service navigation

EASP – European Association of Social Psychology

Executive Committee

The EASP is managed by an Executive Committee. Its members are elected for a six year term. The structure, the activities and the function of the Executive Committee were decided on by the founders of the EAESP and by the early membership (see Historical Information). Since then, its structure, activities and function have undergone only minor changes.

The function and the activities of the Executive Committee are stipulated in Articles 25 to 36 of the Association and may be summarized as follows:

The Executive Committee:

  • conducts the business of the Association in the periods between members' meetings;
  • submits issues to the members' meeting for their decision and carries out their decision;
  • is elected by the full members in an online ballot;
  • consists of only full members who during two years have been full members of the Association;
  • appoints from its midst the President, the Secretary and the Treasurer of the Association;
  • may delegate part of its duties to others, may be assisted or advised by others, and may appoint full members to represent the Association.

Current Executive Committee

President

Nurit Shnabel
Tel Aviv University, Israel
shnabeln@tauex.tau.ac.il

Secretary, Grants & Membership Officer

Karen Douglas
University of Kent, United Kingdom
k.douglas@kent.ac.uk

Meetings Officer

Claudia Manzi
Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, Italy
claudia.manzi@unicatt.it

Journals Officer

Roland Imhoff
Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz, Germany
roimhoff@uni-mainz.de

Treasurer

Nina Hansen
University of Groningen, The Netherlands
n.hansen@rug.nl

Diversity Officer

Gülseli Baysu
Queens University Belfast, United Kingdom
G.Baysu@qub.ac.uk

Grants & Membership Officer

Alexandra Vázquez Botana
Universidad Nacional de Educación a Distancia, Spain
alx.vazquez@psi.uned.es


Executive Officer

Wendy Rulkens - van den Hoogen
Maastricht, The Netherlands
office@easp.eu

Nomination and Election

At every General Meeting half of the members of the Executive Committee (alternately 3 or 4 members) reach the end of their six year term of office. They are then replaced by the following:

  • a nomination procedure
  • an election procedure

The principles of these procedures are described in the Standing Orders of EASP.

The nomination procedure

  1. At least four months before the election, full members are asked for nominations.
  2. Each nomination must be supported by two full members and addressed to the chair of the Election Committee at least three months before the members' meeting.
  3. Each nomination packet has to contain:
    • A letter from the nominee, agreeing to serve on the Executive Committee, if elected
    • Letters of support from two full members of the Association
    • Brief background information from the nominee (half an A4 page maximum), including (a) a summary of academic positions, administrative experience, and current research interests; (b) the nominee's perspective on what are relevant issues for EASP and its Executive Committee to consider in the future, and (c) a list of three publications the nominee considers to be most representative for their work.
  4. If insufficient nominations are made (i.e., at least two more than the number of vacancies), the Executive Committee will add its own nominations.

The election procedure

  • One month before the members' meeting, full members will receive instructions on how to vote.
  • All voting will take place online. 
  • The voting will be by secret ballot and candidates who receive the largest number of votes will be declared elected, subject to the restriction that no more than two candidates from one nation can serve on the Executive Committee. In case of ties, a second ballot confined to the members' meeting will be conducted.
  • The Executive Committee shall consist of seven full members. The period of office of members of the Executive Committee is defined in terms of intervals, which refer to periods between two members' ordinary meetings.
  • Members are elected to serve for two consecutive intervals which should not be longer than three years each. No member may serve for two consecutive intervals as President of the Association.

Historical information

The Founding Planning Committee

Photo John LanzettaIn the early 1960's John Lanzetta (1926-1989), then director of Delaware's Center for Research on Social Behavior, spent his first sabbatical year in London as a liaison scientist of the Group Psychology Branch of the United States Office of Naval Research. With the active support of Luigi Petrullo, the well known co-editor of the 1958 Person Perception and Interpersonal Behavior and head of the Washington Office of ONR, John Lanzetta took the initiative to gather together a number of European scientists involved in experimental social psychology. The objective was to permit informal discussion of common problems and some measure of personal contact both of which could facilitate the establishment of a ‘permanent’ international committee to encourage and assist in the development of experimental social psychology in Europe.

John Lanzetta chaired a first meeting in London in March 1963 in which Mauk Mulder, Robert Pagès and Henri Tajfel participated. They all attended a second meeting in Paris in May 1963, together with Ragnar Rommetveit and John Thibaut. None of the European participants had previously met each other. These six persons acted as a Planning Committee and prepared the first European Conference on Experimental Social Psychology held in Sorrento, December 12-16, 1963, and also the second Conference held in Frascati, December 11-15 , 1964. Thus, the Founding Planning Committee consisted of John Lanzetta, chairman, Mauk Mulder, secretary, and Robert Pagès, Henri Tajfel, Ragnar Rommetveit and John Thibaut.

The first elected European Planning Committee

On the last afternoon of the Frascati Conference, a ‘business meeting’ was held. It was decided to concretise the formal planning of a European Association. Therefore a European Planning Committee was elected by the European participants. The following 5 participants were elected: Gustav Jahoda, Serge Moscovici, Mauk Mulder, Jozef M. Nuttin Jr., and Henri Tajfel. Jozef Nuttin declined to become chairman, but promised to organize within a short period a first meeting of the European Planning Committee.

The First meeting of European Planning Committee took place in Leuven, February 5-7, 1965, and appointed Serge Moscovici as Chairman and Mauk Mulder as Secretary. This Committee organized the third “European Conference on Experimental Social Psychology,” which was held in Royaumont, France, March 27 - April 1, 1966

First Executive Committee

At the business meeting of the Royaumont Conference, it was decided to elect a formal Executive (rather than ‘Planning’) Committee, consisting of 7 members (rather than 5). The 5 members of the Frascati Planning Committee were all reelected, the additional 2 being Martin Irle and Ragnar Rommetveit.

John Lanzetta (1926—1989)
John Lanzetta (1926—1989)