Ingo Zettler, Ph.D., is a Professor in Personality and Social Behavior at both the Department of Psychology and the Copenhagen Center for Social Data Science (SODAS), University of Copenhagen. His research interests are across behavioral economics, educational psychology, personality psychology, and work and organizational psychology. He is particularly interested in research on aversive and prosocial behavior, linking personality characteristics to various criteria, and the interplay between personality and situation in shaping behavior. Zettler studied psychology at the University of Bonn, Germany, and received his diploma in psychology in 2006. He worked at RWTH Aachen University, Germany, where he received his Ph.D. in 2009, as well as the University of Tübingen, Germany (until 2014).
https://research.ku.dk/search/result/?pure=en%2Fpersons%2F473161
ORCID
Anna Kende is a professor of Social Psychology at ELTE Eötvös Loránd University, Budapest. Her research focuses on the broad topic of intergroup relations, more specifically, she investigates the psychological underpinnings of social change both in the area of prejudice reduction and engagement in social movements, volunteerism and intergroup solidarity. She has conducted a number of research projects concerning anti-Gypsyism, anti-Semitism, gender relations, and attitudes toward refugees and immigrants, mainly focusing on the region of East-Central Europe. Her work covers both basic and applied research, which she has published in leading international journals. She has fulfilled leadership positions in international academic organizations and received the Nevitt Sanford award Nevitt Sanford Award for Outstanding Professional Contributions to Political Psychology in 2023 from the International Society of Political Psychology.
Veljko Jovanović (born 1984) is a Full Professor at the Department of Psychology, Faculty of Philosophy, University of Novi Sad. His research primarily focuses on the assessment and determinants—both individual and societal—of subjective well-being, with a particular emphasis on a cross-cultural perspective. In his teaching, he encourages students to critically examine the foundational assumptions of mainstream psychology and strives to foster an understanding of psychology as a scientific discipline and professional practice that is inseparable from its historical, political, and cultural contexts.
https://www.ff.uns.ac.rs/sr/fakultet/odseci/psihologija/zaposleni/veljko-jovanovic
Children’s rights provide a fundamental framework for understanding child development, well-being, and social position, as well as for guiding professional decision-making when working with children. From this perspective, professional roles are not neutral with regard to children’s rights; rather, they are directed toward their realization, protection, and advancement. This workshop is designed for psychology students, students of other social sciences and humanities disciplines, and professionals who work—or intend to work—with children. Its goal is to deepen participants’ understanding of children’s rights and their application in everyday practice, while encouraging critical reflection on common assumptions regarding rights, obligations, and responsibilities. Particular attention will be given to understanding that children’s rights do not constitute a set of isolated norms, but an interconnected system that requires thoughtful consideration, reflection, and responsible professional action. The workshop promotes the understanding that the protection and realization of children’s rights are neither the sole responsibility of individuals nor of families alone, but a shared responsibility of all systems involved in children’s lives.
Through experiential exercises, group work, case analyses, and the application of participation frameworks, participants will explore how the fundamental principles of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child are implemented in everyday practice. Questions explored during the workshop include: How can children’s right to participation be balanced with adults’ responsibility to ensure their protection? How should the best interests of the child be assessed in complex circumstances? How can professionals respond to diverse developmental needs without discrimination? And how can conditions that support children’s lives, development, and well-being be created? Special attention will be paid to situations in which different rights, needs, and interests come into conflict, as well as to approaches to professional decision-making that help ensure all four guiding principles of children’s rights remain simultaneously respected and protected.
Drawing on Bronfenbrenner’s ecological model of development, participants will examine how families, peers, educational, health and social welfare systems, local communities, media, and the broader social environment influence the realization of children’s rights from the earliest stages of development. Through mapping relationships, power dynamics, and responsibilities among different actors, participants will explore how children’s rights are enabled or constrained in everyday practice, as well as the responsibilities of individuals, institutions, and governments in creating conditions that support the full development of every child.
When professionals ground their work in scientific knowledge, professional ethics, reflection, and the continuous examination of their own assumptions, they not only fulfill their professional role but also actively contribute to creating conditions in which every child can exercise their rights, develop their potential, and participate fully in community life. In this sense, the realization of children’s rights is not an addition to professional practice—it is one of its fundamental goals and a key indicator of its quality.
Svetlana Nešić Bajgo is a psychologist and psychodrama counselor with more than 20
years of professional experience in the field of human rights protection, focusing primarily
on children’s rights, gender equality, and the rights of persons with disabilities.
She began her engagement in human rights advocacy as a student through active involvement in
the Psychology Students’ Club “Transfer” and the Novi Sad Association of Students with
Disabilities. In 2002, together with a group of colleagues, she launched an initiative to
introduce sign language education at the University of Novi Sad and coordinated the Sign
Language School. Five years later, she participated in the establishment of Iz Kruga –
Vojvodina, an organization that continues to provide support to women with disabilities who
have experienced violence. She gained the majority of her professional experience at the
Institution of the Provincial Protector of Citizens (Ombudsperson), where she spent 18 years
working on expert and analytical activities related to children’s rights and gender
equality. Her work included handling citizens’ complaints, initiating investigations,
conducting human rights research, and collaborating with international organizations, public
institutions, and civil society organizations. Since 2006, she has actively contributed to
the Network of Institutions “Life Without Violence,” and since 2020 she has served as the
Ombudsperson’s representative on the Program Committee of the Mental Health Festival. She
also participated in the design, coordination, and operation of the first Children’s Council
of the Provincial Ombudsperson.
Svetlana is the author of numerous publications, educational resources, programs, and
training materials focused on children’s rights. She has facilitated a wide range of
workshops and seminars for children and professionals working in education, social welfare,
healthcare, law enforcement, and the judiciary. Her areas of expertise include children’s
rights, gender equality, gender-based violence, discrimination, and the rights of persons
with disabilities.
In October 2025, she co-founded the Vojvodina Center for Children’s Rights, an organization
dedicated to the protection, advocacy, and promotion of children’s rights, inclusion, and
approaches that enable the meaningful and active participation of children in society. Human
rights and children’s rights are both her professional commitment and personal values, and
she believes that the maturity of a society is reflected in the way it treats its children.
Tamara Tomašević is a psychologist and senior trainer with 26 years of experience in
human rights, children’s rights, nonviolent communication, and anti-discrimination through
non-formal education, as well as more than 11 years of experience in the fields of ethics,
integrity, and accountability. Since 2003, she has worked directly with children and young
people through the design and implementation of non-formal education programs aimed at
promoting and protecting human rights and children’s rights across Serbia and the wider
region. She has also trained civil society professionals and employees of educational and
social welfare institutions, with a particular focus on understanding and applying
children’s rights in practice.
She is the founder and long-time coordinator of several youth programs and youth clubs that
encourage participation, peer education, and the active engagement of young people in social
processes. In her work, Tamara combines psychology, non-formal education methodologies, and
the arts, using artistic expression and artivism as tools for social change, intercultural
dialogue, and youth empowerment. She places particular emphasis on working with children and
young people who face an increased risk of discrimination and unequal opportunities. Her
areas of focus include inclusion, violence prevention, cultural sensitivity, and nonviolent
communication.
As a trainer and expert, she has designed and delivered numerous capacity-building programs
for professionals working in education, social welfare, law enforcement, the judiciary, and
civil society, focusing on protecting children from all forms of violence, discrimination,
and exploitation. Since 2018, she has coordinated the activities of the Children’s
Information and Cultural Center – DX Club, in partnership with the Child Rights Centre.
Through this initiative, children and young people actively participate in the promotion and
protection of their rights by contributing to public policies, reports, and educational
resources at both national and international levels, as well as by developing educational
platforms tailored to children and youth and engaging in peer education activities.
Reproductive health is not merely a medical issue, but a complex phenomenon that should be understood through the perspectives of biology, psychology, and society. It encompasses some of the most significant life experiences of individuals, couples, and families. The symposium Silence Is Not Golden creates a space for discussing topics that are still too often overlooked—from pregnancy, the postpartum period, and childbirth experiences to the challenges of in vitro fertilization and the role of psychological support in infertility treatment. By bringing together contemporary knowledge and insights from practice, the symposium will foster dialogue on the psychological aspects of reproductive health that deserve greater attention from both professionals and the wider public.
The symposium Genetic and Evolutionary Perspectives on Human Behavior brings together researchers from Serbia, Hungary, and Croatia who apply behavioral genetic, family, and evolutionary approaches to the study of individual differences. The papers address a diverse range of phenomena, from cognitive characteristics to personality, social attitudes, prejudice, and reproductive behavior. Particular attention is given to twin and family studies and their contribution to understanding the genetic and environmental sources of individual differences. The symposium also provides an opportunity to strengthen connections between research groups and foster international collaboration in the field.
The symposium Identity Orientations and Adolescent Mental Health brings together four papers developed as part of the outcomes of the IDIOMATIC project, which aims to understand the contents of adolescents’ identity and their associations with subjective well-being, basic psychological needs, cultural context, and the dynamics of identity development. Drawing on the tetrapartite model of the self, the papers examine four identity orientations: personal, relational, collective, and public. The first three papers are based on longitudinal data collected from a large sample of adolescents in Serbia, whereas the fourth broadens the perspective through a cross-cultural study of adolescents from 32 countries. The first paper examines the associations between identity orientations and subjective well-being among adolescents in Serbia, operationalized through life satisfaction, positive affect, and negative affect. The findings point to a particularly important role of collective identity orientation for positive indicators of well-being, while public identity orientation is associated with less favorable indicators of mental health. The second paper focuses on the stability of basic psychological needs—autonomy, competence, and relatedness—and their relations with identity orientations. The results show that need satisfaction plays an important role in personal, relational, and collective identity orientations, whereas need frustration is relevant for public identity orientation. The third paper applies a network approach and exploratory graph analysis to longitudinal data, confirming the tetrapartite structure of identity, while also pointing to developmental changes and the role of the family context in shaping specific orientations. The fourth paper adopts a cross-cultural perspective and shows that personal and relational orientations are the most pronounced in most countries. At the same time, the findings indicate that interdependent self-construal cannot be reduced to a single dimension, but should instead be differentiated into relational, collective, and public aspects. In addition, higher collectivism was positively associated with collective identity orientation, but negatively associated with relational identity orientation, suggesting a complex relationship between cultural values and self-construal. Taken together, these papers show that adolescent identity cannot be understood solely in terms of the degree to which it is formed, but also through the contents by which young people define themselves. The findings highlight the importance of integrating developmental, motivational, cross-cultural, and network perspectives in research on adolescent identity and mental health.
Human-animal interactions are an innovative line of research within psychology that bears on several crucial psychological topics: how we perceive and relate to those who are different from us, how we build close interpersonal relationships, and even how our social identities influence dietary choices and, consequently, our health. Scientific research shows inextricable links between the health of animals and humans, including the effects of environmental pollution, the spread of zoonoses, and the health-related impacts of meat consumption. This symposium will highlight the links between the psychological and societal well-being of humans and other animals, showcasing various strands of research into human-animal interaction.
In response to a heated social issue, Tamara Džamonja Ignjatović will provide a critical review of animal-assisted interventions using dolphins as "therapists" to assist children with developmental difficulties.
Bojana Dinić will present a bibliometric analysis highlighting the latest research trends on violence against animals, which, according to research, frequently co-occurs with violence against humans.
Ivona Nađ will expand the classic psychological topic of close relationships by conducting a study on pet attachment, exploring differences in attachment and personality traits between cat and dog owners.
Finally, Marija Branković will present the results of an experimental test on whether traditionally plant-based meals are perceived differently when labeled as lenten or vegan, illustrating how identities and worldviews shape what we like to eat.
The symposium Exploring Semantics: Diverse Psycholinguistic Perspectives brings together researchers from the field of psycholinguistics in Serbia whose work addresses different aspects of semantic processing and representation. It includes contributions ranging from research on large language models, embodiment theories, and perceptual and emotional dimensions of word meaning, to studies of polysemy, color-word associations, emotional word processing, and orthographic processing.
One of the topics addressed in the symposium is polysemy, a common phenomenon in language referring to words with multiple related meanings. The way the cognitive system processes such words remains a matter of debate, particularly regarding whether polysemous words are processed through a shared semantic representation or through separate representations for each meaning. Another important topic concerns embodiment theory and the role of perceptual and emotional information in conceptual representations. In this context, one study examines the influence of color on word processing, while another focuses on the role of emotions in semantic processing. Finally, the symposium addresses orthography as a perceptual aspect of words that influences cognitive processing and contributes to word representations.
The presented research covers a broad spectrum of methodological approaches, including lexical decision tasks, perceptual measures, computational modeling, and simulations. By integrating perspectives from cognitive psychology, psycholinguistics, and computational modeling, the symposium aims to provide a comprehensive overview of contemporary approaches to the study of semantics.
Why does math still scare us, even when we know everything?
At the symposium Challenges and Perspectives in Mathematics Anxiety Research, six studies will present the latest findings on how math anxiety develops, changes, and affects achievement, from primary school students to university students, and from classic questionnaires to AI-based analysis of thousands of texts.
At the symposium you will, among other things, learn:
Burnout is one of the significant challenges of contemporary working life, and understanding it requires a broader perspective than simply considering workload and available resources. This symposium brings together five studies that examine burnout from different and complementary psychological perspectives. The studies address burnout assessment alongside psychological needs and employee characteristics, job demands arising from the nature of work and client relationships, as well as broader patterns of organizational behavior, such as conformity at work. Together, the studies provide a broader understanding of how burnout develops, the psychological and organizational factors that may contribute to it, and its consequences, while also pointing to more effective approaches to burnout prevention and intervention in organizations.
This symposium, entitled Psychology of Crime, Law, and Order will consist of five oral presentations covering a variety of relevant topics. The investigated domains include both the general public exposed to violence and specific forensic and prison populations. We are sure that the attendees of this symposium will have an opportunity not only to learn more closely about the examined issues, but also to ask questions and gain additional insights. Therefore, we kindly invite conference visitors to join us!
This symposium brings together studies examining psychological constructs and processes relevant to psychotherapy, mental health, and the understanding of therapeutic change. Conducted predominantly in general-population samples, the studies address constructs and transdiagnostic processes that play an important role in contemporary psychotherapeutic approaches, including self-acceptance, behavioral activation and avoidance, emotion regulation, impulse control, and irrational beliefs. Using contemporary research and statistical approaches, the studies examine complex relationships among these constructs, their associations with different aspects of psychological functioning, and their potential relevance to understanding and planning psychological interventions. Particular attention is given to bridging empirical findings and psychotherapeutic practice, including their potential contribution to case conceptualization, the identification of relevant processes, and the selection of intervention targets. The symposium also includes an evaluation of a group psychoeducational program integrating traditional statistical procedures with a contemporary network-based approach, providing an additional perspective on the investigation of potential mechanisms of psychological change.
Aging represents one of the most significant developmental and social challenges of the contemporary era. The extension of life expectancy, demographic changes, and altered patterns of the life course require a new understanding of the aging process, one that goes beyond its traditional conceptualization through chronological age, health status, and functional limitations.
The shared idea of the papers gathered in this symposium is the understanding of aging as a continuous developmental process, whose outcomes are shaped by the interplay of individual psychological resources and the social context. From this developmental perspective, aging is viewed as a dynamic process of adaptation, in which quality of life is determined not solely by biological changes, but also by the way an individual understands their own development, employs their psychological potentials, and responds to the demands of the social environment. Building on this framework, the symposium brings together theoretical and empirical papers that seek to address the following questions:
By integrating diverse theoretical approaches and methodological perspectives, the symposium offers a comprehensive view of the psychological processes that shape aging and contributes to understanding the factors that support the preservation of mental health, quality of life, and successful adaptation in the second half of life.
Virtual reality (VR) has rapidly evolved from a technological novelty
into a powerful scientific tool, enabling researchers to investigate
psychological processes with an unprecedented combination of
experimental control and ecological validity. By creating immersive,
interactive, and highly realistic environments, VR allows the study of
perception, emotion, cognition, personality, and behavior in situations
that would be difficult, costly, or ethically impossible to reproduce in
the physical world. At the same time, the increasing integration of
virtual experiences into everyday life raises important questions about
the similarities and differences between psychological functioning in
real and virtual environments.
This symposium presents six complementary studies demonstrating the
breadth of contemporary psychological research employing VR. The
contributions examine behavioral, physiological, and affective responses
to virtual threat; the application of VR in understanding psychopathic
traits and childhood behavioral problems; the induction and measurement
of fear and anxiety in immersive environments; comparisons between
experiences of real and virtual architectural spaces; the ecological
validity of aesthetic experience in virtual reality; and the influence
of virtual environments on spatial perception, including perceived
distance, depth cues, and emotional meaning. Together, these studies
highligh VR as both a methodological innovation and a unique context for
investigating human experience.
By integrating perspectives from experimental psychology, personality
psychology, developmental psychology, architecture, and empirical
aesthetics, the symposium illustrates how virtual environments can
deepen our understanding of psychological mechanisms while informing
practical applications. The presented findings also encourage a broader
discussion on the opportunities, limitations, and future directions of
VR research, emphasizing the importance of evaluating when virtual
experiences faithfully reproduce reality and when they reveal
distinctive aspects of human perception and behavior. Together, these
contributions demonstrate that virtual reality is not merely a
substitute for real-world experimentation, but a distinctive research
platform that expands the methodological and theoretical horizons of
psychological science.
Moderator:
Asst. Prof. Dr. Bojana Bodroža, Faculty of Philosophy, University of Novi Sad,
Serbia
Panelists:
Dr. Vanja Subotić, Institute of Philosophy, Faculty of Philosophy, Belgrade, Serbia
Ana Perović, MA in clinical psychology and constructivist psychotherapist
Dr. Mihailo Ilić, Psychiatrist and psychotherapist, Institute of Mental Health,
Belgrade, one of the authors of the "Dva i po psihijatra" (“Two and a Half
Psychiatrists”) podcast
Moderators:
Asst. Prof. Dr. Dragana Jelić, Faculty of Philosophy, University of Novi Sad, Serbia
Jelena Karapandžić, MA, Faculty of Philosophy, University of Novi Sad, Serbia
Speakers:
Luka Babić, Co-founder, Stealth Life Sciences startup | Exited founder Orgnostic ->
Culture Amp | Venture Partner, Emerge VC
Valentina Kalaj Dakić, HR Manager, Symphony
Dr. Predrag Okanović, Owner & Head of Solver, TIM Centar
