The annual conference and PhD Course will take place at the Inter University Centre in Dubrovnik, Croatia, from 26–30 May 2025.

“Containing (and) the Common Third”

The 2025 symposium of the International Research Group for Psycho-Societal Analysis (SQUID) explores the evolving notion of containing, drawing on perspectives that move beyond classical conceptualisations of the container/contained pair in Bion’s theoretical work to extend into more dynamic and societal understandings of relational processes.

Within the wider framework of relational perspectives, we examine containing not as a (one-)directional act but as a process of mutual transformation, wherein relationships and their subjects are being produced and shaped and a common third may arise. Aiming at understanding the notions of containing and the common third analytically and societally, we would like to investigate the process of containing (and thus its counterpart, splitting) as part of psychoanalytic and relational dynamics, but also as part of public engagements (e.g., social movements, political campaigns, community initiatives). Against the grain of present – persecutory – orientations, we hope that the symposium will invite reflections on how relationships are constituted, sustained and transformed and how a common third may arise at various levels – in interpersonal analysis, group dynamics as well as wider collective and aggregational phenomena.

For more information about the 2025 conference, please contact Executive Committee representative, Steffen Krüger (steff.krueger@gmail.com)