The 18th European Conference on Personality (ECP18), held biennially by the European Association of Personality Psychology, took place in the West University of Timișoara, Romania, in July this year. Against the backdrop of the Bega river, the university played host to hundreds of attendees and presenters from about 40 countries all over the world.
The ECP18 kicked off with pre-conference workshops run by the local organising committee. The six-hour workshop on meta-analysis I attended provided a concise and clear introduction to conducting systematic reviews.
It was my first time attending such a large conference that focused specifically on one division of psychology. There were approximately 350 scientific contributions over three and half congress days that covered a wide variety of research topics on personality. The keynotes that I found fascinating include Prof Dan P. McAdams’s work on life stories and Prof Sarah E. Hampson’s research on personality and health over the lifespan.
In one of the sessions, I presented my PhD project on the Dark Triad and perceptions of vulnerability. Although I was rather anxious and intimidated after attending so many outstanding symposia, my presentation went rather well and I managed to chat with a couple of like-minded researchers who gave me new insights for my research.
I also had the great opportunity of attending the conference dinner in Recaș, a winery some 30km outside of Timișoara for a night filled with wine, food, and a magnificent open-air view of the vineyards. I sat at a table with a few delegates from Germany and had great conversations about cultural differences in psychology.
It was an eye-opening and rewarding experience to be part of such a fruitful event. I also very much enjoyed the local culture and the Romanian hospitality. Looking forward to similar scholarly events in the future!
