We cordially invite you to Thessaloniki, Greece, for the 15th International Conference on Motivation (ICM), which will be held in August 24-27, 2016. The Conference is jointly organized by the School of Psychology, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki and the EARLI SIG 8: Motivation and Emotion.
Thirty years have already passed since the first WATM conference in Nijmegen, The Netherlands (1985), where a relatively small number of European researchers working on motivation inaugurated the idea of biennial scientific meetings in an attempt to promote closer collaboration, exchanging ideas, communicating different perspectives, and bridging theory, research and practice. The great success of this initiative led to the International Conferences on Motivation (Thessaloniki, 1998) which brought together researchers from all over the world and facilitated the interaction within the international scientific community in the field of motivation, emotion and self-regulation.
“The odyssey to the Ithaca of learning: Motivated persons, challenging contexts” as the theme of the ICM 2016 wishes to point out the dynamic interaction between the person and the context in explaining the psychological processes or, in other words, ‘the journey’ towards goal attainment and learning. Independently of age, people pursue goals in all spheres of life (see ICM 2012, Frankfurt) such as education, work, social relationships, sports, personal development. The contexts within goals are pursued are challenging calling for new directions in mind (see ICM 2010, Porto), passion to learn (see ICM 2014, Helsinki), persistence to overcome difficulties and all personal qualities having motivational power. Αt the same time the person has to regulate knowledge, skills, behaviors, self-beliefs and emotions, taking into account the contextual demands and affordances. The interaction of all these factors in explaining motivation is central in ICM 2016.
The summer schools for young researchers preceding ICM have already a successful history that established in Landau (2006) and continued in Turku (2008), Porto (2010), Frankfurt (2012), and Helsinki (2014). Until now more than 100 young researchers have experienced great benefits in their pursuit to motivation, emotion, and self-regulation research and theory. Following this tradition, we promise three exciting days in the 6th Summer School to all interested young scholars. The Summer School will take place in Epanomi, a beautiful suburb of Thessaloniki, next to the beach from 21 to 23 of August, 2016.
The Organizing Committee strives to organize a successful conference. We work towards an interesting and stimulating scientific program consisting of internationally renowned keynote speakers, symposia, paper sessions, poster sessions, workshops, panel discussions, pre-conference professional development courses, book exhibitions, etc. A complementary enjoyable social program including the opening ceremony, the conference dinner, sightseeing walks in the city and daily excursions to neighboring archaeological sites will provide opportunities for networking, history, relaxation and fun.
We invite all of you to submit your work and join us in this wonderful journey of the ICM 2016. ICM 2016 will give us the opportunity to discuss about current issues in the fields of motivation, emotion and self-regulation, to inspire and get inspired by innovative ideas in theory and research, and to provide ideas and suggestions to decision makers in related disciplines in order to maximize the potential influence of motivational research to educational practice.
Looking forward to meeting you all in Thessaloniki in August 2016!
On behalf of the Local Organizing Committee,
Eleftheria N. Gonida, Chair
