As organisational psychologists, we spend a lot of time thinking and talking about work-related issues across occupations and careers, but we rarely turn that lens on ourselves. One challenge of our own field is the name itself: depending on our country, professional body, or educational background (e.g., an undergraduate degree in psychology versus another field), we might call ourselves industrial, organizational (or organisational), business, occupational, or work psychologists—or some combination of these. Regardless of title, our goal is the same: making workplaces better for people, because we prioritise psychology and care about well-being.
G-WOP (Global Work and Organisational Psychology Conference) was initiated by a group of people who wanted to unite professionals whose occupational identity centers on this shared motive. The first conference was held in September 2025 and is returning this year with an equally strong programme. The amazing global meeting ran for 24 hours online (with sessions recorded and shared afterward, since nobody stayed awake the whole time). Supported by several professional bodies worldwide, it reached thousands of people, with talks on key and timely issues including AI in the workplace, leadership and identity, engagement and well-being, individual differences and assessment, and moral disengagement and ethics.
While G-WOP is a unique event focused on work and organizational psychology, its lessons apply to any occupation:
1. Global connection builds stronger occupational identities
The online conference was a chance to feel part of a global community and to connect with colleagues around the world. Any one of us inevitably focuses on a narrow set of tasks or responsibilities day to day, but as human beings, we usually find meaning in feeling part of something bigger. In a world this large but virtually connected, online events can help us find our global tribe. As one participant put it:
“The conference was a great opportunity to see the power of uniting work psychologists around the world, feeling proud of our identity together and showcasing the various areas where we contribute as scientists, practitioners, or both. It also showed that online conferences can work! I loved being part of it.”
2. Your area of work is richer than you think
To excel at our jobs, we naturally narrow our focus to specific interests, tasks, or responsibilities—a natural result of specialization and division of labour. But we shouldn’t lose sight of the broader context: we work, live, and function within a system where different actors and factors shape one another. Making the effort to step outside our silos and stay aware of that broader context enriches our perspective and pushes us to keep developing. To get inspired, enrich your perspective, question your ways of doing work, and start thinking outside the box, you need to know where to look and how to learn from others’ experiences. Online events might be great opportunities to do this with minimal cost and effort. As one participant put it:
“Being together on such an inclusive platform with people from all over the world with whom we share both theoretical and practical commonalities was not only emotionally but also intellectually fulfilling.”
3. Diversity and inclusion matter, and can be addressed in different ways
Many people lack the means or access to attend in-person professional events, whether due to financial constraints, visa restrictions, caregiving responsibilities, or health considerations. If we genuinely want diversity and inclusion, we can use technology to close that gap and G-WOP’s own format is a good example of how. Running for a full 24 hours meant no time zone was structurally excluded, and recording every session let people join on their own schedule rather than requiring everyone to be online at the same moment. Small design choices like these can open a professional community to people who would otherwise be left out.
As one resource, William E. Donald’s book How to Organise Inclusive Conferences and Workshops offers clear guidance for academic settings that also carries lessons for non-academic environments.
4. We can bridge the scientist-practitioner gap in different ways
Bridging the scientist-practitioner gap remains a major challenge in our field: research has limited impact unless it’s grounded in real-world challenges and translates into results at work, while practitioners who adopt an evidence-based, scientific approach create more positive and sustainable impact. At G-WOP’s first meeting, 65 percent of participants placed themselves somewhere on a continuum between academic and practitioner, which stands as evidence of the conference’s power to unite scientists and practitioners in this field. That balance of research- and practice-based talks gave participants real-world examples and practical ways of combining science and practice. High-quality online events can also be good opportunities for improving mutual understanding and collaboration across people who prioritise different areas of work since focusing too heavily on one perspective can mean missing the potential gains the others offer.
Conclusion
I’ll close with a familiar idiom: where there’s a will, there’s a way. If you want to explore your global community, strengthen your occupational identity, connect with people elsewhere who share your background and motivations, and learn from their experience, you can do it from your seat—especially thanks to the efforts of people like Nikita Mikhailov, Michelle Goro, and Simon Toms, who believed in the power of bringing people with similar expertise, interests, and intentions together.