Before It Was a Reference: The ICAP Congress Story

01A Living Institution

The International Congress of Applied Psychology (ICAP) is the flagship gathering of the International Association of Applied Psychology (IAAP), the world's oldest international psychology organization. The congress convenes every four years, rotating cities and continents to reflect the discipline's genuinely global reach. The 29th congress was held in Montreal, Canada, from 26–30 June 2018, organized jointly by the IAAP and the Canadian Psychological Association (CPA), at the Palais des congrès. The theme — Psychology: Connecting Science to Solutions — captured the congress's enduring ambition: closing the gap between research findings and real-world application. The previous congress had taken place in Paris in 2014.

Montreal drew more than 4,000 delegates, with programming spread across 30-plus thematic streams and 20-plus professional development workshops. Invited State of the Art Lectures offered field-level syntheses from leading researchers. Pre-congress workshops ran across 24–25 June; Advanced Research Training Seminars — jointly organized by the IAAP and the International Union of Psychological Science — provided dedicated training for doctoral students and researchers from lower-income countries. Symposia, discussion forums, poster sessions and a condensed "Gimme-5" spoken format kept the programme accessible to participants at every career stage.

The registration structure was tiered by national gross national income per capita, making attendance viable for delegates from a wide range of economies. The Palais des congrès setting, combined with Montreal's concurrent Jazz Festival, gave the congress an atmosphere that extended well beyond the lecture hall.

02Two congresses, one domain

1. 201428th ICAP held in Paris, France
2. 201829th ICAP held in Montreal, Canada

03The congress archive

International Congress of Applied Psychology (ICAP), held by the IAAP roughly every four years. Recent editions.

04People & places