Connexxions@EAWOP

We are glad to welcome you to Connexxions! It has been 4 years since our last international Congress, and we are delighted that so many of you have registered to attend the EAWOP Katowice 2023 Congress. Our goal is to ensure that each one of you gets maximum value from attending!

What is Connexxions?  It is a programme aimed at ensuring that we create an inclusive culture at Congress, where everyone is made to feel welcome, has opportunities for social and academic connection and is given support to meet and talk to people with shared interests. It is built on the premise that more established conference attendees can help integrate less experienced attendees and is a value-added process for all involved, deepening connections and relationships.

We will be engaging more experienced conference goers (mentors) through a brief questionnaire as well as asking our less experienced attendees (protégés) to sign-up and share details about their areas of interest so that they can get even more from our event.

When we spoke to keynote Alex Haslam about our idea for this programme, he had this to say:

‘That’s a really good idea to help people feel connected — and an interesting practical challenge.  Helping people get a sense of what sorts of connections they might want to make through social identity mapping gives people a better understanding of the groups they want to connect with and also gives them something they can discuss with others. By asking people about the types of research-related groups they are part of and those they would like to expand, you can help people to create meaningful connections at the Congress.’

Alex Haslam, Professor of Social and Organizational Psychology and Australian Laureate Fellow at the University of Queensland.

We will provide more information from time to time through the Social & Networking tab on the website (https://eawop2023.org/social-networking-programme/) but in the meantime, please just sign up on the link below.

Mentors
So…if you are a seasoned congress attendee with a willingness to provide a little advice and guidance to others then please sign up! This programme cannot exist without support from experienced EAWOP Congress-goers to support our newcomers’ EAWOP journey! If you have already attended at least one congress and can commit to making just a little contact before and during the congress to check-in and point them in the right direction, we would be delighted if you could sign up for the programme! By giving a small amount of time you have an opportunity to make a tremendous impact on newcomers or on those who would appreciate being part of an organised social network.

Protégés

If this is the first time that you have attended an EAWOP Congress or are if you are relatively inexperienced and you feel that you would benefit from the gentle guidance and support of a more seasoned EAWOP member, then please sign up for our programme! As well as connecting with an experienced member of EAWOP, you will also have the chance to meet up with others in your own position from all around the world and make new friends as well as contacts.

Building an EAWOP Community

We would love to hear from you with any feedback, ideas, or questions that you might have. You can contact us on ingridkcovington@gmail.com or monica.molino@unito.it with any comments in relation to the Social and Networking aspects of the congress. You can keep up to date with activities around Social and Networking via our Twitter and LinkedIn accounts. Please use these forums to start conversations that will enable purposeful connections to build in the lead up to the conference – you are also welcome to ‘@’ the official EAWOP social media accounts and tag any posts with #EAWOPCongress to increase the reach of your messages. You may have an idea for a special interest group or may want to enquire about what already exists, for example. As a community we are stronger together!

We are excited to welcome you to the Congress! Members of the EAWOP Executive Committee and Conference Organising Committees will be open to connecting with you at the conference.

You can participate and make connections by signing up through our survey link – https://forms.gle/QG6KYgdQkLXui9VWA

See you at Congress!

Ingrid Covington & Monica Molino