International Research Board and associated Committees - Mandates

International Research Board

The International Research Board shall be composed of a Chair, a Vice-Chair research and a Vice-Chair evaluation, who are internationally recognized currently active researchers, six voting members who are currently active internationally recognized researchers in the fields of psychoanalytic research represented by the Board’s subcommittees. The chairs of the sub-committees and one member of the Board of Representatives shall be ex-officio non-voting members of the Research Board.

Mandate

The International Research Board shall:

1. Recommend research policies, priorities and budgets as well as report its activities and the activities of its sub-committees to the Board of Representatives annually,

2. Recommend appointments to the Research Board and its sub-committees to the President,

3. Approve budgets and programmes and assume responsibility for and oversight of its subcommittees to ensure their equitable financing, to avoid duplication and to achieve co-operation whenever possible and practical,

4. Search for additional funding and other strategies to advance psychoanalytic research consistent with the best research standards in the interest of psychoanalysis as a science and a clinical practice.

5. Work with the Public Information Committee, the newsletter, journals, congress programmes etc. to disseminate research finding to IPA members and the public.

Evaluation of Research Proposals and Results Committee

The Committee on the Evaluation of Research Proposals and Results will decide which research projects will be funded on the basis of merit and relevance. The criteria for relevance will be decided by the Research Board subject to the approval of the Board of Representatives. The criteria are together necessary and sufficient. The Committee shall have a chair with expertise in at least one of the three fields of research enunciated above and will be an ex-officio member of the Research Board. There shall be a sufficient number of members of the committee with expertise in the three fields of research enunciated above to evaluate the research projects submitted in a timely way. When variations in the volume of submissions require it, the chair may appoint sufficient consultants to do the work expediently subject, in each case, to the approval of the Chair of the Research Board.

The Committee will evaluate the results of the research projects that have been approved and funded after their completion.

Empirical Research Committee Mandate

The Committee on Empirical Research (together with the Committee on Clinical Research) will be mandated to advance empirical research among psychoanalysts and other researchers who are interested in psychoanalysis by advocacy, by helping colleagues develop relevant projects, by facilitating co-operation and collaboration among researchers and their projects, by organizing conferences on significant results and by any other strategies consistent with sound methodological standards and substantive relevance.

It is understood that research projects will vary in the relative importance of factual findings and theoretical considerations. The Committees will prepare its proposals and detailed estimates of their costs to the Research Board in good time for the Board’s preparation of its recommendations to the Board of Representatives and its Budget and Finance Committee. The Committee shall have a chair who is an expert empirical researcher who shall be an ex-officio member of the Research Board supported by five to ten members.

The Committee is enjoined whenever scientifically and practically possible to co-operate with the Committee on Clinical Research with respect to projects and conferences.

Clinical Research Committee Mandate

The Committee on Clinical Research (together with the Committee on Empirical Research) will be mandated to advance clinical research among psychoanalysts by helping colleagues develop relevant projects, by facilitating co-operation and collaboration among researchers and their projects, by organizing conferences on significant results and by any other strategies consistent with sound methodological standards and substantive relevance. It is understood that research projects will vary in the relative importance of factual findings and theoretical considerations. The Committee will prepare its proposals and detailed estimates of their costs to the Research Board in good time for the Board’s preparation of its recommendations to the Board of Representatives and its Budget and Finance Committee. The Committee shall consist of a chair who is an expert clinical researcher who shall be an ex-officio member of the Research Board and five to ten members. The Committee is enjoined whenever scientifically and practically possible to co-operate with the Committee on Empirical Research with respect to projects and conferences.

Historical, Applied and Interdisciplinary Research Mandate

The Historical, Applied and Interdisciplinary Research Committee will encourage, facilitate and co-ordinate, when useful, scholarly research into historical and applied psychoanalytic topics and in the theoretical analysis of findings and theories in fields adjacent to psychoanalysis by helping colleagues develop relevant projects, by facilitating co-operation and collaboration among researchers and their projects, by organizing conferences on significant results and by any other strategies consistent with sound methodological standards and substantive relevance. It is understood that research projects will vary in the relative importance of factual findings and theoretical considerations. The Committee will prepare its proposals and detailed estimates of their costs to the Research Board in good time for the Board’s preparation of its recommendations to the Board of Representatives and its Budget and Finance Committee. The Committee shall have a chair who is an expert clinical researcher who shall be an ex-officio member of the Research Board and five to ten members. The Committee is enjoined whenever scientifically and practically possible to co-operate with the other Research Committees with respect to projects and conferences.

Research Education and Training Committee Mandate

The Research Education and Training Committee shall facilitate as required existing and new educational projects on methods of extra-clinical, clinical and historical and applied psychoanalytic research. The Committee shall have a chair who is an ex-officio member of the Research Board and sufficient members to adequately represent the three fields of research enunciated above.

Approved by the Board August 2009