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Thinking Under Fire: Bion for Today, Celebrating the Publication of the Complete Works on PEP
27 June 2026–28 June 2026, 9:30 am–1:30 pm
A UCL Psychoanalysis Unit hybrid conference in collaboration with Psychoanalytic Electronic Publishing
Event Information
Open to
- All
Organiser
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Psychoanalysis Unit
Location
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UCL Campus and OnlineGreat Ormond Street Institute of Child Health – UCL30 Guilford StreetLondonWC1N 1EH
About
Bion completed his medical training at University College Hospital and trained as a psychoanalyst with the British Psychoanalytic Society, but he was born in India, spent the last decade of his life in California, and his work continues to have a global influence nearly forty years after his death. The publication of his Complete Works on PEP will increase this impact further. Join us this June to participate in our exploration of the ongoing significance of Bion’s contributions in a world where thinking is more than ever under fire.
Nicola Abel-Hirsch will consider the significance of seven underappreciated topics explored by Bion in his private notes. Rudi Vermote will offer a new perspective on the significance of Bion’s ideas about transformation in O for everyday clinical practice. Guiseppe Civitarese will explore the relation of transformation to the concepts of evolution and turbulence. Donna Savery and Tobias Jenkins will reflect on the relational impact of Bion’s work by considering Chris Mawson’s collaboration with Francesca Bion to produce the Complete Works, Donna’s collaboration with Chris to produce their final book together, and Tobias and Donna’s discussions in the course of his doctoral research. Jani Santamaría Linares will discuss the continuity and ongoing aliveness of Bion’s work with particular reference to his autobiographical works. Finally, David Taylor will reflect on the significance of one of Bion’s last papers, titled ‘Evidence’, for the evolution of the psychoanalytic method.
Saturday’s lunchbreak will feature a screening and discussion of a short film by Vanessa Preminger-Rubin exploring the creation of visual images with artificial intelligence to share otherwise unspeakable aspects of the analytical process.
Saturday afternoon will also feature short papers by Eira H. Bethell on the contemporary legacy of Bion’s officer selection experiments during World War Two, Sinisa Savic on the threshold moment when reverie has begun, while symbolisation has not yet gathered force, and Yuri Seino on some similarities between Bion’s work and Zen thought.
