Rhodes University Psychology Department had a strong presence once again at the 27th annual PsySSA conference held at Emperor’s Palace, Johannesburg in October 2023.

In an effort to create awareness and promote mental healthcare around Makhanda, Rhodes University’s Psychology department has embarked on a roadshow to engage the community.

After successfully incorporating a Mental Health and Wellbeing course as part of its first-year psychology curriculum, the Vice Chancellor’s Mental Health Task Team decided to cater for staff and academics and train them on Basic Counselling Skills.

Two Rhodes University basketball players have been rewarded for their brilliant work during the recent University Sports South Africa (USSA) national basketball Championships.

There is ample space in academia for brilliant young black minds, especially young black women. Rhodes University Psychology lecturer Ms Dineo Diale, is an exceptional example of the bright minds in this space.

The International Society of Critical Health Psychology (ISCHP) recently launched its inaugural awards at its bi-annual conference, hosted across several virtual hubs worldwide. Rhodes University researcher and academic Distinguished Professor Catriona Macleod and two of her Critical Studies in Sexualities and Reproduction research programme (CSSR) alumnae featured extraordinarily well at the awards.

In an effort to better equip students to cope with the impact the pandemic has had on their mental health, the Psychology Department has implemented a Mental Health and Wellbeing course as part of its first-year psychology curriculum.

Mr Zondo reported that the 'NRF Thuthuka grant is to support his PhD degree.

The Department of Psychology congratulates Dr Tracey Haselau on the award of her PhD last week at the virtual graduation ceremony

When a young girl from Gqeberha (Port Elizabeth) was diagnosed with leukemia in 2013 and admitted to Red Cross Children’s Hospital in Cape Town, she wasn’t sure if her studies would ever extend beyond Grade 5.

It is my great pleasure as the Head of the Psychology Department to welcome new and returning students to our Department and our University. I hope that you time with us will be happy, fulfilling and successful.

Every year, the Mail & Guardian searches for the 200 most outstanding young South Africans and celebrates them. This year, the newspaper received about 8 000 nominations, and 10 current and former Rhodes University students featured on the list of 200.

When Rhodes University started asking local school principals and management how best to assist them with the additional pressures brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic, the project team didn’t anticipate what a positive learning experience it would be for everyone involved.

This Friday you would not have found your Grocott’s Mail at the supermarket as usual, and here’s why.

Dr Siobhan Sweeney, supervised by Professor Lisa Young, is one of four doctoral students in psychology to graduate (in absentia) in April this year.

Dr Lumka Qangule, supervised by Professor Jacqui Akhurst, is one of four doctoral students in psychology to graduate (in absentia) in April this year.

Dr Mathero Nkhalamba, supervised by Professor Charles Young, is one of four doctoral students in psychology to graduate (in absentia) in April this year.

Dr Judith Blaine, supervised by Professor Jacqui Akhurst, is one of four doctoral students in psychology to graduate (in absentia) in April this year.

Four doctoral students and 16 masters students will be graduating in absentia after the necessary cancellation of the April graduation ceremonies to contain the spread of the corona virus.

Rhodes University's Psychology Department has compiled some mental health guidance for students and staff over the lockdown period. We are all in this together.

The Psychology Department invited Richenda Koeberg to be the keynote speaker at the annual Postgraduate Conference, held 18 October 2019.

Benita Bobo, a PhD candidate in the department, recently attended a conference held at the Birchwood Hotel and OR Tambo Conference Centre.

In September, a PhD student Benita Bobo and her supervisor, Prof. Jacqui Akhurst, presented papers at two separate conferences in Brighton, UK

On the 23rd of May 2019 I attended the South-Africa-Japan-University conference which was held at the Future Africa campus, at the university of Pretoria.

The Psychology Department’s first staff seminar of the 2019 series was presented on Friday, 2 August. It was presented by Dr Zahra Tizro, originally from Iran and currently based at the University of East London, UK.

Educational psychologists described the widely used IQ test, Senior South African Individual Scales-Revised (SSAIS-R), as obsolete and not relevant to children growing up in the 21st century.

Dr Ulandi du Plessis, a Rhodes University PhD graduate and postdoc fellow at the Critical Studies in Sexuality and Reproduction Unit, has been recognised by the British Psychological Society’s Psychology of Women and Equalities Section (POWES) and Feminism & Psychology after her submission on the governing of pregnancy in South Africa received 72/72 from the reviewers.

Online safety and cyberbullying: a team from Psychology engages in Community Outreach at the local SANDF base

Our Honours Org Psych group were lucky enough to get the chance to visit Mponeng Mine of Anglo Gold Ashanti and for all of us, it was our first time underground

Rhodes University researchers published a study in the South African Journal of Psychology last month, based on the doctoral research of former Rhodes Psychology student Dr Diana Zoccola, confirming other studies that demonstrate persistent brain injury effects in association with long-term participation in a contact sport.

Mr Duane Booysen, lecturer in the psychology department, recently completed research training on Single-Case Intervention Research: New Developments in Methodology and Data Analysis (SCR) in Madison, Wisconsin, USA, from, August 13 to August 17, 2018.

Our Organisational Psychology students were fortunate to be treated to an interactive learning experience facilitated by Simon Kettleborough and Julia Kukard from Aephoria Partners who also teach on the MBA at UCT.

Our Organisational Psychology Honours students and members of the Department thoroughly enjoyed a guest seminar on Psychological Assessment in Organisations on 13 August 2018.

Our 17 Organisational Psychology Honours students visited 43 Air School, Port Alfred on 31 July 2018.

Ms Carol Dineo Diale recently participated in the Erasmus+ staff exchange programme and visited University of Leicester in the UK.

Five Psychology Students (Lane Tao, Zizipho Ludidi, Heather Thorne, Grisel Pretorius and Samantha Johnson) contributed to Disability Week at Rhodes University by giving a presentation based on their experiences gained from a service learning course they are enrolled in.

Recently, the world saw the majority of the Republic of Ireland voting in favour of repealing its Eighth Amendment, which has, up to now, had very stringent anti-abortion laws. However, this referendum vote comes shortly after the US’s seeming backwards-moving abortion policy Gag Rule introduced by the Trump-Pence administration on 22 May.

Ayanda Msibi has been awarded Social Media Icon for her passionate participation in the Social Psychology 2 course’s Instagram assignment:

Caregivers of children with physical disabilities are given a voice

Professor Jacqueline Akhurst, 2017 recipient of the Vice-Chancellor’s Community Engagement Award, presented a lecture on Community Based Service Learning (CBSL) as part of Rhodes University’s Community Engagement Week

It is with great pleasure that we announce Professor Jacqueline Akhurst, from the Department of Psychology, as the recipient of the 2017 Vice Chancellor’s Distinguished Award for Community Engagement

Dr. Liezille Jacobs (a newly appointed senior lecturer at Rhodes University’s Psychology Department)

The SheDecides movement emerged as a response to the reinstatement of the Global Gag Rule (GGR) – a US policy which has devastating effects for the sexual and reproductive health and rights of women and girls across the globe.

Congratulations to Catriona Macleod who has been awarded the title of Distinguished Professor by Rhodes University in recognition of her outstanding scholarly achievement and intellectual leadership. We couldn’t think of anyone more deserving of this honour!

Pumla Gobodo-Madikizela is an author, Professor and holds the Research Chair Studies in Historical Trauma and Transformation in the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences at Stellenbosch University.

Rhodes University’s Psychology researcher won a top award and fifteen received honourable mentions at the Student Presentation Awards during the inauguration of continental 2017 Pan African Psychology Union conference in Durban recently.

Professor Catriona Macleod, Professor of Psychology and SARChI Chair of Critical Studies in Sexualities & Reproduction will tonight receive the 10th Social Change Award, which recognises prominent psychologists for their contribution to social change in the country.

“The spectacular failure and extraordinary success of Psychology in South Africa: the decolonial imperative”

Prof. Jacqui Akhurst has recently heard that she has been rated C2 as a researcher by the National Research Foundation (NRF).

On 16 August 2017 Ms Logan Mclaren, an organisational honours student, attended the Higher Education International Conference

Title: Community Psychology: Hopeless optimism or hopeful future?

Trust Kabungaidze, Organisational Psychology Lecturer is awarded PhD

Professor Dave Edwards elected President of International Society of Schema Therapy

Melanie Judge is an Associate Professor in the Law Faculty at UCT and an associate of the Centre for Law and Society. She is a feminist and queer activist and scholar. Melanie has been extensively involved in policy and law reform and advocacy and research in the field of gender and sexual rights, both locally and internationally

Professor Jacqueline Akhurst presented a thought-provoking Inaugural Lecture about the re-repositioning of community psychology (as a branch of psychology) as it is at the helm of change within the psychology profession and communities in South Africa and beyond last week.

Dear psychology students, we are understandably concerned about the impact that the continued suspension of lectures will have on learning, while also conscious that access to higher education is a national problem that requires urgent attention if the country is to meet its constitutional obligation of social redress. We can only hope that the conversations that have taken place yesterday and that will continue today will yield consensus and that lectures will resume soon.

Prof Lisa Saville Young and her two students, Tracey Fleming (studying towards a PhD) and Nicole Cooke (studying towards an MBT) recently attended the Disability Studies Conference at Lancaster University, UK. The conference trip was made possible by an NRF grant awarded to research the process and outcome of a service learning programme currently on offer at Honours level in the department.

A world-renowned community psychologist, Prof. Caterina Arcidiacono, visited us in Grahamstown 22-26 May. As an experienced academic and trained psychologist of many years standing, Caterina has been influenced by figures from the Milan School of Systemic Therapy, and by the founder of Community Psychology in Italy. Caterina is past chair of the European Community Psychology Association. She is a senior professor in Gender Studies at Università Federico II in Naples.

Rhodes University had the pleasure of welcoming Professor Leslie Swartz from Stellenbosch University during disability week (16 – 20 May). Professor Swartz has interests in the fields of disability studies and mental health. He is also the editor in chief of the African Journal of Disability and serves on multiple editorial boards.

1st Annual Sport and Performance Psychology Summit

It is with great pleasure that we announce that the multi-disciplinary team from the Siyahluma project (Dr. Sharli Paphitis, Dr. Lindsay Kelland, Prof. Catriona Macleod, Mr. Ryan Du Toit) has been awarded the 2015 Vice Chancellor’s Distinguished Award for Community Engagement.

On Thursday 31 March, Prof Catriona Macleod was awarded the Vice-Chancellor’s Distinguished Senior Research Medal. Here is the transcript describing her award.

Certificate in Monitoring and Evaluation for Programme Managers Rhodes University Certificate Course NQF Level 8 Accredited, 15 Credits

CSSR researchers present a range of papers at International Society of Critical Health Psychology conference 2015 The International Society of Critical Health Psychology held its 9th Biennial conference at Rhodes University in 2015. A range of papers and symposia were presented by CSSR researchers including:

With presentations from Prof. Jacqui Akhurst, Prof. Lisa Saville Young with Juliette van Besouw (who did her Honours project on the work); and postgraduates Jabulile Mavuso and Ryan du Toit representing CSSR, the psychology department was well represented at the first ever Community Engaged Learning symposium arranged by Rhodes University Community Engagement (RUCE) office 4-6 May, 2015:

Professor Charles Young has been appointed by the Minister of Health to the Professional Board for Psychology of the Health Professions Council

Professor Charles Young recently attended the 2nd Australian Psychological Society’s College of Counselling Psychologists Conference that was held in Melbourne, from 26 February to 1 March 2015, with the theme of Experts in Mental Health.

The ISCHP brings together health scholars who are interested in exploring ongoing and emerging issues in critical research, critical theory and critical practice in relation to health and health care. This shared interest in critical approaches to healthcare is exemplified in the theme of the 9th Biennial Conference, ‘Health, Health Care and Social Justice’.

ISCHP 2015 Conference, 12-15 July 2015, Rhodes University Call for abstracts The ISCHP brings together health scholars who are interested in exploring ongoing and emerging issues in critical research, critical theory and critical practice in relation to health and health care. This shared interest in critical approaches to healthcare is exemplified in the theme of the 9th Biennial Conference, ‘Health, Health Care and Social Justice’. The call for abstracts for the 9th Biennial Conference of the International Society of Critical Health Psychology (ISCHP) is now open.

Looking Back at Three Decades of Research Enactments and Change Mohamed Seedat

“I am feeling overwhelmed with my analysis”, “Am l a researcher or an activist?”, “Why as a woman am I studying men?”, “The stories from my data collection are so overwhelming”. These are some of the situations that the Critical Studies in Sexuality and Reproduction (CSSR) colloquium, held in the Psychology Department on the 10th and 11th September 2014, addressed. There were a total of 16 participants and 14 presentations. The research topics included sexual violence, abortion decision-making, nursing practice and teenage pregnancy. The presenters included Masters’ students in Psychology, Journalism and Pharmacy, PhD candidates in Psychology, and post-doctoral fellows. Professor Macleod opened the colloquium citing the importance of having such interrogative/ critical reflective spaces for research.

The CSSR crew made a bold appearance at this year’s annual Congress of the Psychological Society of South Africa (PsySSA), which took place between the 16th and 19th of September in Durban, and which celebrated 20 years of democracy as well as the formation of PsySSA.

The ISCHP brings together health scholars who are interested in exploring ongoing and emerging issues in critical research, critical theory and critical practice in relation to health and health care. This shared interest in critical approaches to healthcare is exemplified in the theme of the 9th Biennial Conference, ‘Health, Health Care and Social Justice’.

‘Masibambane’ community engagement project wins award

Last week the department was fortunate to host Dr Dawn Farber, a personal and supervising analyst and faculty member of the Psychoanalytic Institute of Northern California (PINC). Dr Farber presented a public lecture on Tuesday 18th March on ‘The contributions of Wilfred R. Bion to clinical thinking about Trauma’.

General Psychology 3 Masibambane volunteers recently hosted an end of year party for local children with disabilities and their caregivers. This party was hosted at Sinako crèche. Masibambane is a community engagement initiative aimed at children with disabilities in disadvantaged communities and their families, and is co-ordinated by Dr. Lisa Saville Young, senior lecturer in the Department of Psychology in conjunction with Agata Runowicz (representing both the Department of Health and the Association for People with Physical Disabilities).

In memory of Nqobile Shongwe 1978 – 2013 In November, members of staff and students of the Masters class in Clinical and Counselling Psychology 2013, gathered at the Psychology Clinic to remember Nqobile Shongwe who died suddenly on the 11 June this year. Nqobile was registered at the time as a Masters student in Clinical Psychology and her untimely death was a terrible shock to everyone. The Psychology Clinic purchased a bench which has been placed under the Jacaranda tea behind the clinic to be used by staff and students as a way of continuing to remember her and the wonderful potential she demonstrated in the short time that she was with us at Rhodes. To read more about Nqobile, you can access the eulogy given by Lisa Saville Young at her memorial service here.

Jaclyn Lotter, a PhD candidate and part-time lecturer in the psychology department, was selected from a group of approximately 300 applicants, as one of fourteen young African academics to attend the 2013 Child and Youth Institute hosted by CODESRIA in Dakar, Senegal from 16 September to 4 October 2013.

Rhodes University has secured another prestigious National Research Foundation (NRF) chair position.

New Rhodes SARChI Chair to explore SA’s significant sexuality and reproduction challenges

Professor Ann Edwards, clinical psychologist at Rhodes University, said there were huge variations in the way people age cognitively. "Some individuals decline rapidly as they age, others not so fast.

On the 15th August 2013, the Psychology Clinic hosted a workshop for the Department of Social Development in the Arthur Lord Seminar room. Seven officials attended the workshop, which explored the topic of stress management. The first part of the workshop explored the definition of stress and what stress looked like in their lives. The image of a water jug was used to show how in life we have to pour ourselves into many glasses (roles) which leave us feeling empty of water (energy). Thus it is important to find ways of filling ourselves up.

The 15th Annual Conference of the Society for industrial and Organisational Psychology of South Africa took place at the CSIR Convention Centre in Pretoria between 29-31 July 2013. The theme of the conference was Making a difference in the future world of work. The conference attracted considerable attention and was attended by a large number of academics, practitioners, and students. In total, 77 papers, 33 posters, and 11 workshops were presented.

Richenda Koeberg, who was appointed on the Kresge Accelerated Development Programme in 2011, recently attended the Fifth International Community, Work and Family Conference which took place on 17-19 July 2013 at The University of Sydney in Sydney, Australia. Ms Koeberg was one of two South African researchers who participated in the conference with the other South African delegate being from the North West University.

Professor Dave Edwards presented at the conference of the Society for Psychotherapy Research in Brisbane where he convened a panel entitled “Modifying early schemas in schema therapy and emotion-focused therapy. Case-based investigations of change processes.

Department of Psychology’s Professor Catriona Macleod walked away with the Vice-Chancellor’s Book Award during this year’s graduation ceremony. The Vice-Chancellor’s Book Award seeks to recognize a recent book published by a staff member that advances knowledge and understanding, and also brings considerable credit to the University by virtue of the contribution it makes to scholarly literature, or the discipline within which it is authored

Anele Siswana, a Master’s student in Clinical Psychology from the Department of Psychology at Rhodes University, is proof that giving, no matter how small, can make a big difference to the person on the receiving end. He is the first recipient of the Canon Collins Scholars’ Scholarship, a scholarship set up by a group of Canon Collins Scholarship recipients.

South Africans present their papers at the Theoretical Psychology Conference in Chile

Prof Melvyn Freeman, the 2013 recipient of the Department of Psychology’s social change award, devoted most of his working life to create the conditions for better mental health services in South Africa.

The Department of Psychology held its annual Postgraduate Conference, with Dr. Desmond Painter as the keynote presenter. Dr Painter is a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Psychology at Stellenbosch University. He has published numerous articles in the areas of critical psychology and the social psychology of language.

Under the co-ordination of Professor Ann Edwards in the Department of Psychology, Rhodes University, cross-cultural norms have been developed in a series of studies on the adult and child Wechsler IQ tests (WAIS-III and WISC IV).

An invited symposium on sports concussion was chaired by Professor Ann Edwards at the 30th International Congress of Psychology held in Cape Town in July 2012. Results were presented from three doctoral and three masters theses conducted on South African players of Rugby Union under her supervision at Rhodes University over the past eight years. Doctoral students included Dr Vicky Alexander, Dr Sue Clark and Ms Diana Zoccola; Masters students were Mr Mark Horsman, Mr Ian Smith and Ms Thandi Salmon-Godlo. With the exception of Mark Horsman and Ian Smith, all were in attendance at the conference to present their own work. Dr Clifford van Ommen (currently Psychology Clinic Director at Massey University in Auckland New Zealand) was also present as the co-supervisor on Ms Salmon-Godlo’s thesis while he was still at Rhodes University. The statistical analyses were conducted on all studies by Professor Sarah Radloff, of the Department of Statistics at Rhodes University. While not in attendance at the symposium she was a co-author on all the presentations in acknowledgement of her invaluable contribution to this entire research series.

The psychology department has once again seen a dramatic increase in the number of applicants for the 12 places that it offers annually in the Clinical and Counselling Psychology Programmes.

Tracey Feltham-King, a PhD student in the Psychology Department, won the PsySSA/Discovery student presentation award at the International Congress of Psychology held in Cape Town from 22 to 27 July. This congress, held every four years, attracted in the region of 5 500 psychologists from around the globe. Ms Feltham-King’s presentation, entitled ‘The significance of gender in the abortion debate as represented in the South African newsprint media from 1978 to 2005’, drew off research conducted within the ambit of the Critical Studies in Sexualities and Reproduction research programme in which Rhodes was awarded a SARCHI chair earlier this year.

Prof Michael Guilfoyle's paper, "From Therapeutic Power to Resistance? Therapy and Cultural Hegemony", has been recognised by Ian Parker, and included in a four volume work entitled "Critical Psychology". This collection, which includes the work of such authors as Michel Foucault, Rom Harre, Michael White, and Judith Butler,

Dr Charles Young has won a scholarship to attend a three-day workshop in cognitive psychotherapy for faculty and students at the Beck Institute in Philadelphia. The Beck Institute for Cognitive Behaviour Therapy, a non-profit organisation, is an international Cognitive Behaviour Therapy (CBT) training and resource centre.

Tracey Feltham-King, a PhD student in the Psychology Department, is one of two finalists for the XXX International Congress of Psychology (ICP) 2012 PsySSA/Discovery Award student presentations. The ICP, which will run from 22 to 27 July in Cape Town, will bring together over 5 000 psychologists and psychology students from around the globe.

Prof Macleod, who has been on the editorial board of the international journal Feminism & Psychology since 2010, has now been appointed Associate Editor of the journal. Feminism & Psychology is one of a handful of journals that provide a forum for debate at the interface between feminism and psychology.

Megan Campbell, a Psychology PhD candidate, has been awarded a SAVUSA study visit scholarship to go to the Netherlands for 3 months. The SAVUSA (South Africa- VU University Amsterdam-Strategic Alliances) aims to contribute to the academic climate and the transfer of knowledge between both countries. SAVUSA offers South African PhD’s and Master’s students the opportunity to broaden their skills by carrying out a part of their studies in the Netherlands and develops academic programmes with a strong societal component around relevant themes.

The Department of Psychology held its Postgraduate Conference last week, with Professor Garth Stevens, giving the keynote lecture entitled "Re-imaging our research vistas in the continuing pursuit of a socially relevant psychological praxis: Uncovering the spectacularly ‘ordinary’ in the Apartheid Archive Project". Prof Stevens is an Associate Professor/Clinical Psychologist at University of the Witwatersrand.

On 12 October, the Professor Joop de Jong (MD, PhD) delivered a public lecture on Public mental health - the state of the art of dealing with distress. Prof de Jong is a psychiatrist, psychotherapist and epidemiologist with active interests in public mental health systems, various models of trauma and post-traumatic reconstruction of communities.

The Deputy Minister of Higher Education and Training, Professor Hlengiwe Buhle Mkhize, was awarded the Rhodes University Psychology Department’s Social Change Award on Tuesday night (20 September).

The American-based Association for Women in Psychology has awarded Professor Catriona Macleod the 2011 Distinguished Publication Award (DPA) for her book, 'Adolesence', pregnancy and abortion: Constructing a threat of degeneration. Prof Macleod, Psychology Professor at Rhodes, humbly admitted that she did not know that her book, which is published by Routledge, was nominated and only learnt after the award that a member of the DPA committee nominated it.

The Rhodes Psychology Department and the Grahamstown Narrative Therapy Network co-hosted a Narrative Therapy conference where participants experienced both cognitive and emotional shifts with positive implications for practice through the rich variety of input. The conference was well-attended with international presenters from as far afield as New Zealand, the United States and Ireland as well as local presenters from Durban, East London and Grahamstown.

Neuropsychologists Professor Ann Shuttleworth-Edwards and her former doctoral student Dr Victoria Whitefield-Alexander steer a national clinical and research programme on the use of computerized neurocognitive screening using the ImPACT programme to facilitate the medical management of sports concussion. Against this background they were invited to present a paper at an international conference on diving medicine that was held at the Cape Town International Convention Centre in March last year on the potential for the use of similar screening for divers.

Earlier this month the psychology department awarded Professor Cheryl de la Rey the Social Change award. This event was instituted in 2008, and the idea was to identify psychologists who had made and are making important contributions to social change in South Africa.

Natalie Donaldson, junior lecturer in the Psychology Department of Rhodes University, has been the only South African accepted to attend the second International Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender (LGBT) Psychology Summer Institute at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor in the United States.

Megan Campbell, a counselling psychologist and PhD student registered in the Psychology Department, recently had a research article accepted for publication in the US journal, International Journal of Play Therapy.

The journal Feminism & Psychology has established itself as the leading international forum for cutting-edge feminist research and debate in - and beyond - psychology.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) and the South African Department of Health (DoH) commissioned Prof Catriona Macleod, Head of Department of Psychology at Rhodes University, and a team of researchers to produce two significant official documents that will be used in the DoH’s comprehensive preventive and promotion efforts with regard to reproductive health among young women.

The Department of Psychology is delighted at the number of applications Rhodes received for the Masters degree in Counselling and Clnical Psychology for 2011.

Marc Kahn visited the department today to run a three-hour seminar for the honours students. The topic of his seminar was "Organisation Development: Working with leadership and culture at Investec Bank."

Earlier this week Professor Pumla Gobodo-Madikizela, an acclaimed academic and author, discussed her paper entitled: “In search of Human Solidarity: Transcending the Boundaries of the Self and the Meaning of Moral Imagination” at a psychology department lecture.

The department of psychology is hosting a series of seminars in which psychology staff will present their current research.

On the 13th and 14th September the Department contributed to the University wide Community Engagement Launch by taking part in the visual displays at Eden Grove that depicted the Department’s engagement with the community through a variety of projects.

In February Professor David Edwards was honoured at a congress on “The changing faces of psychotherapy” in Stellenbosch.

The department takes great pleasure in congratulating Clifford van Ommen who was awarded his doctorate from Unisa recently. Entitled “‘My brain will be your occult convolutions’: Toward a critical theory of the biological body”, the project forms part of a growing engagement with biology by critical psychology and, more broadly, body studies.

Professor Ann Edwards was recently invited to become a member of the editorial board of Archives of Clinical Neuropsychology, the official journal of the Academy of Neuropsychology.

Judy McKenzie, a PhD candidate in the Psychology Department at Rhodes University is ‘honoured and excited’ to have been awarded the UNESCO/Emir Jaber al-Ahmad al-Jaber al-Sabah Prize to Promote Quality Education for Persons with Intellectual Disabilities.

The department takes great pleasure in congratulating Clifford van Ommen who was awarded his doctorate from Unisa recently. Entitled “‘My brain will be your occult convolutions’: Toward a critical theory of the biological body”, the project forms part of a growing engagement with biology by critical psychology and, more broadly, body studies.

On Wednesday 28 October at the Rhodes University Eden Grove Red lecture theatre, Dr Yogan Pillay gave a talk titled “every little bit helps- social change and psychology”. Dr Pillay is the Deputy Director General of Strategic Health Programmes at the Department of Health.

Three staff members and three students represented the Department of Psychology at this year’s Psychological Society of South Africa’s Conference in Durban.

At the recent South African Society for Aerospace Medicine (SASAEM) Conference (9-12 September, 2010) a symposium and specialist panel discussion was convened on ‘Psychological Assessment of Aircrew’. Professor Ann Edwards (in the Department of Psychology at Rhodes) and Dr Whitefield-Alexander (one of her former research students) were invited to present at the conference and to form part of the panel.

Conscious and Unconscious was published in 2003 by Open University Press (now a Division of McGraw Hill) in the series Core concepts in Therapy.

On 29 July 2009 Professor Catriona Macleod delivered her inaugural lecture Constructing a threat of degeneration: "teenage pregnancy" in academic and popular rhetoric.

The Phelophepa Psycholoy Clinic on board the Transnet Phelophepa Health Care Train aims to assist individuals from some of the most deprived communities in SA by firstly offering solution focused individual counselling.

Professor Kevin Durrheim a visiting Professor of Psychology from University of Kwazulu Natal delivered a public lecture on "Racial Identity & Racism in South Africa Today"

On Sunday 10th October, 6 members of the Psychology Department participated in the Green Fund Run showing our commitment to environmental awareness and a ‘greener’ university.

The Department of Psychology held its Postgraduate Conference last week, with Lou-Marie Kruger, Associate Professor in the Department of Psychology at Stellenbosch University, giving the keynote lecture entitled “Keep the lights off.

On Wednesday evening, Gary Steele hosted the first sports psychology lecture evening on behalf of the Psychology Department.

The latest issue ofAdvances in Cognitive Therapy contains an article by Professor David Edwards and Dr. Charles Young of the Department of Psychology in collaboration with two colleagues who are clinical psychologists in Cape Town.

BUMPER YEAR FOR PSYCHOLOGY POSTGRADUATE GRADUATION

Where do I stand? is a powerful new documentary that is already being used in university classrooms across South Africa and the U.S.. Called "brilliant" and "compelling," Where Do I Stand? captures the experiences and perspectives of seven young people during the xenophobic attacks that broke out in South Africa in 2008. These attacks caught many South Africans off guard, as they were shocked by violence that felt like a violation of the principles of their newly democratic rainbow nation. The film uses the attacks as a window into the young people’s lives, as they think deeply about their actions during and after this violence and carve out their place in this complex and divided country

On 5 May 2011 Natalie Donaldson, wrote an opinion editorial in the Daily Dispatch looking at the high rate of gay teen suicide in the USA and relating this to the South African context for LGBTI Pride Week. Ms Donaldson is a Junior Lecturer in the Psychology Department; and a researcher in lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and intersex (LGBTI) Psychology; and an activist in LGBTI rights.

Earlier this week Professor Hubert Hermans, one of the main theorists in narrative psychology and in narrative psychotherapy, visited the Psychology Department. Professor Hermans presented a talk on the “Dialogical Self”. During his career he has developed several influential methods and theories. One of them is the Self Confrontation Method (SCM) that has led to the establishment of the Association for SCM practitioners that has around 300 members in 2010.

Professor Joop de Jong, a visiting Professor of Cultural and International Psychiatry from the VU University Medical Center, Amsterdam delivered a public lecture on 2 April 2009.

The Psychology Department hosted a public lecture by Professor Roger Brooke a Professor of Psychology at the Duquesne University, Pittsburgh, USA on 27 March 2009.

As part of the Rhodes University SRC Community Engagement Awareness Week, the Psychology Department made use of the opportunity to showcase our community involvement at the display space in the library quad provided by the SRC on Wednesday 18 March 2009.

Monitor on Psychology, an American Psychological Association’s magazine that provides editorial on the science and practice of Psychology, is billed as a “must read” magazine for psychology educators, scientists, and practitioners. Recently, an article written by Frank Dattilio from Harvard University, Dave Edwards from Rhodes University, and Daniel Fishman from Rutgers University was featured in the magazine (June 2011, Vol 42, No. 6). Rebecca Clay, the author of the piece had

There is life after mental illness; there is also life during mental illness. That is what we want to say with the paintings and drawings from the Mark Hipper-Tower Hospital Art Group that are exhibited at Eden Grove during the Festival. These works demonstrate the patients’/artists’ capacity for creativity and self expression. However, they also demonstrate their capacity for discipline and focus. The art works testify to the capacities that remain intact or are in the process of recovery despite the imposition of mental illness. When making an art work, one has to make serious

Three members from the Psychology Department, Dr Anita Unni, Dr Tracy Morison, and Ms Megan Campbell have been accepted as Emerging Psychologist for the 30th International Congress of Psychology (ICP 2012). The Emerging Psychologist Programme (EPP) is part of ICP’s strategy to develop and consolidate emerging scientists in the psychology discipline. ICP believes that this programme will form a platform to stimulate growth in various fields of these emerging scientists.

Prof Macleod was appointed as advisor to the council of ASSAf this year. The Academy of Science of South Africa (ASSAf) was launched in 1996 with 100 founder members, with then-President Nelson Mandela as patron. In 2001 the ASSAf Statute (Act 67 of 2001) was passed, making it the official science academy of South Africa. ASSAf has established the following vision: ASSAf aspires to be the apex organisation for science and scholarship in South Africa, internationally respecte