KLI Conference 2024

On April 25-26, we enjoyed an inspiring spring KLI Conference in Woudschoten. The keynote speakers came from organizational, environmental, and social psychological contexts, revealing the latest insights on leadership experiences of people of color (by Prof. dr. Judi Mesman, Leiden University), on the public acceptability of sustainable transitions (by Prof. dr. Goda Perlaviciute, University of Groningen), and on grounding large scale social outcomes in psychological phenomena (by Prof. dr. Alin Coman, Princeton University). Participants specifically appreciated that they showcased a diversity of topics and a variety of qualitative and quantitative research methods, which were also reflected throughout the rest of the program.

The conference was organized around 4 topics central in social and organizational psychology. Each theme was organized and chaired by two theme chairs. This year’s themes were “Mechanisms of reinforcing and challenging social inequality” (chairs: Elliot Sharpe & Catia Teixeira), “New Horizons on Diversity and Identity Research” (chairs: Lianne Aarntzen & Seval Gündemir), “Threats and innovations in democratic societies” (chairs: Frank Gootjes & Emma ter Mors), “Cooperation in close relationships and small groups” (chairs: Bibiana Armenta Gutierrez & Niels van Doesum). In each conference theme, speakers from all tracks of the KLI presented their research, stimulating fruitful discussions and exchanges that bridged the different KLI tracks and shedding new light on the topics by combining and integrating perspectives from different levels of analysis (i.e., intrapersonal, interpersonal, group and organization, and intergroup).

Beyond the theme presentations, 38 KLI members presented their poster at the conference. In the spirit of more inclusive reward and recognition standards in academia, the jury (Jolien van Breen, Jenny Veldman, Byron Adams, Sanne Feenstra) awarded poster awards in four categories. The poster for most promising value creation from team science went to Anabela Cantiani, most promising scientific contribution went to Marty Colombo, most promising organizational or societal impact went to Sarwesh Ishwardat, and the people’s choice award went to both Zixiang Zheng and Luisa Solms. The KLI Best Paper Award 2024 was awarded to Chantal D’Amore, for her paper on attitude moralization during the 2020 U.S. Election.

Most importantly, the conference provided ample room for socializing and inspiring conversations with colleagues over coffee, food, and drinks. To memorize our experiences, (junior) researchers had the opportunity to have their research (ideas) visualized by artist Marta Wronska and take these drawings home. We are looking forward to seeing you all again in 2026!

Namkje Koudenburg (University of Groningen), Conference Chair

Hannah Timmermans (Utrecht University), General Manager KLI