Who We Are
AcademiaJung.com

We have established ourselves as a leading school in the teaching of Analytical Psychology — developing a contemporary approach that integrates Jung’s thought with the life sciences, which we designate as the School of Codes, with an international vocation and global reach.
  • The International Academy of Analytical Psychology™ ​— AcademiaJung.com — has been, since 2013, an independent association of psychologists and other mental health professionals, dedicated to the dissemination and further development of Carl Jung’s work— work that remains, even today, largely unexplored, even among those who identify as “Jungian.”  
  • Based in Portugal, we embrace a global vocation. In the spirit of the Portuguese navigators who opened new worlds, we explore the psyche as true psychonauts, navigating the vast territory of the human mind.  
  • Grounded in this path, we founded in Braga (Portugal), in 2022, the Jungian Clinical Institute (ICJ) — www.icj.pt —, a dedicated espace for clinical practice, training, and research in Analytical Psychology.    

Our Origins and Development

AcademiaJung was founded in 2013 out of the need to support doctoral and postgraduate students in Analytical Psychology, in collaboration with international universities.  

In the absence of academic support structures in this field in Portugal, this independent initiative was created to address that gap.    

Since then, the Academy has evolved into a broader project, integrating: 
•       specialized training 
•       pedagogical and clinical supervision 
•       interdisciplinary collaboration in the fields of Analytical Psychology, Clinical Psychology, and Health Psychology  

Note: It is important to emphasize that this Academy is an independent initiative and has no affiliation with the International Association for Analytical Psychology.  

OPP - Accredited Training

We offer the first training program in Analytical Psychology accredited in Portugal (2018) by the Portuguese Psychologists’ Association (OPP): “Promotion, Prevention and Intervention in Mental Health: An Analytical Psychology Perspective”(Action code: 231.1). This program grants 60 credits within the specialization area of Clinical and Health Psychology.

The School of Codes for Analytical Psychology

Our theoretical approach distinguishes itself from the three classical schools of Analytical Psychology — the Classical (or Zurich), the Developmental (influenced by psychoanalysis and attachment theory), and the Archetypal (associated with James Hillman) — by proposing a fourth path: the “School of Codes.”

This perspective integrates Jung’s legacy with contemporary advances in the life and mind sciences. In particular, it takes as its structural axis Code Biology (www.codebiology.net), ​an emerging scientific field founded by the embryologist Marcello Barbieri (www.marcellobarbieri.website), ​which investigates the biological, neural, and cultural codes that organize vital and symbolic processes.

Within this framework, our approach engages with and extends the rich tradition initiated by Anthony Stevens and further developed, among others, by John Ryan Haule and Erik Goodwyn, to which we also seek to contribute.

As examples of the work emerging from our School, as well as of the growing influence of this perspective within the Jungian field, we highlight the following publications:

▶︎ Major, J.C. (2021). “Archetypes and code biology.” BioSystems, 208, 104501.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biosystems.2021.104501   

▶︎ Goodwyn, E. (2024). The innate story code. BioSystems, 244, 105285.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biosystems.2024.105285   

▶︎ Major, J.C. (2025). Review Essay on Gary Clark’s book, “Carl Jung and the Evolutionary Sciences: A New Vision for Analytical Psychology.” Routledge, 2025. International Journal of Jungian Studies, 7, 2.
https://doi.org/10.1163/19409060-bja10047   

▶︎ Major, J.C. (2025). From code to archetype: Toward a unified theory of biological, neural, and artificial artifacts. BioSystems, 254, 105516. 
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biosystems.2025.105516   

▶︎ Sacco, Rob G., Marks-Tarlow, T., & Beitman, Bernard D. (2026). Archetypes as Codes: Jungian Psychology, Biological Organization, and the Fractal Logic of Synchronicity. International Journal of Jungian Studies.
https://doi.org/10.1163/19409060-bja10063

It is at this intersection of psychology, biology, and code theory that our School takes shape.

We do not reject other perspectives; we recognize their essential contributions. However, we also understand that certain theoretical limitations remain—limitations that Jung himself sought to overcome: namely, situating Analytical Psychology within the life sciences. It is precisely this movement that we take up and further develop.

With us, science, clinical practice, and symbolism do not stand in opposition — they converge.

Philosophical and Epistemological Groundig

Our theoretical-practical approach finds its foundation in the phenomenological tradition of the “Braga School,” as well as in its humanistic and Jungian praxis, as understood and developed, for example, by Professors João Rodrigues Mendes, SJ (1910–1972), Diamantino Martins, SJ (1910–1979), and Alfredo de Oliveira Dinis, SJ (1952–2013), leading figures of the Faculty of Philosophy of Braga (FacFil), the first non-state higher education institution in Portugal to grant Licentiate and Doctoral degrees.

This School traces its origins to 1934, when the Jesuits founded the Beato Miguel de Carvalho Institute on Rua de S. Barnabé for the study of Philosophy. In 1967, the Institute was elevated to Faculty status and became the first Faculty of the Portuguese Catholic University (UCP). In 2015, it was merged with the Faculty of Social Sciences, forming a new academic unit.
 
In turn, the International Academy of Analytical Psychology — founded in 2013 by the clinical psychologist and Faculty member at FacFil, Prof. João Carlos Major (www.joaocarlosmajor.com), ​ together with other colleagues — presents itself as a natural heir to the Jungian tradition of that distinguished and memorable Braga School (agencia.ecclesia.pt/portal/filosofia-da-escola-bracarense). 

It is within this broader horizon that our own understanding of the human being is situated: not as an isolated entity, but as a constitutively relational reality. We therefore emphasize the so-called relational paradigm, as articulated by Professor Alfredo Dinis, in which relationality assumes an ontological character.
In the same vein, we argue that the Jungian notion of the “Self” should not be understood as something a priori (which would amount to a rejection of evolutionary theory, itself foundational to Jung’s thought, in the line of William James), but rather as a relational entity; or, put differently, as the ongoing dialogue between the conscious and the unconscious. 

Let us embark, together, on this journey of knowledge!