The work of the IPA Asia Programme Committee
The IPA’s Asia Pacific Conference is a 3 day event held every 2 years for those in the Asia Pacific region. Psychoanalytic societies and study groups participate from Wuhan China, India, Taiwan, Korea, Australia, and Japan offering these groups an opportunity to share and learn from one another with analysts around the world.
The Asia Pacific Programme Committee is tasked with putting together a scientific programme for this 3 day conference with support from the Asia Pacific Planning committee, IPA staff, and the local psychoanalytical society, hosting the programme.
The members of the Asia-Pacific Programme Committee recently supported the planning and execution of the 5th Asia Pacific Conference held in Sydney. They had been working for more than a year to prepare for this conference.
The committee has members from the six Asia Pacific groups (Australia, China, India, Japan, Korea and Taiwan). The committee is comprised of chair, Shanthi Saha from the Australian Psychanalytical Society, and members: Sun Ju Chung from the Korean Psychoanalytical Centre, Liling Lin from the Taiwan Psychoanalytical Society Study Group, Takashi Okudera from the Japan Psychoanalytic Society, Jie Zhong from the China Study Group in Wuhan, and Bharti Jain from the Indian Psychoanalytical Society. In addition, we welcomed Tomas Plänkers from the German Psychoanalytical Association and Michael Mormanis from the Australian Psychoanalytical Society to run the Being Together groups, and Gloria Blanco from the Australian Psychoanalytical Society to represent IPSO. Our group was well supported by the IPA Vice President, Adriana Prengler, and IPA Events Manager, Karina Guiterrez.
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Pictured left to right back to front: Takashi Okudera, Gloria Blanco, Bharti Jain, Michael Mormanis, Sun Ju Chung, Liling Lin, Jie Zhong, Karina Gutierrez, Adriana Prengler, Shanthi Saha, Thomas Plaenkers)
The aim of the committee was not only to put together a rich scientific programme but also to provide a space for sharing and learning from one another from within this rich and diverse region and around the world. At our meeting we were able to create bonds, learn from one another and facilitate meaningful cultural exchanges.
With this view in mind the approach of the committee was to be mindful of equal participation from the various groups involved as well as to encourage participation from other regions of the world. To that aim we offered 6 keynote addresses from the 6 groups, each with a discussant from each of the 6 groups. The chairs for the keynote addresses were 3 from the region and 3 from the 3 other regions of the IPA. A session each day was offered for IPSO candidates. For the remaining programme, we offered papers, panels and clinical presentations. One feature of our programme, like in all previous Asia Pacific congresses of the IPA, were the Being Together Groups. These are facilitated places for our attendees to have open communication about their cultural and national heritages, become acquainted with the different psychoanalytic histories of each and to begin to have more personal cross-region exchange.
The implementation of such a programme in Sydney, with the balance of regional representation, types of activities and the Being Together groups has proven very valuable (we received very positive feedback from attendees). We believe facilitating personal and professional exchanges such as these kinds of activities, helps us with the formation of a 4th IPA region.
During our planning, the committee reviewed the papers and presentations submitted, with the help of reviewers from around the world. We made our final selections and put thought into pairing the papers for the sessions and finding suitable chairs for each.
The committee received a total of 73 Proposals including:
18 Clinical cases with 20 speakers
15 panels with 78 speakers
40 Individual papers with 42 speakers
180 reviewers helped us to select our final programme: 8 panels, 9 clinical cases and 24 individual papers.
The programme committee had members from different cultures, speaking many different languages and representing various backgrounds. We learned to work together, to cooperate, and at the same time have fun and form bonds. To find a suitable time when all could attend meant that some of our members attended meetings at 6am while others attended at 11pm.
We offer you a video of the committee made in Sydney. There are a few words spoken by each of us. The smiles on our faces are indicative of the pleasure and fun we had being and working together.
The comments in the video in the various languages are translated as follows:
Liling Li, “
This is a very good conference. Hope to see you all in Korea”
Takashi Okudera, “
Coming here all the way it, it is certainly very nice of you “
Tomas Plaenkers, “
We are celebrating a very enriching congress here in Sydney and would be delighted to meet everyone in Seoul in 2 years time.”
Sun Ju, "
I had a wonderful time in Sydney. I hope to meet all of you again in Seoul."
July 2024