European Bulletin of Social Psychology 37,2 (January, 2026)

We are happy to share this next edition of the Bulletin. You will find our usual announcements about upcoming EASP meetings, previous meetings, grant reports, an announcement of the new grants that we have recently awarded to our members, plus a report on the 2025 Summer School..

We are also very happy to welcome a large group of new EASP members to our community.

In the President's Corner, you will find comments on the sexual harassment by former EASP member Miles Hewstone, and important information about our Ethics Committee and changes to our Code of Conduct.

President's Corner

Dear EASP members, colleagues and friends,

I am writing this corner a couple of days after the publication of a Times article about sexual harassment by Miles Hewstone, who was a member of EASP until 2019, and even awarded by our association for his role in establishing the European Review of Social Psychology. The article includes anonymous and non-anonymous testimonies from the persons impacted by his predatory behavior, which lasted for decades. These women were bravely coming forward to share their experiences.

In this regard, I would like to refer to the statement issued by the Executive Committee (EC) on 02/12/2025 concerning the sexual misconduct and abuse of power committed by Miles Hewstone. After releasing the statement, several members informed us that evidence of Hewstone’s misconduct had, in fact, been brought to the attention of EASP. Therefore, the line in our statement indicating that “the Association could only rely on hearsay and did not have any evidence for the misconduct” was inaccurate. We would like to sincerely apologize for this error and, in particular for our use of the word “hearsay”, which came across as dismissive. That was never our intention.

Following this correspondence, the EC engaged in reconstructing the events. It turns out that following a report by a senior colleague, EASP (with the support of a legal advisor) initiated a process aimed at understanding how it could act internally. It also contacted Oxford University, which refused to provide any information about the allegations. As Kai Sassenberg (the president at the time) explains in the Times article, the situation was very frustrating. The only viable option at the time was to put the expulsion of MH from the association to a vote at the General Meeting, which was planned for 2020. However, the 2020 General Meeting never took place due to Covid-19. Moreover, since Hewstone was no longer the editor of ERSP and had formally left the association in 2019, no further internal action could be pursued. Instead, symbolic measures – renaming the awards, invited symposium on sexual harassment at the General Meeting in Krakow, and a survey and townhall on sexual harassment and inclusion within EASP – were taken, to send a clear message of zero-tolerance to harassment.

In addition, becoming aware of how limited its scope of action was, EASP implemented new policies that allow us to act more effectively in the future. For this purpose, we established an Ethics Committee, headed by Naomi Ellemers and whose members are Barbara Krahé, Silvia Galdi, Michał Bilewicz and Francesca Guizzo. I would like to express the EC’s gratitude to the Ethics Committee for their serious and comprehensive work. The Ethics Committee introduced a revised and rigorous Code of Conduct and developed a new reporting and investigation procedure. A major shortcoming with previous procedures, brought to our attention in the correspondence with the affected members, was that, due to confidentiality considerations and the fear of retraumatizing the victims, the Ombudsperson at the time could not update complainants with information about how the issue was dealt with. The new procedure rectifies this shortcoming, as well as other issues, such as having a dedicated email address to ensure confidentiality.

As can be seen in the flowchart (p. 8 in the Code of Conduct), in the new procedure, after the Ethics Committee investigates the case and delivers its recommendation to the EC, both the complainant and the accused can turn to the Appeals Board. We thank the elected members of the Supervisory Board, Sabine Otten, Monica Rubini and Fabrizio Butera, who have kindly agreed to serve as the Appeals Board.

We plan to present and explain the rationale for the new procedure, as well as the related changes to Standing Orders at the Members Meeting during the General Meeting in Strasbourg. We will then vote on introducing them. Needless to say, any constructive feedback is welcome.

On behalf of the EC, we very much hope that this will pave the path for a safe community within EASP activities and beyond.

With wishes for a happy and better New Year,

Nurit Shnabel

EASP General Meeting 2026

The preparations for the organization of the GM in Strasburg are progressing at full speed. A huge thank you goes to all the many people involved, in the organizational committee, in the scientific committee and on the reviewers panel, who are navigating with determination and courage all the obstacles and unexpected challenges that come with organizing an event of such magnitude.

Our work is encouraged by the strong interest we are seeing in the community for this initiative, as shown by the high number of submissions received: 24 pre-conference proposals (unfortunately, due to logistical constraints, we were able to host only 12) and over 2,000 submissions for the GM! We are therefore looking forward to a wonderful moment in which our community will come together to share research, but also to enjoy the opportunity to spend time together.

The organizational committee is currently planning the social activities, and this edition will once again include the welcome drinks, the football match, and the farewell dinner. The EC is also designing a series of lunch-break sessions, as per tradition. Some of these are intended to address issues that have emerged in the research world (specifically the growing concerns about quality in editorial processes), while others will focus on the well-being of our community.

Finally, we remind you that during the GM we will also hold our association meeting, where we will introduce the four newly elected members of the EC. The call for candidates for this important role will be available soon.

In summer, the call to host the 2029 GM will also be announced… so you may want to start thinking about that opportunity as well! To receive more information about that please contact our meeting officer claudia.manzi@unicatt.it.

2025 Summer School

This summer, the University of Kent had the honour of hosting the 2025 iteration of European Association of Social Psychology (EASP) Summer School, welcoming more than 80 PhD students and over 20 Workstream Leaders and Guest Teachers from around the world. Set in Canterbury in the historic “Garden of England”, the Summer School brought together emerging and established scholars for 11 days of learning, collaboration, and connection. You can read about the Summer School here:

We are grateful to all of the teachers and to the organising team and student volunteers at the University of Kent for their generous time and effort.

If you are interested in hosting a Summer School, please contact our Meetings Officer, Claudia Manzi (claudia.manzi@unicatt.it).

Upcoming EASP Meetings

Reports from Previous EASP Meetings

In the following links, you can read reports from previous meetings sponsored by EASP:

Crowds and Leadership: Towards Integration and Innovation for Crowd Psychology, Collective Action and Leadership-Followership Research
Mete Sefa Uysal, Sara Vestergren, and Yasemin Gülsüm Acar
https://www.easp.eu/news/itm/easp_meeting_report-2120.html

The Social Psychology of Gender Equality in the Digital Era
Magdalena Zawisza, Jennifer Bosson, Sarah Gradidge, Natasza Kosakowska-Berezecka, Maria Olsson, Rachel Ownsworth, Alina Knuppel, and Joanna Pyrkosz-Pacyna
https://www.easp.eu/news/itm/easp_meeting_report-2140.html

Reflections on the EASP Roundtable on Academic Freedoms Related to Gender Identity and Expression

Thank you to everyone who joined the recent EASP Roundtable on Academic Freedoms Related to Gender Identity and Expression.
We were fortunate to have contributions from an excellent panel of speakers:

• Jaime Barrientos, Alberto Hurtado University, Chile
• Humaira Jami, Quaid-i-Azam University, Pakistan
• Lebogang Manthibe Ramalepe, North-West University, South Africa
• Thekla Morgenroth, Purdue University, US

Our discussion brought together perspectives from Latin America, Pakistan, South Africa, the United States, Netherlands and beyond. Speakers reflected on how academic freedoms are shaped by changing political and institutional contexts, and how government-level shifts can directly affect university policies and scholarly work. We explored how different cultural and political environments influence approaches to studying LGBTQ+ issues, as well as the varied challenges and strategies scholars adopt to navigate threats to academic freedom.

It was particularly insightful to hear about the diverse ways researchers manage risks, sustain their work, and foster dialogue despite restrictive conditions. The discussion underscored the importance of continued exchange and solidarity among scholars working in this area.

We hope that these conversations will continue — and we invite those interested to:

Finally, this roundtable came to life thanks to the initiative of one of our members who approached us with this idea. We remain open to similar proposals for future online roundtables or workshops, and warmly welcome suggestions from members.
With thanks and best wishes,

Other Announcements

Grants Awarded

Tania Garau (University of Ferrara), “Cultural Humility and Intergroup Relations: A Longitudinal Intervention Study”.

Edward John Roy Clarke (University of Marburg), “Blaming then changing the system: Development and Validation of Climate Change Causal Attributions scale”.

Maitland Waddell (Simon Fraser University), Laura Prislei (Sapienza University of Rome), Sarah Resanovich (University of Kent), Beatrice Valle (University of St. Andrews), and Theresa Zagers (Iscte-University Institute Lisbon), “Exploring the latent profiles of environmental (in)activists”.

Adam Karakula (Polish Academy of Sciences) and Maciej Siemiatkwoski (University of Warsaw), “The 'We' That Believes: Cultural Orientation and Conspiracy Theories”.

Dylan de Gourville (University of Kent) and Sandro Jenni (University of Zurich), “When Advocacy Aligns: Implicit Political Identity Cues and Receptivity to Animal Welfare Messages”.

Tamino Konur (University of Kent), Chiara Zazzarino (Kingston University; University of Kent), Marlene Voit (LMU Munich), and Natalia Bogatyreva (University of Basel), “Being the lesser man: Does the perception of falling behind other men predict opposition to gender equality?”.

Fabian Wurzinger (University of Texas at Austin), Valentin Mang (University of Groningen), Louis Teitelbaum (Ben-Gurion University of the Negev), and Sinem Yilmaz (University of Illinois Chicago), “Curious but critical: Actively open-minded thinkers may be drawn to conspiracy theories without believing in them”.

Rachele Mazzini (University of Copenhagen), Ovgun Ses (University of Essex), and Sebastian Wnęk (SWPS University), “The Kind Lie: Prosocial Lying in the Context of Chronic Illness”.

Laura Charbit (Université Paris Cité), Pierce Veitch (University of Kent), and Chaewon Yun (Max Planck Institute for Human Development), “The Social Norms of AI-Assisted Communication”.

Sunniva Davies-Rommetveit (University of St. Andrews), Emily Haines (Flinders University), Penelope Agranov (University of Kent), and Yufang Arya Liao (University of Vienna), “Applying a Social Identity Framework to Understand the Manosphere”.

Grant Reports

In the following links, you can read reports from previous grants awarded by EASP:

Seedcorn Grant
Vertical pay disparity and employee loneliness: The role of inequality induced intra-organisational competition and perceived organisational mobility
Boyka Bratanova, Silvia Filippi, Kim Peters, and Nik Steffens
https://www.easp.eu/news/itm/easp_seedcorn_grant_report-2079.html

New Members of the Association

We are delighted that our membership continues to grow. Here is a list of colleagues who have applied for EASP membership. If we receive no objections within the next four weeks (see Article 2 of the Statutes), they will automatically become members.

Alina Knueppel (Anglia Ruskin University)
Maria I. T. Olsson, Magdalena Zawisza-Riley

Teresa Traversa (University of Milano-Bicocca)
Luca Pancani, Cristina Baldissarri

Julie Maria Ejby Pedersen (University of Edinburgh)
Alexandra Vázquez, Karen Douglas

Georgina Lee (The Australian National University)
Alexander Haslam, Tegan Cruwys

Vanessa Mitschke (Georg-August-Uiversität Göttingen)
Felix Johannes Götz, Anand Krishna

Jennifer Bosson (University of South Florida)
Magdalena Zawisza, Natasza Kosakowska-Berezecka

Fiona Kazarovytska (Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz)
Roland Imhoff, Felicitas Flade

Marlene Sophie Altenmüller (Leibniz Institute for Psychology)
Kai Sassenberg, Mathias Twardawski

Steven Kator Iorfa (University of Nottingham)
Gülseli Baysu, Tosin Tunrayo Olonisakin

Christienne Javier (Australian National University)
Michael Platow, Tegan Cruwys

Giulio Faccenda (Catholic University of the Sacred Heart)
Claudia Manzi, Simona Sacchi

Alice Lucarini (University of Modena and Reggio Emilia)
Loris Vezzali, Caterina Suitner

Marylisa Sara Alemi (Royal Holloway, University of London)
Maria Giuseppina Pacilli, Giovanni Travaglino

Giulia Scaglioni (University of Modena and Reggio Emilia)
Margherita Guidetti, Maria Giuseppina Pacilli

Giovanni Telesca (University of Modena and Reggio Emilia)
Marika Rullo, Stefano Pagliaro

María Alonso-Ferres (University of Granada)
Francisca Expósito, Inmaculada Valor Segura

Afroditi Tsourgianni (Ludwig-Maximilians-University Munich)
Alexandra Vázquez, Karen Douglas

Julien Barbedor (Université Catholique de Louvain)
Vincent Yzerbyt, Marine Rougier

Executive Committee

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