EFPSA Working Community

The Board is a team of eight individuals responsible for maintaining the ethos of EFPSA, providing foundations for the organisation’s growth and contributing toward the strategic, long term, development of EFPSA in order to meet the needs and interests of European psychology students. The Board oversees the EFPSA Working Community as well as Supporting Community, and supports all teams and activities of the Federation and works on various common projects in order to reach EFPSA’s goals.

Deianara Couwet, President

My name is Veronika Kocmanová, and I graduated with my master's degree in the Czech Republic (CR) last year. After I finished my internship in the Netherlands in February, I started working as a freelancer, mostly in a palliative care centre. I got in touch with EFPSA in 2017 when I coordinated the 1st EFPSA Academy in the CR. After that, I took a little “EFPSA break” while holding a Board position in the Czech Member Organisation for two years. When I got the opportunity to represent my country as a member representative (MR), I stepped out of my comfort zone. I became an EFPSA Trainer and have participated in many events, namely theCongress in Malta in 2018, the Conference in the CR, Train Advanced Trainers (TAT) in Turkey, Joint EB&MR Meeting in Slovenia and Malta, and E-TRAM). All the experience within the EFPSA and MR team boosted my motivation to go on with my EFPSA journey as Member and Observer Coordinator, and brought me to the Board as Member Representatives Officer last year. As a President, I collaborate with externals, other student associations, and EFPA. I oversee the External Relations Office that writes position papers, ensures media coverage, and represents EFPSA. Together with the Vice President, I lead the work of the Board as well as the whole Working Community to shape the future of the Federation in the best way possible. Friendly and supporting atmosphere amongst all team members matters a lot to me. I believe that open, honest and transparent communication creates a cohesive environment within the entire EFPSA Working Community. This mandate, I aim to increase the financial stability of the Federation as well as the involvement in advocacy and youth actions, to deepen collaboration with the EHSAS associations and Alumni Network, and to provide our members with opportunities for both professional and personal development. In my free time, I volunteer in the Water Rescue Service and love hiking and playing the guitar.

Robert Meyka, Secretary General

Aloha! I am Robert Meyka, I am from Germany and I study Psychology in my masters in Vienna, Austria. My first encounter with EFPSA was at the Congress in Malta in 2018, and being amazed by the whole event I came back to the Congress in Denmark (2019), participated in the Train the Trainers in Cyprus (2019), and joined the Working Community 2020-2021 as Training Image Responsible (fun fact: I encountered every EFPSA event together with Johann!). I grew through every single step along the way and could not be more grateful for my experiences in EFPSA. Now, as the Secretary General, my main tasks lie in the internal and external communication, as well as documentation and administration. I also oversee the EFPSA Office, which does a lot of tasks in the background like content reviewing, data analysis, updating the website, publishing the Magazine, and being there for the teams. This mandate, I want to focus on strengthening the Working Community within itself and caring for the wellbeing of our volunteers, while maintaining a professional image to our external partners. For my own wellbeing, I like to go on walks in the nature while listening to music or a podcast. Next to that, I enjoy deep conversations and spending quality time with the people closest to me.

Martina Marie Aquilina , Marketing Officer

My name is Martina Marie “Martie” Aquilina, I am Maltese Bachelor’s graduate in English and Psychology, and I am currently reading for a Higher Diploma in Psychology. In my free time and for my well-being, I enjoy spending quality time with my loved ones and teaching myself to play the classical guitar! I started my leadership journey in my country's National Organisation, Betapsi Malta, as part of the Executive Board for 2 years. I joined EFPSA as the Maltese Member Representative (MR) in my second year with Betapsi and I’ve been in love with the Federation and its vibrant people since then! Last mandate, I took on a new adventure and applied for the role of Member Representatives Officer, where I had the pleasure of leading and working with the Members Office and MRs. I began this mandate as the Content Review Responsible for EFPSA and now, I.am the new Marketing Officer! My role as Marketing Officer is to improve the quality of EFPSA and its Community with the Board and to lead and support the talented Marketing Office in creating and reviewing content for teams all over EFPSA. Content includes the EFPSA Magazine, social media posts, participation certificates, and promotional material that is shared with members, partners, and externals. My focus will be to keep building and spreading the EFPSA Spirit in our Federation. With organisation, teamwork, and open communication, that high quality content and opportunities EFPSA has to offer will reach our online and offline global community!

Luka Uršič, Events Officer

Hey, my name is Luka Uršič and I come from Slovenia. Currently, I am in my last year of Master studies at the University of Ljubljana. My EFPSA journey started at the EFPSA Congress 2018 in Malta, where I got my first position as the Events Coordinator. At the beginning, I did not know much about the EFPSA events, but I was willing to learn. In the next mandate, I wanted to challenge myself, so I became the Coordinator of Joint EB&MR Meeting 2019. Organising this event was truly a very rewarding and amazing experience. In the last mandate, I was collaborating with our lovely external organisations as the External Relations Coordinator. Currently, I am the Events Officer which means I oversee, guide and support the organisational process of all EFPSA Events and the teams involved. I work closely with my amazing Events Office - Events Coordinator, Training Events Coordinator and Events Team Member as well as all Coordinators of EFPSA events. Since I have been on many EFPSA events, I had the chance to truly experience how incredible they are and how strong the EFPSA spirit can be. Being the Events Officer allows me to maintain the quality of the events, improve them if possible and spread the EFPSA spirit even further. In my spare time, I enjoy travelling, hiking, nature and listening to music. All this is a cure for my mental and physical wellbeing.

Johann Börner, Vice President

Hello, my name is Johann Börner and I study Work and Organisational Psychology in my masters in Vienna, Austria. My EFPSA journey started at Congress 2018 in Malta. It was my first time getting in contact with EFPSA and it felt like dropping into a different world. At the beginning I was completely overwhelmed with the amount of different people and cultures that clashed but the EFPSAnauts who welcomed and introduced me to the EFPSA atmosphere felt me at ease in a heartbeat. During the mandate 2020/2021 I was part of the Training Office as Trainers’ Community Responsible and the Executive Board member of the Ethics Committee. Additionally, I co-organised an exchange between Austria and Finland in 2019. As Vice President I oversee the work of the federation in cooperation with Deianara, our amazing president. Additionally, I am supporting the Board in their work, guiding it through the mandate and overseeing the work of two of our amazing services, Training Office and Social Impact Initiative. My vision for this mandate is to connect the Board closer to EFPSA’s volunteers and Member Organisations while also strengthening the progress the federation has made even during the pandemic. I want to focus on helping the services I am overseeing to take the next steps in their development. Besides EFPSA I am annoying my friends as much as I can. Being a very social person I enjoy nothing more than spending time with my friends. Other than that I try my best to be physically active while also sharpening my skills in chess.

Dora Mihić, Finance Officer

finance@efpsa.org

Veronika Kocmanová, Member Representatives Officer

My name is Veronika Kocmanová and I am currently finishing my master studies in the Czech Republic. I got in touch with EFPSA in 2017 when I coordinated the 1st EFPSA Academy in the CR. I took a little “EFPSA break” while holding a Board position in the Czech MO for two years after that. When I got the opportunity to represent my country as an MR, I stepped out of my comfort zone. I participated in many events since then (Congress from Malta onwards, Conference in the CR, TAT in Turkey, EB&MR in Slovenia, E-TRAM). All the experience within the EFPSA and MR team boosted my motivation to continue in the EFPSA journey as MOC last year and brought me to the Board this mandate. As Member Representatives Officer, I take care of Member Representatives and oversee the Members Office that works with Vice Member Representatives and Observer Organisations. Friendly and supporting atmosphere amongst all team members matters a lot to me since our team is really a big group of people. I aim to get member organisations closer to EFPSA by workshops delivered by Offices and Services to MO.s. I will encourage Vice / MRs to organise Exchanges and other international events together. Last but not least, I want to keep in touch with observers, help MOs struggling as well as reach out to new organisations. I am interested in the water rescue service, love hiking and have started playing guitar in my free time.

Ana Lubej, Academic Affairs Officer

Hello everyone! My name is Ana Lubej and I am currently working on my Masters in Psychology at the University of Maribor, Slovenia. I first got acquainted with EFPSA as a Mind The Mind Volunteer in 2017. The next year, when I got to visit the EFPSA Congress 2018 in Malta, I knew that I wanted to become a part of the EFPSA Working Community. Throughout the years I held different positions in EFPSA, I was a Mind The Mind Local Coordinator and JEPS Ambassador in 2019, and a JEPS Editor as well as Study Abroad Responsible in 2020. While I was a JEPS Editor, I became familiar with the position of the Academic Affairs Officer and decided that this was definitely a position I see myself doing. As the Academic Affairs Officer I oversee three services, Study and Travel Abroad (STA), Research Programme (RP), and Journal of European Psychology Students (JEPS). My main tasks encompass creating and developing partnerships as well as collaborations with Academia and external organisations, while also highlighting and promoting the scientific aspects of EFPSA. In the upcoming mandate, I want to further develop the position of Academic Affairs Officer besides also highlighting the work of all three services that I oversee. I like spending my free time with my bees or in art galleries as I find both of these activities relaxing and fulfilling.