Preface

The origins of this Handbook go back to the successful bid by the Australian Psychological Society (APS) to host the 27th International Congress of Applied Psychology (ICAP) on behalf of the International Association of Applied Psychology (IAAP), in Melbourne in July, 2010. The bid was led by the APS President at that time (Paul Martin) and the APS Executive Director (Lyn Littlefield), and they wanted the 27th ICAP to stand out and to have an impact beyond the event itself. This led to discussions with publishers with respect to bringing out a volume in association with the Congress. Agreement was reached with Blackwell (subsequently Wiley - Blackwell) to produce an international handbook that would cover the whole spectrum of applied psychology. The goal was to track down leading authorities in each of the domains of applied psychology, and invite them to complete two complementary tasks: write chapters for the Handbook; and deliver state-of-the-art addresses at the Congress...