hit. All good things come to an end. And we are talking about Sabine Steyaert now leaving EFPA. Where she has served devotedly for longer than anyone can remember. 

Under various job titles, Sabine has been the personification of EFPA. If you don’t know her, you don’t know EFPA. She has filled the role of the Federation’s hub, where all members, full and associate, all working groups, and all possible outside contacts are met with her cheerful, keen, and extremely well-informed support and advice. 

We, the Board of Directors, have known for quite some time that even Sabine would reach retirement at some point. A fact we reluctantly needed to act upon. A job profile was set up. No easy task, considering the complexity of the position. The new EFPA statutes of last year were very helpful, but we also needed to formulate the unwritten rules of how to succeed as an Executive Director.

An outside recruitment provider was engaged to announce the post, collect applications, screen, and evaluate applicants to end up with a group of five highly qualified candidates. An internal recruitment panel was set up with the President, the two Vice Presidents, the Office manager and the CEO of NIP, Monique Rook, as a Full Member representative. After a first round of interviews of the five finalists with the two Vice Presidents, three remained for the final round with the full panel.

Although all three candidates made a very good impression, there was an immediate and unanimous preference for Isane Aparicio. She was quickly offered the job and with equal speed she accepted. What a catch! Isane holds a solid education both in International Relations and in Business Management. Originally from Spain, she has worked mostly from Brussels during the last 15 years, as a Business Director and a Senior Manager in renowned companies. She has profound insight in EU policy, an asset most welcome to EFPA.

So, a hearty welcome to Isane, and a mournful goodbye to Sabine.

AI and EFPA's digitalisation strategy

With an increased focus on the role of Artificial Intelligence in day to day life, as well as in psychological practice, research and policy, the topic is receiving significant focus as part of EFPA's digitalisation strategy.

EFPA is actively engaged in this area, with digitalisation playing a strong focus amongst its working groups. EFPA advocates for the application of psychological knowledge to the development of AI technologies, in a variety of forums including with the European Commission, the WHO Pan-European Mental Health Coalition, and as part of the Digitalisation stream of the European Council of the Liberal Professions (CEPLIS).

To learn more about some of the science behind AI see the recent webinar by Dr David Gosar, Convenor of EFPA's Standing Committee for Psychology in Health, and stay tuned for more updates.

UKRAINE and United Nations Development Programme (UNDP): supported hotlines are helping Ukrainians overcome difficulties and increase resilience

Jan 31, 2024/SS

In December 2023, Ukrainian psychologists launched a website from which audio and video appeals are now available over the internet. This makes the hotline accessible from anywhere in the world, and in particular from the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine.

The global expansion of the initiative was made possible thanks to the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in Ukraine and generous financial support from international partners, including the European Union, Denmark and Canada. Amazon Web Services (AWS) and Deloitte became technical partners of the initiative.

According to Valeriia Palli, President of the NPA Ukraine (National Psychological Association Ukraine):

 We see our mission as helping Ukrainians in Ukraine and abroad to build up inner strength and cope more easily with the burden of a war of such unprecedented scale as happened to us all for the first time. It is challenging indeed, but we manage.”

Valeriia Palii – NPA – Photo credit: Danylo Pavlov

Through the hotline, Ukrainians can receive free professional psychological help, consult with psychiatrists, or join online psychological support groups. Currently, the team comprises 15 professional psychologists and 2 psychiatrists who are continually engaged in learning and supervision.

Read more 

Read more on EFPA webinar: The War in Europe: What can Psychology and Psychological Communities say and do? Here