Awards of the IAPR

The IAPR Godin Prize for the Scientific Psychology of Religion

The Godin Price iis a scientific prize to be awarded to senior scholars (mid-life award) for their excellence in the scientific study of the psychology of religion. The Godin price will be given every second IAPR conference, that is to say, once in every 4 years. The prize winner is honoured by a finanical reward of 1000 euros, substantial laudatio, and the invitation to present a keynote lecture at the conference.

The origin of the Godin Prize is a gift by Gregory Zilboorg to André Godin who was professor of psychology of religion at the Lumen Vitae Institute in Brussels, on March 15, 1956 in order to develop studies in the psychology of religion. The name of the prize on that moment was the Quinquennial Prize for the Scientific Psychology of Religion. After the death of André Godin on the 2nd of June 1997, the committee decided to change the name of the prize in the Godin Prize. André Godin, as a trained practitioner in psychoanalysis, identified with the fields that became known as Pastoral Counseling and Pastoral care. On account of his interest in Clinical Psychology he was actively engaged in the field of the Psychology of Religion, which he wished to see develop as a scientific discipline in its own right.

Till now the Godin Prize has been awarded eight times. The previous recipients of the prize and the works for which they were honored are:

1967 – J.P. Deconchy for "Structure génétique de l’idée de Dieu chez des catholiques français. Garçons et filles de 8 à 16 ans."

1971 – J.M. Jaspard and A. Dumoulin for "Les médiations religieuses dans l’univers de l’enfant."

1976 – L. Rulla, Fr. Imoda and J. Ridick for "Structure psychologique et vocation."

1986 – M.J. Lerner for "The belief in a just world. A fundamental delusion."

1991 – D. Wulff for "Psychology of religion. Classic and contemporary."

1998 – S. Murken for "Gottesbeziehung und psychische Gesundheit. Die Entwicklung eines Modells und seine empirische Überprüfung."

2006 – V. Saroglou for the entire body of his research and publications in many areas of personality and social psychology of religion (see: list of publications).

2009 – P. Granqvist for his innovative research in the area of attachment theory (see: list of publications).



The IAPR Early Career Award

New is the IAPR Early Career Award for promising junior scholars. It applies to young scholars at the postdoctoral or early career academic level. This award will be given at every IAPR conference. Attached to the award is a financial reward of 1000 EURO.

The first winner of the Early Career Award is Jessie Dezutter from Leuven/Belgium who was awarded at the 2011 IAPR conference in Bari/Italy (see: list of publications).

Submissions for the IAPR Godin Prize and the IAPR Early Career Award

The next Godin Prize and the next Early Career Award will be given at the 2013 Conference of the IAPR in Lausanne/Switzerland. Suggestions for suitable candidates for both the Godin Price and the Early Career Award are most welcome. As regards the Godin Price and the Early Career Award self-nomination is also possible. Submissions for the awards are to be made until November 30th, 2012. Applications or suggestions should include the list of publications and the CV of the candidate, and should be sent in electronic form (pdf) to Prof. Sebastian Murken (smurken@mainz-online.de)

The members of the present jury are: Vassilis Saroglou (University of Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium), Halina Grzymala-Moszczynska (Jagellonian University Krakow, Poland), Ray Paloutzian (Editor of the International Journal for the Psychology of Religion, USA), Sebastian Murken (University of Trier, Germany, President), and Pehr Granqvist (University of Stockholm, Sweden).