Members of EFPSA are national and/or local psychology students’ associations from European countries/regions; however, only one national or regional organisation, or two local organisations, per country/region, can hold the status of a member within the Federation. These national and local associations are known as Member Organisations (MOs). Organisations from countries recognised by the Council of Europe are eligible to apply as members of EFPSA. Organisations from countries that are not recognised by the Council of Europe can be taken into consideration as Regional Members. EFPSA is currently constituted by 31 psychology students organisations from many different European countries and regions. In the Member Organisation page on our website, you can find information about each of the current active member organisations that constitute EFPSA.
Full membership to the Federation may be acquired and recognised on two equal tiers: Member Organisation operating on a national platform (i.e. National Member Organisations) and Member Organisation operating on a regional platform (i.e. Regional Member Organisations). Alternatively, organisations may hold membership within either tier as a Local Member Organisation. A National Member Organisation must be legally registered in a European state and is able to demonstrate that the organisation represents psychology students from that country and that its activities are open to psychology students of all universities within that country. The status of Local Organisations allows for membership of an organisation that does not claim to operate at the National or Regional level; instead, the organisation only represents the psychology students of one city/town or university within that country. Regardless of tier, in almost all circumstances, all Member Organisations will be respected and handled on equal terms. The one main difference is that delegates of National/Regional Member Organisations currently hold two votes to cast on proposals, while delegates of Local Member Organisations hold one vote to cast on proposals.
There are many ways in which psychology students may get involved in EFPSA. To begin with, one can apply to one of our Events as a participant. These opportunities are advertised, as calls for participants, through our Instagram, Facebook and LinkedIn. Aside from Event participation, we also advertise other calls, through the previously mentioned platforms, to organise various EFPSA Events and campaigns. Additionally, our Services provide another way through which students may get involved – this can be done by reading the EFPSA Research Pulse Blog or articles published in our Journal of European Psychology Students (JEPS), participating in our Research Summer School and Research Programme, and making use of our Study and Travel Abroad resource. Also, individuals may be interested in contributing to EFPSA as a volunteer in Executive Board or applying to host one of our events. Individuals may also be interested in representing students from their respective Member Organisation as the (Vice)Member Representative; in order to do this, the respective Member Organisation can be contacted for more information!
If you are interested in joining the EFPSA Working Community as a member of one of our Executive Board teams, there is a very wide selection of positions available within the Executive Board. Whether you are interested in developing one of our online campaigns, contributing to the running of our Journal, becoming an EFPSA Trainer and managing training opportunities, helping organising our Events, or working within one of the other Offices running the organisation; there is something for everyone within the Executive Board! You can learn more about the roles and duties of each position by reading the Role Descriptions documents, available in the Documents section of our website. The vast majority of positions operate on a one-year mandate, meaning that individuals take up their position at the annual Congress and hand it over to their successor one year later at the subsequent Congress. Please note that usually between March and April, we launch a series of calls for these Executive Board positions. The application process differs slightly depending on the exact role you apply for but this information is clearly provided and can always be obtained. The call for Executive Board Coordinators, Responsibles and Team Members typically close during the Congress. While none of these applicants make presentations at the General Assembly, the newly elected Board interviews all applicants. The Board then selects the Coordinators, who select the members for their team along with the Board. The outcomes are announced after the interviews are done.
If you wish to apply for a position within the Board, you will be required to send in your application form, along with a Curriculum Vitae at least 45 days before the Annual Congress to the Immediate Past President. The call for applications to the Board opens approximately two months before the annual Congress. All applications are reviewed by the Executive Board and the Member Representatives prior to candidates being formally presented to the EFPSA General Assembly on the first day of the Congress, where short 5-minute speeches are made by all Board candidates. The Executive Board and Member Representatives then vote on all candidates at the General Assembly II, after which the votes are counted and the results are announced during that same session of the General Assembly. Successful candidates immediately assume their responsibilities. Their first task is the selection of all other Executive Board positions, as described above. The mandate officially opens upon election of the new Board at the second session of the General Assembly.
The Member Representative receives all of the applications submitted by the students from their respective Member Organisation. The Member Representative then decides upon the participants. This should be done by following a set of guidelines known as the Selection Criteria, which can be found within the EFPSA Congress Participant Selection Guide. When selecting participants, the Member Representatives consider the motivation behind the application, the educational background, interest in holding a presentation or a training/workshop at the Congress, interest in applying for a position within the Executive Board along with the personal interest and requirements of the Member Organisation.
There are Events that have only two basic requirements – for applicants to be psychology students or within two years of graduation, and for the student organisation to be a member of EFPSA. However, some of our Events require earlier enrollment in some programmes, previous knowledge or having a position within the organisation. The Events that solely require the above two basic requirements are the Congress, the Conference, the Research Summer School, and the Train the Trainers Summer School. Graduates of the Research Summer School are enrolled into the Research Programme. For the Joint Executive Board & Member Representatives Meeting you have to be a part of the EFPSA Working Community (as a Member Representative or having a position within the Executive Board or the Board). In order to apply for any other Training Event, one must be in possession of a trainer certification; these are also open to externals, meaning that you do not need to be a psychology student to apply. Anyone can attend, organise and/or is encouraged to participate in EFPSA Day – a one-day Event designed to promote EFPSA across Europe simultaneously, on the same day (usually the 1st Wednesday of December).
Students who graduated in psychology within two years (regardless of the academic level) are eligible to apply for any position within the Working Community or as participants to Events. During the application process, applicants are required to send a proof of studies stating in which year of study they were or their date of graduation. The exceptions are Train Advanced Trainers and Trainers’ Meeting where non-students and students from fields other than psychology can apply.
Have you been officially been part of EFPSA? And are you not going to continue within EFPSA anymore? No problem! Stay in touch with others like you students or professionals in different branches of Psychology who used to volunteer for EFPSA? We are pleased to invite you to the official registration for Alumni Network members! Check the form available in the page Alumni Network on our website, and register! It will be used for Alumni to continuously register themselves (until further development on a different platform for Alumni). The Alumni Board will check your application and confirm you by sending you a registration number. With this number you will be able to register for the yearly EFPSA Congress as an Alumni.
EFPSA takes the protection of your data very seriously and ensures that a safe environment is fostered throughout our operations and during any events. If you would like more information on EFPSA privacy policy please contact us via contact@efpsa.org. The Ethics Committee is a regulatory body within EFPSA with the obligation to respond to concerns that arise relating to the Federation and its activities. They may respond to concerns raised by any entity that contacts them; but may also be contacted by the Board, who request their assistance in consideration of some matter. Ultimately the Ethics Committee exists to consider concerning matters impartially, to decide if an action or matter is in violation of the principles of EFPSA, and to provide advice or decisions wherever necessary. Should an incident occur which you wish to report back to the organisation through discreet channels, the EFPSA Ethics Committee exists to deal with such issues. All communication received by the Ethics Committee will be handled with discretion. The Ethics Committee can be contacted at ethics@efpsa.org.
If your question was not in the above set of queries, or if you require further clarification on a certain issue, please send your emails to contact@efpsa.org and we will get back to you!