RSU International Conference ‘Health and Personality Development: an Interdisciplinary Approach’ Will Be Held Online

The International Conference Health and Personality Development: an Interdisciplinary Approach will be held at Rīga Stradiņš University (RSU) on 27 – 29 April 2020. The conference will virtually gather both local and international participants – psychologists, health and social care specialists, supervisors and students. This will be the sixth time RSU organises the conference – in 2019 the event gathered over 600 participants.

The aim of the conference is to present current studies and practical work experience in psychological research, evaluation and aid, as well as to highlight issues of professional identity and foster the integration of research into the study process. By participating in the conference, students, researchers and practitioners will deepen their knowledge on how professionals in various fields can contribute to maintaining health and treating diseases by working in an interdisciplinary way.

The three-day conference programme will feature 50 reports presented by visiting speakers from seven countries (the US, UK, Israel, Cyprus, Estonia, Lithuania and Russia) as well as lecturers, practitioners, doctoral students and students from Latvia. Attendees will have the opportunity to participate in eight masterclasses, of which five will be conducted by guest lecturers. 

• Monday 27 April: the programme will address a wide range of issues – visual data and its application to research, current psychometric models, psychological aid, including digital interventions, which is particularly topical right now.
• Tuesday 28 April: the programme will feature a symposium dedicated to the national research programme on Latvian heritage and future challenges to national sustainability – Latvijas mantojums un nākotnes izaicinājumi valsts ilgtspējai projektam Latvijas valsts un sabiedrības izaicinājumi un risinājumi starptautiskā kontekstā (INTERFRAME-LV) – that aims to develop closer collaboration between research and practice. Later in the day there will be several masterclasses conducted by international experts.
• Wednesday 29 April: the day’s programme will start with a panel discussion on the application of visual data in research. It will be followed by work organised into three sections during which attendees will be able to listen to 30 reports on the topics of doctoral students’ theses and research works given by students of the RSU Faculty of Public Health and Social Welfare, the Faculty of Rehabilitation, the Faculty of Communication and the Faculty of Medicine. The day will end with an open lecture on clinical interview and the discussion about supervision in education and a masterclass on maintaining the therapeutic relationship from a distance, which is a relevant topic right now, by an art therapist and Fulbright scholar from the US.

The conference is organised by the RSU Department of Health Psychology and Paedagogy and will take place online. There is no participation fee for the event. Twelve continuing education credits will be granted for participation in each conference day.

Further information about the conference and registration