31ST INTERNATIONAL CONGRESS
OF APPLIED PSYCHOLOGY
Florence, 21st-25th July, 2026
WELCOME TO ICAP 2026!
Join us as we convene leading experts from across the globe to share their cutting-edge research and insights in applied psychology.
At ICAP 2026, we will cover the latest breakthroughs in applied psychology and explore their capacity to drive positive change on both personal and societal levels.
Experience an enriching and inspiring conference in one of the most beautiful cities in the world!
The Conference Organizing Committee
LORI FOSTER
IAAP President
Dear Friends and Colleagues,
It is my pleasure to invite you to Florence Italy for the 31st International Congress of Applied Psychology (ICAP). Our congress will take place from 21-25 July, 2026. It promises to offer new and exciting opportunities to learn, exchange ideas, reconnect with colleagues, meet new people from around the globe, and work together to advance the science and practice of applied psychology.
ICAP is the flagship congress of the International Association of Applied Psychology (IAAP), an association born more than 100 years ago. As our world becomes increasingly connected and complex, the need for international psychology grows. IAAP serves as a professional home for applied psychologists wishing to expand their international knowledge base and network. IAAP’s mission is to promote the science and practice of applied psychology and to facilitate interaction and communication among applied psychologists around the world. ICAP plays a key role in this mission. What makes ICAP 2026 so special? Three things....
1. Cutting edge content. ICAP 2026 will offer content to suit a range of interests. It will include keynote addresses from leading psychologists around the globe and cutting-edge research that contributes to our scientific understanding of humanity. There has never been a more pressing need for applied psychology in our world. Locally and globally, sustainable development requires a clear understanding of human behaviour, attitudes, and decision making. Simply put, the capacity to sustainably nurture and develop People, Planet, Prosperity, Peace, and Partnerships worldwide requires a sixth “P” – that is, Psychology. The learnings that emerge from ICAP 2026 have the capacity to change the world in which we live, in ways large and small.
2. Florence. Where better than Florence, Italy to convene? Florence offers some of the world’s best scenery, weather, food, and hospitality, not to mention a rich history that makes Florence quite unlike anywhere else in the world. Our team in Italy has a wealth of experience organizing congresses and is attending to each and every detail to ensure a meaningful experience for all who attend ICAP. Those of you who have been to Florence before are undoubtedly keen to return. Those of you who are new to Florence are in for a treat.
3. You. As applied psychologist Benjamin Schneider famously stated, “The people make the place.” ICAP is a place where applied psychologists, young and old, come from around the world to learn from each other in a collegial environment. Newcomers are welcome. So are seasoned attendees, and everyone in between. ICAP is a place to exchange ideas, share perspectives, offer feedback, and stimulate collaboration. At the end of it all, attendees cannot help but find themselves traveling back home with new perspectives and inspiration. All of this happens because of you. Everyone in attendance has something valuable to contribute, whether they are there to present, attend, or both.
On behalf of IAAP, I look forward to welcoming you to Florence and sharing an unforgettable ICAP experience together.
SERGIO SALVATORE
AIP President
Dear colleagues,
We are thrilled to welcome the IAAP international psychology community to Florence next year. We are working hardly to craft an unforgettable experience for each of you. Our goal is to make the Florence ICAP26 Congress a landmark scientific event, offering an exceptional platform to share our work with colleagues from around the globe, exchange ideas, findings, and projects, and foster collaborations in a warm, inclusive, pluralistic, and intellectually vibrant environment. Together, we aspire to generate innovative perspectives and actionable plans on how psychology can address the profound challenges facing individuals, institutions, and societies in today’s world.
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Florence is the cradle of the Italian Renaissance: a pivotal moment in history when human knowledge and capabilities were celebrated and placed at the forefront of cultural and intellectual advancement. The intellectual exploration, the study of nature, the pursuit of beauty, and the shaping of spaces were harmoniously unified into a forward-looking endeavor inspired by a deep sense of unity and pride in belonging to a shared humanity.
We envision Florence ICAP26 as a meeting point where scientific, cultural, relational, and aesthetic dimensions converge, enabling us to rekindle that same sense of unity and pride that could inspire hope, foster innovation, and build the vision necessary to navigate the challenging times we face.
We look forward to seeing you in Florence!
GIUSEPPE SCARATTI
ICAP26 President
The IAAP represents a historic and consolidated international reality that brings together people, experiences, practices and innovative projects in the varied psychological area within multiple contexts and territories. Its 18 divisions are an emblematic expression of the plurality of themes and fields in which applied psychology finds its multiple declinations: from work to the environment, from individual to collective problems, from health to education, from politics to society, up to the questions raised by the great challenge of global sustainability....
In this direction, the ICAP congress in Florence, dedicated to new directions in Applied Psychology, represents a unique and significant opportunity to relaunch the contribution that psychologists can oer in a historical, geo-political, economic, socio-cultural scenario crossed by deep and dramatic tensions that will accompany us in the coming years. Hence the need to address the SDGs and the ONU agenda as a pivotal pillar to orient the configuration of the congress and to analyze the epistemological, methodological, ethical and professional implications that characterize Applied Psychology. The ICAP congress will represent the opportunity to deal with emerging fields, exploring new, innovative territories in applied psychological research, seeking for transdisciplinary approaches able to enhance collaboration across psychological disciplines facing complex global challenges. At stake is the not illusory perspective to generate social impact, highlighting the role of applied psychology in its multiple articulation to improve personal, relational, societal and global well-being and promote sustainable development.
So why should we be at ICAP 2026 in Florence?
Because as applied psychologists we are asked to face the syndemic era we are crossing through the exercise of our transformative stance, showing the value applied psychology can generate at individual, relational and collective level.
We’ll be there because we think, perceive and feel to be responsible of the beauty of the world, as Margaret Yourcenar wrote in her famous ‘Adriano’s memories’ novel, facing the new societal demands. As the first congress of IAAP in presence after the pandemic period of COVID, we’ll experience in Florence, home to nothing but wonder, the beauty to share our scientific, professional and practical contribution to the incoming world scenario.
OPENING KEYNOTES
PROFESSOR CASS R. SUNSTEIN, Ph.D
Robert Walmsley University Professor at Harvard Law School, University of Harvard, Cambridge, MA, United States
Founder and Director of the Program on Behavioral Economics and Public Policy at Harvard Law School
Former Adviser to Presidents Barack Obama and Joe Biden
Winner of Norway’s Holberg Prize, the Norwegian equivalent of the Nobel Prize in Law and Humanities
Nudge, co-written with Richard H. Thaler, is a cornerstone handbook in behavioral economics
PROFESSOR SIR CARY COOPER, CBE Ph.D
KBE (Knight Commander of the Excellent Order of the British Empire)
50th Anniversary Professor of Organizational Psychology & Health,
Alliance Manchester Business School, University of Manchester, UK
Immediate Past President of the CIPD (Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development),
President of the Institute of Welfare,
Chair of the National Forum for Health & Wellbeing at Work
PROFESSOR KAZUHIKO TAKEUCHI, Ph.D
(video message on Sustainability Science and Welcome Greetings)
Project Professor, Institute for Future Initiatives, University of Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan
President, Institute for Global Environmental Strategies (IGES)
Visiting Professor, United Nations University (UNU-IAS)
Past Director and Professor, Integrated Research System for Sustainability Science (IR3S) at the University of Tokyo
Past Senior Vice-Rector at United Nations University and Assistant Secretary-General at the United Nations
Editor-in-Chief, Sustainability Science
CLOSING KEYNOTES
PROFESSOR DAVID BLUSTEIN, Ph.D
Golden Eagle Faculty Fellow, Team leader
Work Intervention Network Boston College, Boston, USA
Department of Counseling, Developmental, and Educational Psychology
APA Award for Distinguished Contributions to Research in Public Policy-2025
PROFESSOR FANNY M. CHEUNG, Ph.D
Emeritus Professor of Psychology
Hon. Senior Advisor, Hong Kong Institute of Asia Pacific Studies
Former Vice-President for Research and Choh-ming Li Professor of Psychology
The Chinese University of Hong Kong
Asian Association of Social Psychology Lifetime Achievement Award (Kuo-Shu Yang Medal) 2023
IAAP Award for Distinguished Scientific Contributions to International Advancement of Applied Psychology 2014
American Psychological Association Award for Distinguished Contributions to the International Advancement of Psychology 2012
PROFESSOR MARC A. ROSEN, Ph.D
Past President, Engineering Institute of Canada, Canada
Professor (and Founding Dean from 2002-08)
Faculty of Engineering and Applied Science
Ontario Tech University, Oshawa, Ontario
Editor-in-Chief, Sustainability
Editor-in-Chief, Biofuels