Past International Systemic Functional Workshops & Congresses


The name has changed over the years. From the first meeting in 1974 until 1981, the meeting was called the Systemic Workshop, and all of these meetings were  held in Britain. In 1982, the first meeting outside of England was held, in Toronto. For this reason, the meeting was retitled the International Systemic Workshop. This name held for 6 years. Attendance at meetings was increasing however, and the original predomination of workshops was giving way to straight presentations. For the 1988 meeting we decided to recognise the changing nature of the meeting by renaming it the International Systemic Congress. Four years later,  the title was changed to International Systemic Functional Congress, as a need to reflect the functional nature of SFL was felt.

In terms of rotation, the first 8 meetings were held in England. After that, a rough rotation started with every second meeting held away from the UK. Eventually a rough cycle of Europe-Australia-North America evolved, but with frequent "drop ins" by new Systemic centres in Asia. We are now working on a rough 4 year cycle of Europe-Asia-Australia-NA. However, as Systemics grows in other sites, the cycle is expanding. In 2006,  the first meeting in Latin America will be held in Brazil. It will not be long before the first African meeting.

The meetings, their location (and convenor where known) are as follows (as collected by Nan Fries):