Professor Zed Zhipeng Gao joined AUP in 2021. Gao has an interdisciplinary academic background, holding a Ph.D. in the historical, theoretical, and critical studies of psychology. He has also conducted postdoctoral research in sociology and anthropology.
Gao's research falls into two clusters. The first cluster stems from his doctoral dissertation on the history of psychology in Chinese communism. The second cluster focuses on Chinese immigrants, particularly regarding the politics of identity in its racial, national, and cultural forms. Recently, Gao has been gravitating toward theoretical research, drawing inspiration from poststructuralism and the Frankfurt School to inject critical inquiry into existing theoretical frameworks.
Gao has published over 20 journal articles and book chapters. His work has appeared in Review of General Psychology, Journal of Humanistic Psychology, Social Anthropology, Narrative Inquiry, History of Psychology, History of Science, etc. He has edited special issues of the journals Theory & Psychology (Sage) and the journal Integrative Psychological and Behavioral Science (Springer). Gao serves on the editorial board of the journal Theory & Psychology. Additionally, Gao is a co-organizer of the 2025 Three Societies Meeting (ESHHS, CHEIRON, and SHP) in Paris. Gao has received several awards in international psychology, the history of psychology, theoretical psychology, and qualitative inquiry.
Before joining AUP, Gao taught in Toronto and Vancouver, where he enjoyed working with students from diverse backgrounds. At AUP, he utilizes a roundtable seminar format in the small-class environment to foster intellectual discussion and a sense of community.
Education/Degrees
- Postdoc in Sociology and Anthropology, Simon Fraser University & The Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada
- PhD in Psychology, York University, Canada
- MA in Psychology, York University, Canada
Publications
EDITED JOURNAL SPECIAL ISSUES
- Gao, Z. & Teo, T. (Eds.) (2023). Special Issue “Theorizing the Psychology of Deglobalization”, Theory & Psychology, 33(2), Sage.
- Gao, Z. (Ed.) (2022). Special Issue “Contemporary Innovations in Theory: Contributions from China and the Chinese Diaspora”, Integrative Psychological and Behavioral Science, 56(2), Springer.
REPRESENTATIVE REFEREED ARTICLES
- Gao, Z. (2023). The Politics of Chinese Immigrants’ “Double Unbelonging” and Deglobalization. In Z. Gao & T. Teo (Eds.) special issue “Theorizing the Psychology of Deglobalization”, Theory & Psychology, 33(2), 266-283.
- Gao, Z. (2021). Unsettled belongings: Chinese immigrants’ mental health vulnerability as a symptom of international politics in the Covid-19 pandemic. In Z. Morrill, L. Hoffman & M. Yang (Eds.) special issue “COVID-19 Part II”. Journal of Humanistic Psychology, 61(2), 198-218.
- Gao, Z. (2020). From empirical observation to social intervention: The Marxization of psychology in China, 1949–1958. In W. Pickren & T. Teo (Eds.) special issue “Re-envisioning general psychology”. Review of General Psychology, 24(1), 43-59.
- Gao, Z. (2019). Forging Marxist psychology in China’s Cold War geopolitics, 1949–1965. In H. Y. Wu (Ed.) special issue “History of psychology and psychiatry in the global world”. History of Psychology, 22(4), 309-327.
- Gao, Z. & Bischoping, K. (2019). The communist hero and the April Fool’s joke: A case study in the cultural politics of authentication and fakery. In M. Krings, C. Kilian & J. Beek (Eds.) special issue “An anthropology of defrauding and faking”. Social Anthropology, 27(3), 438-454.
- Gao, Z. (2015). Pavlovianism in China: Politics and differentiation across scientific disciplines in the Maoist era. In H. Chiang (Ed.), special issue “Ordering the social: History of the human sciences in modern China”. History of Science, 53(1), 57-85.
See my Google Scholar for a complete list of publications.
Awards, Fellowships and Grants
- Distinguished Early Career Contributions in Qualitative Inquiry Award, Quantitative and Qualitative Methods, Division 5 of the American Psychological Association, 2022
- Early Career Award, Society for the History of Psychology, Division 26 of the American Psychological Association, 2022
- Outstanding Early Career Psychologist Award (outside the US), International Psychology, Division 52 of American Psychological Association, 2020
- Young Scholar Award, Cheiron: The International Society for the History of Behavioral and Social Sciences, 2019
- Certificate of Academic Excellence, Canadian Psychological Association, 2019
- Postdoctoral Fellowship, “Inter-Cultural Experience of Chinese Immigrants in Canada” (PI), Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada: $90,000, 2019-2021