The Italian Society of Community Psychology:
The Italian Society of Community Psychology (S.I.P.CO) is a cultural and scientific organization that promotes research and practices that apply community psychology principles in diverse settings and across disciplines. The actual president of the society is Bruna Zani (University of Bologna)
Goals of the Society are the following:
- to promote theory development and research in community psychology;
- to promote the development and the use of community psychology methods, supporting training and encouraging community action research;
- to advance knowledge and to promote exchange and collaboration with other National and International organizations that have common scientific interests;
- to promote mutual exchange of knowledge among academics and professionals from other disciplines; to bring community psychology to institutions and civil society
S.I.P.CO brings together academic community psychologists, practitioners and community stakeholders. The 8th edition of the biennial conference of the society took place in Turin in September 2010, and was a great opportunity to discuss about community research and action and to take advantages of the strengths of the different perspectives of our members. S.I.P.CO, besides the biennial conference, supports the organization of thematic workshops and trainings carried out in collaboration with other organizations. Previous events dealt with migrations, intercultural issues, action- research.
Sipco publishes a scientific journal (“Psicologia di Comunità”) and a periodical Newsletter. The journal has two main goals: to document the empirical work of community psychologists and the evolution of the discipline in Italy and to stimulate discussion and debate on theory, research, and intervention in the field.
The Newsletter provides regular information on community psychology events that take place in Italy and in Europe and on recent publications of interest for people in the field. Through the newsletter young scholars have the opportunity to present their research proposals and to report their impressions on conference and meetings they attended.
Up to date information, resources and useful links can be found at the web site of the society http://www.sipco.it/ . On the web site it is possible to apply to become a member, to find information about the steering committee of the society.
To get more information on the history of community psychology in Italy and its recent developments see:
Francescato, D., Arcidiacono, C., Albanesi, C., & Mannarini, A. T. (2007). Community psychology in Italy: Past developments and future perspectives. In S. M. Reich, M. Riemer, I. Prilleltensky & M. Montero (Eds.), International community psychology: History and theories (263-281). New York: Springer.
The special number of the Journal of Prevention and Intervention in the Community on Italian Community Psychology (Volume 38, Issue 1 January 2010)
Doi: 10.1080/10852350903393376