Master of Arts (MA) in Psychology Focusing on Organisation – Transformation Processes in Work, Society and Environment

Master Psychology focusing on Organisation – Transformation Processes in Work, Society, and Environment

This multidisciplinary MA Psychology program with an organisational focus aims to foster a reflective socio-critical stance in its students. You will explore subjects revolving around transformation processes in the context of organisational psychology, environmental psychology, health psychology, and related areas.

Changes within the work environment are unfolding in a society, in which the significance of progress and growth must be rethought, especially considering current complex global challenges such as climate change and digitalization. Psychologists maintain decisive roles within numerous professional fields by providing support to individuals and organisations that are coping with transitions and challenges of today’s society. The social change raises the question of the level of significance different organisations have and should have in contemporary society. This is accompanied by new forms of interpersonal relationships and dynamics between man and machine, in addition to the challenges associated with sustainable business strategies. “Work, Society, Environment” are therefore not merely buzzwords put together in a title; more than that, they can be understood as highly intertwined concepts that systematically focus on the dynamics in animate and inanimate relationships. In the process of understanding and guiding such changing environments, psychodynamic approaches are of central importance.

Course Structure and Organisation

All degree programs offered at the IPU Berlin are both research-based and application-oriented and designed to help students develop independent, socially reflective, and solution-oriented professional abilities.

The teaching itself is also varied: In addition to lectures and lecture-oriented seminars, students participate in workshops, which provide the space for reflection on their own experiences. These insights are then used for learning and research practice.

The International Psychoanalytic University (IPU) Berlin is a state-recognized private university accredited by the German Council of Science and Humanities, the Wissenschaftsrat, which is owned and managed by the non-profit representative legal entity, the Foundation to Promote University Psychoanalysis. It combines exacting scientific standards with practical psychology study courses (BA and MA courses), as well as with study courses in psychosis therapy, psychoanalytical cultural studies, leadership and consulting, intended to be taken part-time parallel to work. The university campus is situated directly at the Spree River in the Berlin-Mitte district.

With the commencement of lectures at the IPU in 2009, a gap was closed that had arisen in the one-sided, natural sciences direction of the academic psychology study courses. The study courses at the IPU convey psychoanalysis as a science that maps the human as a biological, social and culturally shaped being and seeks to understand the individual against the background of their personal history and under the influence of the unconscious. All of the study courses at the IPU are both research and application-oriented and provide close contact with clinical and pedagogical practice from the first study semester.

IPU Mission Statement

The IPU facilitates studies, advanced studies, and further education, as well as research on a psychoanalytical basis, and pursues a transdisciplinary understanding of science in its fields of teaching and research.

In dialogue with other sciences, it contributes to the further development of psychoanalysis as an applied social science and cultural theory.

It conveys psychoanalysis as science which maps the human as a biological, social and culturally shaped being and which seeks to understand the individual against the background of their personal history and under the influence of the unconscious.

The scientists lecturing and researching at the IPU have gained many years of experience in practice, teaching and research. They enjoy excellent learning and working conditions with the required resources at their disposal.

Analysis, discussion, and shared development – on an interdisciplinary level and beyond the limitations of any status groups – represent a defining criterion of the scientific and organizational work at the IPU.

The IPU builds up networks and establishes cooperative arrangements with national and international partners in science, training, and practice, which promote mutual enrichment in terms of content and positive perception among the general public.

The IPU fosters a (self) reflective attitude in teaching, research and on an application level, a close link between application and research, as well as an interdisciplinary and international dialogue. It contributes to the healthcare of the overall population.