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Members of The Finnish Psychoanalytical Society have for some time been concerned about the relations between the psychoanalytic community and the academic world. There are at least two reasons for this. First, there has been an overall decrease in psychoanalytically educated academic researchers and teachers (even though, happily enough, for the time being, we have some academically highly meritorious candidates in training). Second, the often heard arguments on the international psychoanalytic scene on the need to keep up and vitalize interdisciplinary connections have also had an influence in our community. Due to these reasons The Finnish Psychoanalytical Society appointed a committee to deliberate on what could be done in this area.
The committee (which consisted of Jukka Aaltonen, Henrik Enckell, Johannes Lehtonen and Anssi Perakyla) thought that connections between the academic and psychoanalytic worlds are mutually beneficial. The psychoanalytic scientific community is enriched by work done in an academic context, and - on the other hand - psychoanalytic experience and knowledge would have much to offer within the university environment. The committee found it essential to build structures which would foster academic research with psychoanalytic relevance. These structures would preferably also be open to non-psychoanalysts (what is important is the research planned or done, not who the researcher is). The most feasible organizational structure for this aim seemed to be a Consortium (a Network) with academic institutions on the one hand and The Finnish Psychoanalytical Society on the other.
Institutions recommended as participants in this context were academic departments in which psychoanalytic expertise was represented. It was also felt advisable that many different scientific fields were to be represented, as well as academic departments in different parts of the country. By a decision of the Society, a Consortium was founded with the following agents: The