Welcome

We are pleased to announce that the 32^nd International Conference on Psychology and the Arts will be held at the University of Malta, Main Campus, Msida, Malta, June 24-28, 2015. The conference is sponsored by the PsyArt Foundation and the University of Malta. Our hosts are Dr Louis Laganà of the Art Department and Professor Carmel Cefai of the Psychology Department at the University of Malta.

Papers should deal with any application of psychology—including psychoanalysis, object relations, feminist, Jungian, or Lacanian approaches, cognitive psychology, or neuroscience–to the study of literature, film and visual media, painting, sculpture, music, performance, or the other arts. Our conference is small (maximum 75 papers), very convivial, and draws scholars from around the world. We also welcome conferees who do not plan to present papers.

The registration fee of $345 includes a lot: all sessions, all coffee breaks, opening reception (evening of June 24), two tours (June 25 afternoon walking tour and June 28 boat tour), and Sunday evening June 28 closing banquet. The registration fee is reduced to $175 for graduate students. For an additional charge, there is also an optional one-day post-conference tour of the island of Gozo on Monday June 29.

Malta

With its sunshine, beaches, and over 7000 years of history, the island of Malta is a popular tourist destination, with regular flights, sometimes several a day, from London, Rome, Paris, etc. Due to its location in the middle of the Mediterranean and its natural harbors, Malta has always been at the crossroads of history, a rich blend of cultures.

The earliest known megalithic structures, antedating the pyramids and Stonehenge by 1000 years, are scattered across Malta and the nearby island of Gozo.

Over the centuries Malta was occupied by many empires, including the Phoenicians, the Romans, the Muslims from North Africa, the Italians, and the Spanish. The Knights of St. John successfully defended the island against a siege by the Ottoman Empire and built the city of Valletta. Even Napoleon briefly occupied Malta. Then the island was a British colony for over 150 years, so that today almost every Maltese speaks English. In 1979, Malta became an independent nation represented at the United Nations. Since 2004 it has been part of the European Union, and Valletta has been named European Capital of Culture for 2018.

Valletta, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, is an open-air museum of Baroque architecture. Highlights include the majestic St. John’s Co-Cathedral, the imposing bastions, many priceless works of art, and Malta’s Grand Harbour, one of the most beautiful in the Mediterranean.

Preliminary Conference Outline

Wednesday, June 24: Welcome reception, evening.
Thursday, June 25: Morning: Official opening. Start of parallel sessions. Lunch. Afternoon: City walk.
Friday, June 26: Sessions continued. Lunch. Directors' Meeting in the late afternoon (PsyArt Directors only). Film screening in the evening.
Saturday, June 27: Sessions continued. Lunch. Possible film screening in the evening.
Sunday, June 28: Final session, followed by Members' Meeting (all conferees invited) and group photos. Bus trip in the afternoon. Closing banquet.
Monday, June 29: Morning departure. Or join the optional one-day tour to the beautiful island of Gozo.

The Hotel

Grand Hotel Excelsior - Malta
Great Siege Road, Floriana
FRN 1810, Malta

Single inland: €110.00
Double inland: €130.00
Single sea view: €120.00
Double sea view: €140.00

These rates include: all local taxes, a buffet breakfast, free Wi-Fi internet in public areas, free use of gym, jacuzzi, indoor & outdoor pool, private beach, and complimentary pressing services.

Reservations Department
joseph.pace@excelsior.com.mt
reservations@excelsior.com.mt
Include name, e-mail, address, dates of arrival and departure, number of nights, number of rooms, number of persons, room type, and credit card details. Also flight details should you wish to book optional airport transfers. Transfer charges are €20.00 (1 to 3 persons).

As the premier destination among 5-star Valletta hotels, the Grand Hotel Excelsior is ideally located on the doorstep of a UNESCO World Heritage Site: the Capital City of Valletta.

60 rooms: event number 106358, under the name, 32^nd International Conference on Psychology and the Arts. 24th - 29th June 2015. Any rooms from the block of 60 left unsold by the 14th of May will be released and availability after this date will no longer be guaranteed.

Papers

Papers should be short, 20 minutes at most. Please observe the time limit. Normal speaking rate is 140 words per minute, and, for clarity, a scholarly presentation should be somewhat slower. Our standard 20-minute limit allows you to speak about 2400 words or eight to ten pages maximum. An additional ten minutes are allotted for discussion for each paper, usually at the end of the session. For each session, the moderator is responsible for keeping speakers within 20 minutes. The moderator speaks last, and it is therefore to his or her interest to keep to the schedule.

If you choose to submit your paper for publication after the conference, at that time it can be as long or short as you like.

English is the primary conference language, although we sometimes have sessions in French, German, or other languages if there is sufficient interest. We recommend that speakers in English who are not native speakers of English accompany their talks with PowerPoint.

Please prepare an abstract, 150 words maximum, and add it to the registration form below.

Registration Form 2015

The deadline for sending us your title and abstract is May 1 or the time at which we have 75 accepted abstracts, registration forms, and registration fees, whichever comes sooner. Once you receive notice that your abstract is accepted, you can pay your fees to be assured a slot on the program.

For a complete registration, we require three items:

A completed registration form (see below) including paper title.
Brief abstract of paper (150 words maximum; excess will be cut). These abstracts enable us to decide if your paper is acceptable for the conference and then to place your paper in an appropriate session. We will also publish them online and distribute the abstracts at the conference.
A registration fee of $345 U.S., to be paid after acceptance of your abstract, which includes admission to all sessions, two tours, reception, coffee breaks, and banquet. The $345 fee must also be paid by those not presenting a paper and by accompanying family or friends who wish to have a name tag and participate in conference events. Graduate students and children (under 18) of conferees pay $175. Any payments received after April 15 must include a late fee of $30, and no payments will be accepted after May 15. The registration fee includes a $25 tax-deductible donation to the PsyArt Foundation, as voted in 2005. The registration fee is refundable (except the $25 donation) for any reason until June 1, but not thereafter for any reason. The donation makes you a member of PsyArt, entitled—and encouraged—to attend and vote at the annual meeting of PsyArt which will take place at the conference on June 28. You will find instructions for payment after the registration form below.

Important: Include your e-mail address below. It will not come through to us automatically from this form, and, if we don't have it, our communications with you will be impossible. Make sure it is typed correctly.

If, by April, you are not getting e-mail from us, let us know. Do not assume that some currency arrangement you made the previous year is still effective. Do not leave your registration for some friend to do. Make sure that we have your complete registration (all three items) and your correct e-mail address. Fill out a separate form and pay for each accompanying guest.

If you require a travel visa, please let us know right away, as you will need a special letter of invitation from the University of Malta, and the visa application process sometimes takes months.

Registration form

Last name

First name and Initial

E-mail address (Important! Be sure it is correct!)

Re-type to confirm your e-mail address

Affiliation (e.g., Department and University)

Preferred title (Professor, Dr., Mr., Mrs., Ms., etc.)

Preferred Mailing Address

For U.S. addresses

For non-U.S. addresses

Country

Telephone during business hours (include all codes)

Telephone during non-business hours (include all codes)

Fax Phone (include all codes)

For how many people do you need housing?

One Two Three

Names of persons coming with you to the conference

When are you arriving at the conference?

When are you leaving the conference?

Do you have any special dietary requirements (e.g., vegetarian)?

For each person attending the conference in your party, please fill out the sections above in a new online form. Please indicate clearly in the adjoining space "No Paper" if that is the case for this person. Otherwise indicate the title and abstract below. And please provide a registration fee for each person in your party attending the conference (see below). The expense for the conference managers is the same for each attendee, whether or not that person is giving a paper.

No paper

Paper details

What is your exact paper title?

Please enter your abstract here. The abstract should be no longer than 150 words. Registration is not complete until we have received the abstract.

In what language will you deliver your paper?

What special equipment do you need (VCR, tape recorder, slide projector, DVD, laptop, computer screen projection, etc.)? Remember that European video formats are different from the U.S.'s.

Do you have anything else you wish to tell us, for example, dates on which you cannot speak or papers you wish to be paired with? We will do our best to accommodate you.

To reduce spam, please enter the last name of the founder of psychoanalysis

Last-minute changes in titles, abstracts, and schedule cause great difficulty for the organizers. We will not accept changes in title or abstract after June 1 nor changes in the schedule after one week from the time the organizers e-mail the schedule.

Payment

Your conference registration fee pays for a reception Wednesday evening June 24, sessions from Thursday through Sunday morning, coffee breaks, a walking tour on Thursday afternoon June 25, and a bus tour and a final banquet on Sunday, June 28. The registration fee is $345 U.S., $25 of which is a tax-deductible donation to the PsyArt Foundation which supports the conference, the journal, and the listserv. Registration for graduate students or for accompanying children under 18 is $175.

You must pay the registration fee for yourself and for all accompanying friends, spouses, partners, or family members, if they will participate in conference events, whether or not they attend sessions. Deadline for receipt of registration fees is April 15, 2015. Any payments received after April 15 must include a late fee of $30, and no payments will be accepted after May 15.

The registration fee (except for the $25 donation) is refundable for any reason until June 1, but not for any reason thereafter. The donation makes you a member of PsyArt, entitled to attend and vote at the annual meeting to be held on Sunday, June 28, in Malta. Please do attend and vote.

U.S. registrants can send a check to our treasurer, made out to "PsyArt Foundation":

Dr. Elizabeth Fox
Treasurer, PsyArt Foundation
2 Sparks Place
Cambridge, MA 02138
U.S.A.
emfox@mit.edu

Alternatively, both U.S. and non-U.S. registrants from many countries can pay through our PsyArt account at PayPal.com. That way you can charge your registration to your credit card over the Internet with no delay and save the bother of writing and mailing a check. If you do pay this way, however, we ask that you add 4% to your payment, because that is what PayPal charges us for a credit card payment into the account.

For Western European and other non-U.S. registrants, our local bank puts a heavy surcharge on foreign checks. We much prefer that you use PayPal. If necessary, you can arrange a check for us through your bank. Non-U.S. registrants who cannot arrange payment through their banks or through PayPal should contact Elizabeth Fox.

Registrants may choose to sign up for a PayPal account during the Web "Accept payment" process. An "account" simply means telling PayPal your name, address, and your credit card number.

Signing up for a PayPal account does not commit you to anything—it just enables you to use your credit card to make payments on the Internet to this conference (and anything else that catches your fancy). The Wall Street Journal assures us that this method of payment is more secure than check or money order.

To begin the PayPal payment process, click on the icon:

Warning!

Late registration!

Regular registration (390 USD)

Student registration (213.2 USD)