The 28th annual ATP conference 2010 will be be held at Keele University – Friday 2nd July to Sunday 4th July. The theme is Teaching Psychology: changing lives, changing minds.

The conference is for teachers of psychology and will offer updating sessions on psychology, presentations and workshops on teaching and learning, and opportunities to share good practice.

See you there.

The ATP is running a CPD event for NQTs and those new to teaching Psychology.  The aim of the day is to provide high quality, low cost CPD for Psychology teachers.

The day will consist of interactive workshops given by experienced teachers and examiners on a variety of topics relevant to NQTs.  There will be plenty of opportunity to network with like minded professionals.  The exact programme is still to be finalised, but will contain workshops on issues such as effective lesson planning, using interactive resources, questioning, Assessment for Learning, teaching research methods etc. A website forum has been set up for suggestions.

The event will be held at: -
The Polesworth School
Dordon Road
Dordon
Tamworth
Staffs
B78 1QT

The nearest train station is Tamworth and the school is 5 minutes away from junction 10 of the M42.

The very reasonable cost of £30 will include refreshments and a light lunch.  The day will begin with registration and coffee at 9.30am and finish at 3pm.  Please book your place early to avoid disappointment.

Please pay £30 delegate fee via PayPal.  In order to qualify for this bargain price you must be a member of the ATP.  Please join here if not already a member, before registering for NQT/New to teaching Psychology CPD Event.  Any queries please contact d.gajic@sky.com

Insight Conferences have announced details of their forthcoming Exploring Crime Conference at the University of Leicester on 10 – 11 July 2008.

The aim of the conference is to give those students attending an insight into specialised areas within crime and help to enrich their studies and pursue future careers.

The cost for the conference is £95.00, which includes all conference presentations and materials, overnight accommodation, a full English breakfast and an evening meal. Refreshments will also be provided throughout the day for the students and teachers.

The conference should be an excellent opportunity for students to experience university life and explore areas within the world of crime relating to Psychology, Science, Sociology and Law along with meeting peers from across the country who share similar interests and aspirations.

Insight Conferences are now taking bookings and are able to hold provisional places for 10 working days for any students/schools interested in attending. They can be contacted via or email or phone (01509) 550832 to make your booking provisionally.

More details and their email address can be found on www.insightconferences.co.uk

There is an exciting CPD event being held next month in Somerset, for psychology teachers interested to hear national police criminal behaviour analyst Paul Lobb speak on the past, present and future of forensic psychological profiling.

The event will be held at Millfield School, Street, Somerset on Tuesday, April 22nd, from 6:30pm.

The focus of this event will be a talk from Paul Lobb, a forensic psychologist, on criminal profiling. The cost is only £10 per person, which covers the cost of the meal following the talk. This event is non-profit making, supported by ATP and should provide an excellent networking opportunity.

For more details contact
George Smith (Millfield)
0775 446 0540
gbs@millfieldschool.com

Or

Claire Barker (Wells CS)
07749 845 218
c.barker@wells-cathedral.school.com

Here is a copy of the flyer for the event – onenightonly.pdf

Reply before 11th April to guarantee a place.

Following the successful insight conferences held in January, OCR has provided a number of resources for those teachers unable to attend the events. I attended the Leeds event and it was excellent.

On this page you can listen to the full length speeches from Mark Griffiths and Rebecca Rhodes. There are also edited speeches by Mark Griffiths, Rebecca Rhodes, Stephen Reicher and Alexander Haslam.

There is also a page where you can download research posters for each of the five new core studies, which have been compiled in collaboration with the British Psychological Society. You will need to sign up for these.

http://www.ocr.org.uk/campaigns/psychology_event/

http://www.ocr.org.uk/campaigns/psychology_posters/

Uniview have announced today that they are to film Zimbardo’s talk at the Emmanuel Centre in London. The talk is on the afternoons of Tuesday 18 March and Wednesday 19 March 2008. The DVD ‘Zimbardo Speaks’, will be available shortly afterwards.

Below is the press release.

South West Conferences present a unique opportunity for A level Psychology students to hear legendary Professor Zimbardo talk about his research and new book, and it’s all being caught on film!March is an exciting time for UK students of psychology as The Emmanuel Centre in London welcomes Professor Philip G. Zimbardo to discuss his past research and current book. The revision conference is organised by South West Conferences, a small consultancy company specialising in psychology A level students conferences and Teacher INSET courses, run by psychology teacher and author Cara Flanagan.Professor Zimbardo has previously taught at Yale, Columbia and NYU but was a professor at the Stanford University from 1968 up until his recent retirement. Zimbardo has won many awards for his work and has become a media personality as a result of his captivating studies. He has also been president of both the Western Psychological Association and the American Psychological Association.Zimbardo is probably best known for his fascinating 1971 Stanford Prison Experiment, whereby college students were assigned the role of guard or inmate in order to study the psychological and behavioural effects of imprisonment. Those selected at random to be ‘guards’ became so sadistic and those acting as ‘prisoners’ so depressed, that the two-week study was stopped after just six days. The study has created such public and media interest that a feature-length film is currently being made by Maverick Films and directed by Oscar winning director, Christopher McQuarrie.

The ATP conference web site has just announced the Keynote speakers at this years conference, has details of the costs, and how to book.

The 26th Annual Conference of the Association for the Teaching of Psychology will be held at the University of Lincoln on Thursday 10th July to Saturday 12th July, 2008

The programme will consist of keynote talks, workshops, exhibitions and social events

The agreed keynote speakers are:

Dr. Susan Blackmore
freelance writer, lecturer and broadcaster, and a Visiting Lecturer at the University of the West of England, Bristol.
www.susanblackmore.co.uk

Professor Mark Griffiths
Director of the International Gaming Research Unit at Nottingham Trent University.
www.psychblog.co.uk/2007/07/16/interview-the-gambling-man-prof-mark-griffiths

Professor Paul Harris
Developmental psychologist and Victor S. Thomas Professor of Education at Harvard University.
http://harvardscience.harvard.edu/node/3484

Dr. Tom Stafford
Cognitive neuroscientist with the Adaptive Behaviour Research Group in the Department of Psychology, University of Sheffield, and co-author of the bestselling popular science book Mind Hacks – Tips and Tricks for Using Your Brain
www.mindhacks.com

In March at the University of Cumbria (Carlisle) the applied health psychology lecturers are planning to put on a day of lecture/workshop sessions on several health psychology topics. They are aimed at OCR psychology students following the Health option.

The event will held at Learning Gateway Lecture Theatre, Fusehill Street Campus, Carlisle

There are 4 key sessions

Pain – pain management
Stress – Stress management
Factors affecting health
Adherence to medical advice

These sessions should be both interesting and useful reinforcements for the A2 OCR health exam in June 2008

The event is on Friday 7th March 2008 from 11am until 3pm. Registration from 10:30am

There is no charge for the day, but students need to either bring own lunch or be prepared to buy lunch

If you would like to bring students to this event, simply email Julie at Julie.Taylor3@cumbria.ac.uk to check that there are sufficient places available.

Insight conferences have announced the dates for their spring Conferences which will take place during February and March 2008.

The Crime Conferences and the Applied Psychology Conferences listed below will be running at the same venues on the same date.

Dates for Crime Conference and Applied Psychology
Stourbridge Town Hall 5th March 2008
Bristol BAWA Centre 7th March 2008
Friends House London 12th March 2008

Further dates are to be confirmed.

Crime Conference
The Keynote Speaker is Nicholas Yarris, an exonerated Death Row Prisoner. The conference will include the topics of Offender Profiling, Eyewitness Testimony, Courtroom Psychology and Psycopathy.

Applied Psychology
Presentations will include Stress, Memory and Mental Health. During the afternoon students will be split into smaller groups and have the opportunity to speak to individuals who suffer with schizophrenia, a terminal brain tumour, addiction and depression. This session will give students an opportunity to gain an insight into conditions they would not necessarily come into contact with.

Insight Conferences have sent me an update on their November and December crime conferences. They still have some places available. The conferences will be suitable for students studying Law, Psychology, Sociology, Forensics etc.

Venues will include:

• Friends House, Euston Road, London, Friday 16th November 2007
• Gala Theatre, Durham Monday 26th November 2007
• Hulme Hall, University Manchester, Friday 30th November 2007
• Torquay Riviera Centre, Monday 3rd December 2007
• Portsmouth Friday 10th December 2007

Speakers will be people who work or research the areas they are speaking about and who have a true insight. The conference will consist of presentations with at least two during the day being interactive and requiring student participation.

The conference will run between 10am and 3.30pm and the cost will be £20.00 per student.

Areas covered include:

Death Row – Hear from a death row prisoner who was exonerated after 8,057 days. He was the first death row prisoner to use DNA science to prove his innocence. Hear his story ……

Psychopaths – Nature v Nurture – The concept of the psychopath (or more currently dangerous severe personality disorder) is central to many arguments on the nature and nurture of homicide and particularly serial homicide. These issues will all be explored with their relevance to the study of psychology in mind and illustrated by reference to case examples.

Female Offending – The way in which women are perceived within the criminal justice system. Traditionally and still apparent in current times, female offenders are viewed as “mad” rather than “bad”. Using the presenters own experiences of the culture in female jails followed by case studies of female prisoners she has worked. Students will be asked to get together in groups in order to discuss whether a particular offender is best viewed as mentally ill (mad) or psychopathic (bad). This will be linked to the topic of the media portrayal of prolific female offenders, specifically analysing the discourse used in newspaper articles.

Treatment needs of female offenders. Self-harm, arson, sexual offending areas for women in our prison system. Students will be asked why they think these are important areas for female offenders. Their reasoning shall be compared with explanations drawn from psychological theory.

Offender Profiling – The definitions and assumptions underlying offender profiling shall be discussed and a recent case involving fatal arson in which a psychological profile was undertaken shall be presented. The aim of the session is to encourage a critical assessment of what can be achieved by offender profiling and how this can be improved with scientific methods.

Eyewitness Testimony – This presentation will examine the fascinating subject of eyewitness testimony. Every year prisoners are released from prison after serving part of a prison sentence for a crime they did not commit. Often, the evidence used to convict these innocent individuals is eyewitness testimony; the testimony of a victim or witness claiming to remember the perpetrator and picking him/her out of mug shots or police line-ups. How fallible is human memory? When are we accurate and when are we poor at remembering scenes, faces and crimes?

For a copy of their brochure, email insight.conferences@ntlworld.com with your full postal address.

Insight Conferences are also running a number of in-house conferences across the country for the names of schools/colleges involved and to see if there is one in your area please contact them

Insight also have their Applied Psychology conference running in Torquay on 3rd December which will cover Stress, Memory, Attachment and in the afternoon students will have a presentation covering Mental Health and then have the opportunity in groups to speak to people suffering from Schizophrenia, Brain Tumour, Depression and Phobia.

Insight will be running both of these conferences again during March 2008 and anybody interested in dates and venues should contact them via email.