IPPA Council of Advisors

where he co-founded the Master of Applied Positive Psychology Program with Martin Seligman. The Founding Executive Director of IPPA, he is currently leading a three-year, multi-million-dollar grant investigating connections between the science of well-being and the arts and humanities.

Professor Kaiping Peng is currently the dean of the school of social sciences, chair of the psychology department at Tsinghua University. He was a tenured faculty member at the Department of Psychology of the University of California at Berkeley before returning to China in 2009. He received his Ph.D. in Social Psychology from the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor in 1997. Before coming to the US in 1989, he had been a faculty member at the Psychology Department of Peking University of China for five years. He had been the head of the social/personality psychology area in Berkeley, member of the American Psychological Association Leadership Council, executive committee of the Institute of East-Asian Studies, steering committee for the Diversity Research at UC Berkeley, the co-president of the Fifth International Conference of Chinese Psychologists Worldwide, the founding President of Chinese Positive Psychology Association and the board member of the International Positive Psychology Association, and numerous other national and international professional academic services. Since 2008, he has been the founding chair of the Psychology Department of Tsinghua University, also directs the Happiness Technology Lab and the Tsinghua Berkeley Center for Psychological Studies。 He has published eight books and more than 300 articles and essays on cultural and social psychology, as well as methodological issues of psychology. According to many surveys, he had been the world most cited social psychologist at the associate professor level until 2007, and one of the most cited Chinese psychologists in the world. His new book on positive psychology has been on the top ten best seller list on Amazon China.

Generally, my research examines the role that positive emotions and other positive factors play in influencing stress and health outcomes. I am especially interested in exactly how these factors “get under the skin” to influence our well-being and protect us against the harmful effects of stress. Pathways that I have examined include physiological processes such as stress hormone reactivity, cardiovascular response, immune system change, as well as health behaviors like sleeping, exercise, and other leisure activities. I also do research on the role of these positive psychosocial factors in buffering the detrimental effects of stress. For example, I am interested in whether happiness is associated with an improved ability to handle stress, both from a psychological and a physiological standpoint. I am also very interested in using relationship and emotion markers outside of self-report as predictors of health. For example, computerized word encoding of writing, or positive facial emotion expression (e.g., smiling) as alternative, unobtrusive methods of understanding individual differences.

Her work specifically focuses on exploring the intersection of positive psychology, spirituality, and flourishing through a scientific lens, and translating research findings into engaging, embodied interventions with a strong empirical foundation.

This work has been largely inspired by Maya’s lifelong quest to understand and harness the foundational elements of wellbeing at a personal level, through an integrative and multi-faceted approach. Though born and raised in Singapore, Maya has spent the last decade of her life traveling extensively and studying a vast range of contemplative practices from various wisdom traditions. Pursuing the academic study of psychology in concert with the applied study of spiritual traditions has awakened a depth of purpose within Maya that drives all her endeavors.

The growth that she has experienced through her invigorating journey of scientific inquiry, daily contemplative practice, and mindful movement has inspired many soulful connections. It has imbued Maya’s experiences of life with profound meaning and fueled a dedication to lifelong learning and authentic sharing that is anchored in her heartfelt intention to lovingly serve others.

He is a Faculty Associate with the Human Flourishing Program at Harvard and a visiting scientist at the Chan School of Public Health, Harvard. Dr. Rashid is also a faculty member with the VIA Institute on Character and an Honorary Fellow at the Centre for Wellbeing Science, University of Melbourne.

 

Dr. Rashid’s expertise includes strength-based clinical psychotherapy for complex mental health challenges, resilience, and post-traumatic growth.

 

He completed his pre- and post-doctoral clinical training at the University of Pennsylvania under Dr. Martin Seligman, where he developed and empirically validated the Positive Psychotherapy protocol. Dr. Rashid has worked with individuals who have experienced severe trauma, including survivors of the 2004 Asian Tsunami, 9/11 families, journalists in conflict zones, and survivors of mass shootings and high-suicide-risk areas.

 

He has delivered over fifty invited talks and keynotes and has trained mental health professionals and educators in more than 25 countries. His books Positive Psychotherapy (2018), co-authored with Martin Seligman, and Strengths-Based Resilience (2025), co-authored with colleagues, are considered among the most comprehensive, evidence-based, and culturally informed positive psychology intervention protocols. These works have been translated into several languages.

 

Dr. Rashid serves on the Board of Directors for both the International Positive Psychology Association (IPPA) and the VIA Institute on Character. He received the Chancellor Award (2018) from the University of Toronto and the Outstanding Practitioner Award (2017) from the International Positive Psychology Association (IPPA).

 

Dr. Rashid has been deeply engaged with IPPA since its inception in 2007. He served as the founding president of the Clinical Division (2016–2019) and co-authored the Ethical Guidelines for Positive Psychology Practice, now translated into 11 languages. He has completed two terms on the IPPA Board of Directors and currently chairs the IPPA Credentialing Task Force, leading the development of global standards for positive psychology education and training. In 2023, he co-chaired the World Congress of Positive Psychology in Vancouver alongside Roy Baumeister and Andrew Soren and has been a regular presenter at every World Congress and several regional conferences. His work continues to shape the field’s scientific rigor, ethical grounding, and cultural relevance.

 

Websites:

www.tayyabrashid.com

Strengths Based Resilience

Positive Psychotherapy

Reb Rebele is a Senior Research Fellow for the Wharton People Analytics initiative at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania and a Ph.D. candidate in the Personality Processes Lab in the School of Psychological Sciences at the University of Melbourne. Reb earned his Master of Applied Positive Psychology (MAPP) degree at the University of Pennsylvania and taught in that program for nearly 10 years. His research aims to understand consistency and flexibility in human motivation and behavior – particularly in the context of work – and has been conducted with a number of national and international organizations. Reb’s research and writing has appeared in academic journals (Proceedings of the National Academy of Science), books (Flourishing in Work, Life, and Careers), and industry publications (Harvard Business Review, Sloan Management Review). After completing MAPP, he worked on a diverse portfolio of positive psychology projects, including serving as part of a resilience training team working with the U.S. Army and groups of educators, speaking and guest-lecturing on applied psychology topics to organizations and conferences, and working as a strategic advisor to the International Positive Psychology Association.

Professor Willibald Ruch is a founding member of the International Positive Psychology Association (IPPA) and currently chair of the section of personality and assessment at the University of Zürich, Switzerland. He received his PhD from the University of Graz, Austria in 1980 and later worked at different universities in Germany, the UK and Switzerland. He taught various courses on personality and assessment at different universities (e.g. Düsseldorf, Berlin, Frankfurt, Belfast, Zürich) and he has authored about than 300 journal articles and book chapters and co-edited and co-written five books. Willibald is co-editing or on the editorial board of several journals (including Journal of Individual Differences, Journal of Research in Personality, Journal of Positive Psychology), and co-editor of two book series. Currently he is working on positive psychology traits (e.g., character strengths and virtues; orientations to happiness, cheerfulness, humor) in adults and children/adolescents and their role in contributing to the good life. He is the founder and current president the Swiss Positive Psychology Association (www.swippa.ch), IPPA Fellow and senior scientist at the VIA Institute of character.

where he focuses on positive psychology, learned helplessness, depression, ethno-political conflict, and optimism. He is a best-selling author of several books including, most recently, Flourish. He received the American Psychological Society’s William James Fellow Award for basic science and Cattell Award for the application of science, and two Distinguished Scientific Contribution awards from the American Psychological Association. In 1996, Seligman was elected president of the American Psychological Association by the largest vote in modern history. His current mission is the attempt to transform social science to work on the best things in life—virtue, positive emotion, good relationships, and positive institutions—and not just on healing pathology.

Because of his work on adolescent well-being, he was awarded the Distinguished QOL Researcher Award by the International Society for Quality-of-Life Studies.

Daniel is passionate about teaching and youth development. He has implemented four subjects on leadership and Service Learning with an enrolment of 18,000+ students. He has received several teaching awards, including four QS Reimagine Education Awards (two bronze, one gold and one silver awards) and the University Grants Committee Teaching Award.

Daniel is committed to community service. He is the former Chairman of Action Committee against Narcotics and current Chairman of the Family Council in Hong Kong. Because of his community service, he has been awarded the Bronze Bauhinia Star and Silver Bauhinia Star by the Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region.

A) Why did you join or become affiliated with IPPA:

I have conducted research on positive youth development (PYD) and developed PYD programs to promote the well-being of adolescents. I am also interested in research and program development in leadership and Service Learning. These research interests and programs are consistent with the vision of IPPA. Through IPPA, I hope I can work together with other colleagues on these initiatives.

B) Why are you agreeing to serve on the IPPA Board:

My understanding is that IPPA has three missions:

1.    Promotion of the science and applications of research in positive psychology
2.    Facilitation of transdisciplinary collaboration amongst different stakeholders across the globe
3.    Sharing findings of positive psychology with a wide range of audience

It is my modest wish to contribute to the work related to these missions.

C) What is something memorable or something you have gained from IPPA or the world of positive psychology:

Together with a group of colleagues, we developed a project entitled “P.A.T.H.S. to Adulthood” to promote the positive development of young people in Hong Kong. It lasted for 14 years. I am very pleased to note the positive changes in the students as well as the teachers after joining the programs.

Kamlesh Singh (Ph. D Psychology), joined the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Delhi in 2004 and has about 20-year experience in research and teaching. Main areas of her research interest are positive psychology, applied positive psychology, psychometrics, community psychology, and rural women and adolescents. Kamlesh Singh has to her credit 65 published papers in the peer reviewed national and international journals and 14 book chapters. She has also presented about 60 papers at national and international conferences. She has been teaching courses like positive psychology and psychological testing at IIT Delhi, Indian Institute of Management (IIM) Indore and IIM Ranchi. With her ongoing teaching and various research projects in positive psychology, Kamlesh Singh is also on board of directors of the International Association of Positive Psychology (IPPA) and secretary and founder member of National Positive Psychology Association (NPPA). She has also recently joined as Associate Editor, Journal of the Indian Academy of Applied Psychology.

Andrew Soren is the Founder and CEO of Eudaimonic by Design, a global network of facilitators, coaches and advisors who share a passion for well-being and believe organizations must be designed to enable it. Together they harness the best of scholarship and years of experience to advise organizations and design systems that unlock potential and bring out the best in people.

Since 2013, he has been faculty with the University of Pennsylvania’s internationally renowned Masters  of Applied Positive Psychology program. He is also the past president of the program’s Alumni Association.

Andrew is an ICF certified coach through the Co-Active Training Institute. He splits his time between Toronto, Canada and Montevideo, Uruguay.

a) Why did you join IPPA:
As a student, practitioner and teacher of applied positive psychology for the past decade, I know IPPA plays a critical role in the ecosystem of positive psychology – from promoting the science and facilitating community, to sharing findings and applications to increasingly broader audiences.

b) Why did you agree to serve on the IPPA Board of Directors:
Given the important role IPPA plays, I was keen to bring my experience and skills to the Board and the Association more broadly. I am a fervent believer that we must maintain the good of the commons for Positive Psychology. As the field continues to exponentially expand, especially outside of an academic environment and across practitioner bases, IPPA’s role as a custodian for this commons is critical. For me, there was no better way to give back to a commons that has been so important to my life and profession than to be part of the board meant to ensure its good governance.

c) What is something memorable or something you have gained from being part of IPPA:
As Chris Peterson used to say, “other people matter” and that is what IPPA has given to me. It has helped me build a global community of passionate researchers and practitioners of positive psychology who I partner with and learn from regularly.

Dr. Philip Streit is a trained clinical and health psychologist, NLP Master Practitioner, Psychotherapist, Supervisor, and Social and Life Coach. He is Head of the Institute and the Academy for Child, Youth and Family (IKJF) e.U. in Graz, Austria, Director of the Institute for Positive Psychology and Mental Coaching, Coordinator for Seligman Europe, and a current member of the IPPA Board of Directors. Dr. Streit has been working actively in the field of positive psychology since 2009, specializing in psychological interventions for counseling, coaching and therapy.

As part of the positive psychological platform, Seligman Europe, Dr. Streit organized symposia, lectures, and seminars on positive psychology.  In 2011, he developed training for Applied Positive Psychology in German-speaking countries in collaboration with Prof. Martin Seligman and the University of Pennsylvania (USA)

That same year he founded the Institute for Positive Psychology and Mental Coaching in Graz, where he regularly conducts workshops and holds regular seminars entitled:  “Positive Psychology – practice-oriented concepts and interventions for school psychologists and school psychologists “and “Applied Positive Psychology – Positive Leadership.”

His current research includes a project of the Institute for Positive Psychology and Mental Coaching in cooperation with the Department of geriatric psychiatry at the Landesnervenklinik Sigmund Freud in Graz about wellbeing “A positive psychological intervention program for depressed people over 65 years.” He has also recently embarked on a project to develop the German version of Positive Psychotherapy Inventory (Rashid, 2013) and the PERMA profiler (Kern, 2012).