General information

The General Meeting of the Association takes place every three years. It is the largest and most important of the meetings sponsored by the Association, and is the only occasion on which members are able to meet and discuss their work with a large proportion of the membership. It is also the occasion on which the Business Meeting (or 'members' meeting,' as it is called in the Articles) takes place. Among other matters, this is when new members of the Executive Committee are elected, and the roles of President, Secretary, and Treasurer change hands.

Organisation

The philosophy of the General Meeting is that all members should be able to present their research. With the increasing size of the Association, it is no longer possible to ensure that all members are able to make oral presentations. In recent meetings the role played by poster sessions has therefore gained in importance. A typical General Meeting consists of a number of symposia, a number of individual paper sessions, and two or more poster sessions. An attempt is made to strike a good balance between offering a broad choice of presentations, on the one hand, and keeping the number of parallel sessions to a minimum, on the other.

Whereas the task of running a General Meeting used to be one that was taken on by a local organiser, who made local arrangements, and the Secretary of the Association, who looked after the scientific programme, the scope and complexity of the current General Meetings means that local arrangements are dealt with by the Local Organising Committee, and the setting up of the programme is handled by a specially appointed Scientific Programme Committee.

The Association supports each General Meeting financially.

The next General Meeting

15th General Meeting
Opatija (Croatia), June 10-14, 2008
Organisers: Dinka Corkalo Biruski with Dean Ajdukovic
(Department of Psychology, Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, University of Zagreb)

Here are some words welcome from the chair of the organising committee, Dinka Corkalo:
Optaija is one of the top destinations on the beautiful Adriatic costline. The region and city are renowned for their pleasant climate, crystal clear sea, excellent wines and gastronomy. It is no wonder that the first tourists were the European nobility who, having discovered this picturesque place, started building villas to enjoy the sun and the sea. Today, this Riviera can be conveniently accessed from Rijeka Airport (20 minutes) that is served by several low-budget carriers. Also, Opatija can be reached in less than two hours by road from airports in Zagreb (Croatia), Ljubljana (Slovenia) and Trieste (Italy). It is also within driving distance of Germany, Switzerland, Austria, Italy, and Hungary. The Hotel Ambassador and the Grand Hotel Four Flowers, which are only five minutes walking distance apart, will serve as the conference venues. These, as well as most of the other hotels, are located on the seafront, with private beaches and a short walk from the town's main attractions.

The scientific program is not the only reason to participate in the conference. The social program will offer an insight into the local culture, visits to the nearby attractions and evening entertainment. There will also be attractive pre- and post-conference tours to destinations such as Venice (Italy), the unique Plitvice Lakes National Park (a UNESCO World Heritage location), the monumental Postojna Caves (Slovenia) and the Istra peninsula. You could also visit one of the thousand Adriatic islands for a relaxing week. The weather in June should be sunny, with daytime temperatures of 20-23 degrees Celsius.

Anything you may want to know about the 15th General Meeting in more detail (travel, accommodation etc.). is now available on the website:
http://www.eaesp2008.com

Submissions can be made by the General Meeting website from September 1 until November 1, 2007.

Past General Meetings

1963 December 12 - 16 Sorrento, Italy [before foundation]

1964 December 11 - 15 Frascati, Italy [before foundation]

1966 March 27 - April 1 Royaumont, France [1st official plenary meeting]

1969 April 8 - 12 Leuven, Belgium 1972 April 12 - 15 Leuven, Belgium 1975 April 8 - 12 Bielefeld, (West) Germany 1978 March 28 - April 1 Weimar, (East) Germany 1981 April 5 -9 Sussex, England 1984 May 8 - 12 Tilburg, Netherlands 1987 May 19 - 24 Varna, Bulgaria 1990 June 19 - 24 Budapest, Hungary 1993 September 15 - 20 Lisbon, Portugal 1996 July 13 - 18 Gmunden, Austria 1999 July 6-11 Oxford, UK 2002 June 26-29 San Sebastian, Spain 2005 July 19-23 Wuerzburg, Germany