The sixth world congress on positive psychology (IPPA) was held in Melbourne, Australia 18th – 21st of July 2019. It was the first time the congress is held outside North America. The theme was “Nexus” which means connection. Over 1,600 delegates from 60 countries from around the globe attended the congress.
The scientific program was currently aligned in many ways with the UPRIGHT project interest by including presentations regarding resilience-based and positive education programmes and practices in schools all over the world, investigations in relation to how teaching well-being enhances academic performance, etc.
Five members from the UPRIGHT consortium attended the congress and held a workshop on the programme. The workshop was a success and the team did a great job of presenting the programme. Participants heard about the co-creation and validation phases and the resulted manual. They also gained insight into the UPRIGHT programme by seeing some of the exercises and trying one of them. Other content shown of the workshop was how the UPRIGHT intervention is currently implemented in the 5 pan-European pilot regions and the evaluation procedures. In the end, the UPRIGHT members had fruitful discussions on the programme and related issues with participants.
Speakers from over 30 countries introduced allowed delegates to learn the latest in the field of positive psychology from across the globe. Positive education, one of the thirteen congress tracks, was high on the congress agenda and after attending many of the congress talks and workshops, we are determined to continue and believe that by enhancing resilience skills among adolescents we are helping them to tackle the challenges they are facing.
The UPRIGHT members really enjoyed the numerous opportunities to connect, discover and learn from other delegates at the congress. Thank you IPPA for giving us the opportunity to participate!
