IX European Personal Construct Association Conference was held in London from June 29th to July 1st 2008. Constructivists and social constructionists from all over Europe assembled on the campus of London’s Queen Mary University. This biennial event is a formal gathering of people who apply Personal Construct Theory in various professional contexts.

On June 28th Robert Neimeyer, PhD. led a pre-conference, full-day workshop on Loss, Grief and Quest for Meaning. The aim of the workshop was to consider loss as a disruption in self narrative as well as to discuss strategies for facilitation of reconstruction of meaning in the context of grief therapy.

The Conference focused on the evolution of theory and practice of Personal Construct Theory. Empirical and theoretical papers were presented; experiential workshops as well as workshops on Repertory Grid were offered and three plenary sessions held. The plenary sessions focused on extending the domain of PCP within the corporate and healthcare sectors (Sean Brophy), construing stories and storying constructs (David Sims) and relationship between PCP and social constructionism (Vivien Burr).

Workshop held by Carmen Dell’ Aversano on PCP and rhetorics was one of many noteworthy events at the Conference.

Several members of Serbian Constructivist Association attended the conference – Dr. Dušan Stojnov, Vladimir Džinović, Slađana Živković, Jelena Pavlović, Nikola Golubović, Mirjana Vidaković, Jelena Zulević and Maja Kelly. Dr. Stojnov presented his paper on alternative construction of psychological disorder. Vladimir Džinović and Maja Kelly also presented their papers on PCP & the care of the self and role relationships in education, respectively. Jelene Pavlović’s paper on “Using constructs and discourses as tools for exploration and transformation of meaning” received special acclaim and, along with Samantha Hardingham’s paper, was awarded the best student paper award.

Serbian Constructivist Association will be the host of X European Personal Construct Association Conference, which will be held in Belgrade in 2010!