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SPSSI Conferences

#SPSSICON26 will be at the New Orleans Marriott on Canal Street

New Orleans Marriott on Canal Street
555 Canal Street
New Orleans, Louisiana, USA 70130
(Map)

SPSSI’s Room Block is now open! We have a limited number of rooms available at a discounted group rate of $179 for non-students and a student rate of $159. Our room block always fills up, so be sure to book early! Please note, rooms are subject to availability. Questions about reservations? Contact spssicon@spssi.org.

2026 Travel Grant Programs are Open.

Learn more about our programs today, open to various students, early career scholars, and international scholars. SPSSI travel funds may be used to cover all conference-related expenses including conference registration, economy transportation, lodging, and approved meal expenses. All travel grants are awarded following the conference only in the form of post-expense reimbursement upon submission of all receipts, and expense form completion. Exclusions: Applicants are able to submit to more than one program. However, no more than one type of travel grant will be given to an individual. The application deadline for all travel funding grants is April 1, 2026.

Registration will open soon!
Early Bird Registration ends May 15^th!

In an ongoing effort to meet the economic needs of our many constituencies, SPSSI is pleased to continue a special category of rates for the 2026 Summer Conference. SPSSI's Regional rates apply to conference attendees residing in the Caribbean, Latin America, Asia, Africa, and Oceania. Across all rates, further reductions or hardship requests will be considered on a case-by-case basis.

Dr. Michael W. Kraus will Deliver #SPSSICON26's Opening Keynote
Friday, June 26, 2026

Michael W. Kraus is a Professor of Psychology at Northwestern University, Morton O. Schapiro Faculty Fellow at the Institute for Policy Research, and founding director of Society Workshop—a nonprofit focused on connecting social science research with communities that can use it to improve people’s lives. Michael was trained as a social-personality psychologist at the University of California, Berkeley, where he received his B.A. in psychology and sociology and his Ph.D in social psychology. Before arriving at Northwestern, Michael was a postdoctoral scholar at UC San Francisco, an assistant professor of psychology at the University of Illinois, and an assistant/associate professor of organizational behavior at Yale University. Michael studies the maintenance of societal inequality using methods that range from controlled laboratory experiments to qualitative interviews. Michael enjoys teaching about the contribution of basic psychological states to inequality and collaborating with trainees on related topics. Michael lives in Evanston, IL with his spouse and their two children. He grew up in southern California. In his free time, Michael enjoys brunch, coffee, Warriors basketball, Liverpool football, and being a dad.

Dr. Susan Opotow will Deliver the Annual Kurt Lewin Address at #SPSSICON26

The Kurt Lewin Award, given by the Society for the Psychological Study of Social Issues, recognizes “outstanding contributions to the development and integration of psychological research and social action.” The 2026 Kurt Lewin Award winner is Dr. Susan Opotow, professor at John Jay College of Criminal Justice and the Graduate Center. Dr. Opotow will deliver the 2026 Kurt Lewin Address at the SPSSI Summer Conference in New Orleans!

In selecting Dr. Opotow for this award, the committee noted that her scholarship has had a lasting impact on social psychology by illuminating how “moral exclusion” shapes intergroup conflict, injustice, and dehumanization. Her theoretical work on injustice is based on empirical studies utilizing quantitative, qualitative, and historical methods to examine how, when, and why injustice directed at marginalized groups is rendered “normal.” By integrating psychological theory with real-world issues such as environmental conflict, Opotow advances understanding of how moral reasoning becomes narrowed, and how it can be expanded, to foster inclusion, empathy, and more equitable social relations. As one of Dr. Opotow’s nominees wrote, “The breadth of her examination of the ways in which societies reflect, inscribe and deepen inequalities through moral exclusion is a stunning accomplishment. She has taken seriously the Lewinian demand that we think not only about how individuals act in the laboratory, but how our collective actions and inactions produce and reproduce social inequity and conflict.”

Join Dr. Kimberly Kahn for the #SPSSICON26 Presidential Address.

Dr. Kimberly Kahn is a Professor of Social Psychology at Portland State University and leads the Gender, Race, and Sexual Prejudice (GRASP) research lab. She received her Ph.D. in Social Psychology from the University of California, Los Angeles, and completed a postdoctoral fellowship at Lisbon University Institute in Lisbon, Portugal. As a social psychologist, Dr. Kahn’s research addresses contemporary forms of implicit bias, stereotyping, and subtle prejudice from the targets’ and perceivers’ perspectives. She has conducted empirical research and interventions to reduce implicit bias and stereotyping within the criminal justice system, education, work, and transportation areas.

“Lespwa fè viv” (Hope Makes Us Live):

Using Research and Action to Cultivate Joy, Resilience, and Liberation

As SPSSI celebrates its 90th anniversary, we look to New Orleans, a place where joy itself can be a form of resistance and where communities have rebuilt again and again in the face of structural neglect, racism, and displacement. The conference theme, drawn from the Haitian Creole expression lespwa fè viv (“hope makes us live”), honors SPSSI’s historical commitment to confronting injustice while inviting us to imagine the futures we must build together. Across nine decades, SPSSI scholars have challenged systems of oppression, defended human rights, and advanced psychological science that speaks truth to power. Yet today’s current landscape demands renewed courage, creativity, and hope.

At this year’s SPSSI conference, we hope to celebrate the past 90 years of SPSSI’s fight for social justice and, at the same time, recognize the urgent work ahead, which requires applied research, collective action, and transformative policy. We seek proposals that honor how marginalized groups resist oppression, including but not limited to, classism, racism, cissexism, sexism, heterosexism, and their intersections. We encourage an emphasis on research that tests “out of the box,” creative, and innovative interventions that promote collective well-being. We welcome work that helps us understand how to cultivate allyship and civic courage capable of resisting dehumanization, oppression, and genocide. Submissions focusing on community-level interventions; collective action; public policy; equity; resilience; hope; radical hope; joy; and national and international immigration, migration, and displacement are encouraged. We value a wide array of research methods, including mixed-methods, participatory action research, decolonial approaches, and work conducted across the lifespan.

In the words of Angela Davis, “It is in collectivities that we find reservoirs of hope and optimism.” We hope to cultivate a space where we can come together as a collective to celebrate SPSSI’s past, grieve the painful realities of the present, and co-create a shared vision for a more equitable future.

2026 SPSSI Conference Co-Chairs


SPSSI 2026 Conference Co-Chair Yara Mekawi University of Louisville More	SPSSI 2026 Conference Co-Chair Harmony Reppond University of Michigan, Dearborn More

Past SPSSI Conferences:

SPSSI presents special programming each year at the APA Convention as well. Find more information here.