SEC Director Greetings

Ever since I started studying psychology, I have been fascinated by a sentence written by Kurt Lewin: Science that produces nothing but books will not suffice. As someone who survived the war and aggression against my homeland Bosnia and Herzegovina, I grew up understanding that one should never take peace for granted. In my doctoral thesis, I dealt with bias in memories of war experiences and possibilities for reconciliation in Bosnia and Herzegovina. I am currently working as a Postdoc at the University of Copenhagen and continuing what I started in my thesis: to analyse  the processes and variables contributing to reconciliation. In 2020, I founded ABRIR, the first consortium of psychological researchers from the Global South, with colleagues from Mexico, Brazil and India. Within ABRIR, I founded ABRIR_peace, a place for all those who work on the topics of reconciliation, peace education, trauma and mental health in developing countries, as well as for those not based in the Global South but want to help and contribute to our projects. Therefore, I am thrilled to take on the role of SEC Director starting this year. My predecessor, Stephanie Beckman, did a lot for this committee, and I am honoured to cooperate with her through APA Division 48. Thanks to Stephanie, I got to know the processes and ways in which the work takes place, as well as how to improve the SEC committee.

For me, the most important thing now is for the SEC to be a place for everyone who wants to share their knowledge and research and learn more from others while also being  a safe place where they can talk about everything that interests them in this field. I hope that in the future we will have even more members, as well as that we will work together on projects in order to improve peace psychology as a socially engaged field. I am proud of this committee’s work so far and honoured to be in this role. My inbox is always open for those interested in cooperation or with certain ambiguities and questions. I am here for all students and early career scholars who want to make this world a more peaceful place to live.

 In Peace,

Alma