University of Essex Department of Psychosocial and Psychoanalytic Studies

03/06/2026

Join us for a special book discussion on Jungian Psychology: Theory, Practice, Applications — an engaging exploration of contemporary Jungian thought and its relevance across theory, clinical practice, and wider cultural contexts.

This event offers an opportunity to reflect on the continuing significance of Jungian psychology and to engage with key themes, ideas, and applications emerging from the field today.

Register here:

This book discussion celebrates the publication of the Second Handbook of Jungian Psychology.

01/06/2026

25th Anniversary Conference of the International Association for Jungian Studies University of Essex
📅 22–25 July 2027

Hosted by the IAJS and the Department of Psychosocial and Psychoanalytic Studies, University of Essex.

📣 Call for Papers now available
Closing Date: 21 June 2026

There are moments in a discipline when time stops moving in a straight line — and begins to circle.

Twenty-five years after its founding, the International Association for Jungian Studies invites us not simply to look back, but to step into a living continuum: to reflect on what has endured, what has evolved, and what is now trying to emerge.

Jungian thought has never been static. It breathes, transforms, and dreams forward — moving from intimate analytic spaces into global interdisciplinary dialogue, bridging psyche and culture, myth and method, symbol and science.

Returning to the University of Essex, where the journey began, this conference asks participants to engage deeply with the evolving future of Jungian studies.

Like the Yesterday–Today–Tomorrow blossom, memory softens into the present and opens toward the future.

Like the griffin — lion of the earth, eagle of the sky — we are invited to hold tensions creatively and think across worlds.

This is not simply a call for papers.
It is a call to participate in the next movement of a living tradition.

25th Anniversary Conference of theInternational Association for Jungian Studies22 to 25 July 2027 Hosted byInternational Association for Jungian Studies&Department of Psychosocial andPsychoanalytic Studies, University of Essex There are moments in a discipline when time stops moving in a straight li...

29/05/2026

Dr Ann Addison recently presented a paper entitled “Jung’s Influence on British Psychology Between the Wars” at the conference The Other Bloomsbury: The London Branch of the International Society of Individual Psychology, and Medical Psychology Between the Wars.

The conference was organised by The Mitrinovic Foundation in collaboration with the University of Bradford, bringing together scholars exploring the historical development of psychology and psychoanalytic thought in Britain.

28/05/2026

Warm thanks to everyone taking part in our PPS conference Winds of Change - a wonderfully vibrant couple of days hearing inspiring talks, taking part in workshop discussions, connecting with each other and exchanging ideas and reflections. Thanks so much to everyone who contributed. If you would like to share feedback to be passed on to speakers and to support planning for next time, please email [email protected]

28/05/2026

📚 New Resource Available via the Library Catalogue 📚

The Second Handbook of Jungian Psychology is now available through the University of Essex Library Services catalogue.

This comprehensive volume brings together contemporary perspectives and developments in Jungian psychology, making it a valuable resource for students, researchers, and practitioners alike.

Essex staff and students can access the handbook online at: https://essex.primo.exlibrisgroup.com/discovery/fulldisplay?context=L&vid=44UOES_INST:UOES&search_scope=MyInst_and_CI&tab=Everything&lang=en&docid=alma991008929421307346

26/05/2026

Join us for an inspiring conversation on refugee care, humanitarian action, and lived experience.

Graduates from the MA Refugee Care programme at the University of Essex will share reflections from their recent humanitarian work in Northern France using the Refugee Care approach.

📅 Tuesday, 26 May 2026
🕧 12:30 PM – 2:00 PM (UK time)
📍 Free event | Open to all
💻 Online attendance available

Featuring:
• Meera Vohora
• Maryam Kanwer
• Sheilagh Guthrie

Chaired by:
• Dr Zibiah Loakthar
Hosted by the Centre for Trauma, Asylum and Refugees.

For online details please email [email protected]

20/05/2026

Interested in community health, solidarity, and grassroots action?

Join the FREEPSY Free Clinics Network for a multilingual skill-sharing event:
“How to start a free clinic?”

🗓 June 15th, 2026
⏰ 3:00–4:30pm BST
💻 Online

Connect with people from around the world, exchange ideas, and learn practical approaches to building accessible, community-led healthcare initiatives. Whether you’re already involved in mutual aid or just curious about starting something locally, this session is open to all.

✨ Multi-lingual
✨ International community
✨ Collaborative learning & skill sharing

Join us for the next FREEPSY Free Clinics Network multi-lingual skill-sharing event from 3-4:30 pm on Monday 15th June 2026.

14/05/2026

Join us for a thought-provoking discussion on the newly published Second Handbook of Jungian Psychology.

📚 Jungian Psychology: Theory, Practice, Applications

🗓 Wednesday, 17 June 2026

⏰ 1:00–2:30pm

📍 Room 5N.3.7 + Online

Featuring:
• Renos Papadopoulos
• Ann Addison
• Orsolya Lukács

This special book discussion explores the continuing relevance of Jungian thought through contemporary perspectives on “the Other,” transference, ecopsychology, and climate change.

The event celebrates a major new contribution to Jungian studies, bringing together theory, practice, and emerging applications for today’s world.

Book your place here: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/book-discussion-jungian-psychology-theory-practice-applications-tickets-1989539329692?aff=oddtdtcreator

07/05/2026

Congratulations to Dr Konstantinos Vlachakis on being awarded his Doctor of Philosophy in Psychoanalytic Studies 🎓

His thesis, “‘But Enough of This Kind of Horror!’: Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy and Perverse Sexual Fantasy”, supervised by Dr Julie Walsh, offers a distinctive critical and clinical exploration of perversion, with a particular focus on perverse sexual fantasy and its relative neglect in psychoanalytic and psychotherapeutic work.

Drawing on the Freudian corpus, Dr Vlachakis recovers new possibilities for theorising and engaging with perverse fantasy. His work makes a significant contribution to the history of psychoanalysis while proposing an original framework for contemporary clinical practice.

This research will be of great interest to psychoanalytic scholars and practitioners alike.

Find out more at:

Vlachakis-Durrant, Konstantinos (2026) 'But enough of this kind of horror!’: psychoanalytic psychotherapy and perverse sexual fantasy. Doctoral thesis, University of Essex. DOI https://doi.org/10.5526/ERR-00043109

05/05/2026

Dr Chris Nicholson delivered the opening keynote at the Forum for Inpatient Child and Adolescent Psychology Services (FICAPS) at the British Psychological Society.

His presentation, “Therapeutic Ecology: Creating Sustainable Organisations,” explored how a psychoanalytically informed therapeutic community structure and milieu can help stabilise services and respond to the current challenges facing inpatient CAMHS.

Later in the day, Chris contributed to a lively panel discussion, engaging with colleagues on how these ideas can be translated into meaningful practice.