Zed Zhipeng Gao
Assistant Professor
- Department: Psychology, Health and Gender

Professor Zed Zhipeng Gao joined ҵ 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 ҵ, Gao taught in Toronto and Vancouver, where he enjoyed working with students from diverse backgrounds. In the small-class environment of ҵ, Gao applies a roundtable seminar format 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 “”,Theory & Psychology, 33(2), Sage.
- Gao, Z. (Ed.) (2022). Special Issue “”,Integrative Psychological and Behavioral Science, 56(2), Springer.
REPRESENTATIVE REFEREED ARTICLES
- Gao, Z. (2023). . In Z. Gao & T. Teo (Eds.) special issue “Theorizing the Psychology of Deglobalization”,Theory & Psychology, 33(2), 266-283.
- Gao, Z. (2021). . 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). . In W. Pickren & T. Teo (Eds.) special issue “Re-envisioning general psychology”. Review of General Psychology, 24(1), 43-59.
- Gao, Z. (2019). . 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). . 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). . 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 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