Symposium on Agency and Systems in Developmental and Educational Psychology
On February 19th, DCU Educational Disadvantage Centre & School of Human Development hosted a Symposium on Agency and Systems in Developmental and Educational Psychology, in the Ann Louise Gilligan Lecture Theatre, DCU Institute of Education, in conjunction with the Centre for the Developing Person & School of Psychology, Trinity College Dublin.
Professor Erica Burman gave the first keynote presentation, Reconceptualising Agency and Systems in Developmental Psychology Using Child as method. Professor Burman is Professor of Education at the University of Manchester, Associate Fellow of the British Psychological Society, and a United Kingdom Council of Psychotherapists registered Group Analyst. A past Chair of the Psychology of Women (now Psychology of Women and Equalities) Section of the British Psychological Society, in 2016 she was awarded an Honorary Lifetime Fellowship of the British Psychological Society in recognition of her contribution to Psychology, and in 2024 the Psychology of Women and Equalities Marcia Worrell Mentoring Award.
Professor Jonathan Tudge, gave the second keynote presentation, Agency and Systems in Developmental Psychology (With a Little Help from Bioecological Theory).
Professor Tudge is Emeritus Professor of Human Development and Family Studies, University of North Carolina at Greensboro, USA. He is a leading global expert on the works of Urie Bronfenbrenner’s bioecological systems theory.
The keynote presentations were responding to two books on Agency and Systems in Developmental Psychology:
-Reconstructing agency in developmental and educational psychology: Inclusive Systems as Concentric Space. (Routledge 2020), by Professor Paul Downes, Professor of Psychology of Education, DCU Institute of Education https://www.routledge.com/Reconstructing-Agency-in-Developmental-and-Educational-Psychology-Inclusive-Systems-as-Concentric-Space/Downes/p/book/9781032089751
and
- Children as agents in their worlds: A psychological–relational perspective. Routledge (2020) by Professor Sheila Greene and Dr. Elizabeth Nixon, TCD Department of Psychology https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315625911
The panellists in response to the each keynote presentation were Professor Sheila Greene, Professor Paul Downes and Dr. Elizabeth Nixon.
Dr. Marie Flynn, Associate Professor of Sociology of Education, Head of the School of Human Development, DCU Institute of Education, chaired the panel and audience discussions.
Video of Professor Burman’s keynote and panel response discussion: https://youtu.be/6Po-P6KlL7E
Video of Professor Tudge’s keynote and panel response discussion, plus wider audience discussion: https://youtu.be/UQCa4WTAvUk
See here for speaker biographies
After the Symposium, the Irish translation of Professor Ian Parker’s book, Psychoanalysis and Revolution, was launched by Dr. Nigel Mulligan, Lecturer in Psychotherapy, School of Nursing, Psychotherapy and Community Health, DCU. Professor Parker is Emeritus Professor, University of Leicester.
