Zed Zhipeng Gao

Professor Zed Zhipeng Gao joined AUP in 2021. Gao has an interdisciplinary academic background, with a PhD in historical, theoretical and critical studies of psychology followed by postdoctoral research in sociology and anthropology.

Gao's research falls in two clusters. The first cluster stems from his doctoral dissertation on the history of psychology in Chinese communism. Since then, Gao has been trying to expand this topic to post-communism including its neoliberal twist. The second cluster is about Chinese immigrants, especially with regard to their identity & belonging amid geopolitical conflicts. Gao approaches this topic with several frameworks, including transnationalism, (de)globalization, and indigenous psychology. This line of inquiry has brought Gao to poststructuralism, which helps him conceptualize the fragmentation of diaspora as well as keeps him marveling about the (post)-Enlightenment questions (such as rationality, post-truth, and identity politics). 

Gao published over 20 journal articles and book chapters. His works can be found in Review of General Psychology, Journal of Humanistic Psychology, Social Anthropology, Narrative Inquiry, History of Psychology, History of Science, etc. He also edited special issues of the journal Theory & Psychology (Sage) and the journal Integrative Psychological and Behavioral Science (Springer). Gao serves on the editorial board of the journal Theory & Psychology. He holds awards in several fields including international psychology, the history of psychology, and qualitative inquiry.

Before joining AUP, Gao taught in Toronto and Vancouver, where he enjoyed working with students from diverse backgrounds. In the small-class environment of AUP, Gao applies a roundtable seminar format to foster intellectual discussion and a sense of community.