Content Moderation and Its Discontents
2023-06-23 09:00 - 18:00 (Europe/London) | St. Mary’s University, Twickenham, Waldegrave Road, London, TW1 4SX, United Kingdom
Programme and registration: https://www.stmarys.ac.uk/events/2023/06/content-moderation-conference

Counselling and Psychotherapy in Times of Political Violence
2023-06-30 10:00 - 17:00 | 1.264 Usha Kasera Lecture Theatre, Old College South Bridge Edinburgh EH8 9YL, 1.264 Usha Kasera Lecture Theatre, Old College South Bridge Edinburgh, Edinburgh, Edinburgh, EH8 9YL, United Kingdom
Registration: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/counselling-and-psychotherapy-in-times-of-political-violence-tickets-648236010357?aff=oddtdtcreator
“Counselling and Psychotherapy in Times of Political Violence” is a transdisciplinary symposium addressing poverty, forced displacement, racism, and misogyny as key forms of political violence which we see on the rise globally. Grounded in the psychosocial perspective that our inner world and the sociopolitical environments are intertwined, the symposium explores the potential of counselling and psychotherapy in understanding and working with the impacts of political violence in therapeutic and training settings. The symposium brings together researchers from various fields such as culture and media studies, psychoanalytic and psychosocial studies, post-colonial studies, and feminist studies. It promotes a collaborative, reflexive approach to generate a collective inquiry on the impacts of political violence within therapeutic and training settings and how we may bridge the gap between theory and practice, psyche and social, by exploring the political dimensions of counselling and psychotherapy.
The symposium will be held at the University of Edinburgh’s Old College. The symposium is convened by Dr Nini Fang and Rhea Gandhi in collaboration with several PhD and ProfDoc students based at Edinburgh, Mingxi Li, Kartika Ladwal, and Sarah Nghidinwa. It is organised jointly by the Centre for Creative-Relational Inquiry and the Association for Psychosocial Studies and is supported by alumni and friends of the University of Edinburgh through the Student Experience Grants scheme and the Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Grant.
The symposium is free to attend and open to all, bringing together counselling and psychotherapy communities both within and outwith Edinburgh. Lunch (meat, vegetarian, and vegan options) and light refreshments will be provided on the day. We would kindly invite that participants with specific food allergy and intolerance to prepare your own food.
Conference convenors:
Dr Nini Fang, University of Edinburgh nfang@ec.uk
Rhea Gandhi, University of Edinburgh rhea.gandhi@ed.ac.uk

SYMPOSIUM SCHEDULE – 30TH JUNE , FRIDAY
10.00 – 10.20 Registration
10.20 – 10.40 Symposium Opening: “Counselling and Psychotherapy in Times of Political Violence” by Dr Nini Fang, Lecturer and Convenor of the Symposium [University of Edinburgh]
10.40 – 11.40 Session i:“Poverty as Political Violence” by Dr Lucy Stroud [University of Aberdeen]
Chaired by Mingxi Li, Prof-Doc Researcher [University of Edinburgh]
11.40 – 12.00 Coffee/Tea Break
12.00 – 1.00 Session ii:“Forced Displacement as Political Violence” by Shireen Dossa, PhD Researcher [University of Essex]
“Coloniality and racism as political violence”by Rhea Gandhi, PhD Researcher and Co-convenor of the Symposium [University of Edinburgh]
Chaired by Kartika Ladwal, Prof-Doc Researcher [University of Edinburgh]

1-2.30: Lunch @ Playfrair Library, Old College

2.30 – 3.30 Session iii:“Misogyny as Political Violence” by Lasse Schaefer, PhD Researcher [University of Edinburgh]
“Transphobic ideologies as Political Violence” by Jaz Halow, Prof-Doc Researcher [University of Edinburgh]
Chaired by Sarah Nghidinwa, Prof-Doc Researcher [University of Edinburgh]

3.30 – 3.50 Break

3.50 – 4.50 Final Plenary: “Counselling and Psychotherapy in Times of Political ViolenceG.159 MacLaren Stuart Room, Old College
4.50 – 5.00 Closing and Event Evaluation

APS Conference 2026
2026-06-12 08:00 - 2026-06-13 17:00 | St. Mary’s University, Twickenham, Waldegrave Road, London, TW1 4SX, United Kingdom
