International Society of Political Psychology (ISPP Academy); Montreal, Canada

International Society of Political Psychology (ISPP Academy)

Montreal, Canada;   July 6 – July 8, 2023

REPORT:

July 5-9 I was able to attend the International Society of Political Psychology (ISPP)’s Summer Academy. I learned about this last year when I attended the ISPP conference. Natan Skigin, fellow
Kellogg professionalization award recipient, attended and highly recommended the pre-conference ISPP Academy. As part of the Academy, I had the chance to attend a full schedule of faculty presentations from scholars all over the world in a course of around 20 graduate students, also from all over the world. The presentations on the ethics of fieldwork and managing research assistants and interviews with an underserved population were of particular interest to me. Also, the research presentations on measuring identity helped me think through my own measures of identity in my project on Albanian and Greek national identities.

The Academy included professionalization events for the job market as well as a discussion led by David Redlawsk, the department head who recently had a hand in hiring Benjamin Garcia Holgado at the University of Delaware.
My favorite part of the program was that we watched faculty members’ presentations online before attending the discussion session—a model that made the discussion informed and lively. I will take this insight with me into my future career should I design a summer academy or even in my classroom structure. I also enjoyed participating in the daily lightning rounds, in which we presented a new idea or problem in our research we were facing—receiving a room full of engaged listeners with very helpful suggestions. There was a lot of interest in my research and the feedback I received was positive and supportive. It was affirming to watch my research hit a totally new and interdisciplinary audience.