The Global Psychology Alliance established roots in 2019 at the Inaugural Summit on Psychology and Global Challenges in Lisbon, Portugal. Chief Executive Officers and Presidents from over 40 national, regional and organizational psychology associations from every continent of the world came together for a 3 ½ day working meeting with the aim of developing a road map to jointly address critical shared issues as highlighted in the Sustainable Development Goals. At the Lisbon Summit, the selected focus was Climate Change (SDG #13), resulting in an 18-month road map for collaborative next steps. Since that time, the GPA has continued to grow, now including over 80 countries and over 100 graduates of the Global Learning Leadership Institute, a program for graduate student and early career psychologists from across the world.
The GPA mission is to utilize psychological science to actively tackle global issues of such significance and complexity that they must be addressed in a collaborative fashion to have real impact. The GPA is explicit in its dedication to work in an inclusive, horizontal manner that allows for resource sharing with attention to context for local communities. This is independent of the length of time during which psychology has been established in a country and the status of recognition of the field.
The structure and philosophy of GPA have resulted in significant achievements ranging from leadership training for globally-minded psychologists to development of resources and tools relevant to mutual challenges (e.g., access to quality mental health care and effects of climate change), as well as high-level policy engagement at the United Nations and production of guidelines related to newly evolving challenges (e.g., digitalization). The GPA model has demonstrated how psychology and psychologists worldwide can come together and create highly meaningful change where it is urgently needed.