Biography
Dr Zoë Fortune is an Assistant Professor in Psychology at Heriot Watt University in Dubai. She is a Chartered Psychologist with the British Psychological Society and a qualified psychotherapist. She teaches on both the Undergraduate and Postgraduate Psychology courses at Heriot Watt University Dubai and is a supervisor of PhD students.
Dr Fortune is passionate about mental health, healthcare communication and Human Rights.
In her work and research, she aims to enable equality and access to health care and support, increase awareness and understanding, and ensure that research findings can be practically implemented.
As such, Dr Fortune has a background in applied psychological research and practice and her past roles have focused on developing links between academia, charity, businesses and governments.
Most recently she led the set-up and development of a not-for-profit organisation focusing on workplace mental health, the City Mental health Alliance Hong Kong. She has also lead research and evaluation across a number of international development settings.
Her current research focuses on workplace mental health and wellbeing, graduate and student mental health, and student engagement. She also conducts research into female empowerment, and issues relating to women’s health.
Academic leadership and Affiliations:
- Inclusion Coordinator Psychology Dubai
- Adjunct Assistant Professor University of Hong Kong
- Cluster Leader: Mental Health and Communication, Research and Impact Initiative on Communication in Healthcare (RIICH) at University of Hong Kong
- Advisory Panel member, City Mental Health Alliance Hong Kong
- Chartered Psychologist (CPsychol), British Psychological Society
- Research Lead and member of the Society of Business Psychologists Middle East (SoBPME)
Qualifications:
- PhD. King’s College London. 2011
- Master of Counselling. Monash University. 2021
- BSc. (Hons) Psychology. University College London. 2002
Publications:
- Edmonds, D., Fortune, Z., & Zayts, O. Graduates perceptions and employers expectations: Essential skills in Hong Kong workplaces during the COVID-19 pandemic and beyond. Accepted for publication in Industry and Higher Education.
- Zayts, O., Edmonds, D., Chee Kin, B., & Fortune, Z. (2023). The mental health of new and recent graduates during the university-to-work transition: A scoping review protocol. BMJ Open, 13 (4). Mental health of new and recent graduates during the university-to-work transition: a scoping review protocol | BMJ Open
- Edmonds DM, Zayts-Spence O, Fortune Z, et al. (2024). A scoping review to map the research on the mental health of students and graduates during their university-to-work transitions. BMJ Open 14. doi: 10.1136/bmjopen-2023-076729
- Zayts,-Spence, O., Edmonds, D., & Fortune, Z. (2023). Editorial: Mental Health, Discourse & Stigma. BMC Psychology, 11: 180. Mental Health, Discourse and Stigma | BMC Psychology | Full Text (biomedcentral.com)
- Zayts-Spence, O. A., Tse, V. W. S., & Fortune, Z. (2022). ‘Feel like going crazy’: Mental health discourses in an online support group for mothers during COVID-19. Discourse & Society, 34(2), 255-270 https://doiorg.eproxy.lib.hku.hk/10.1177/09579265221116302
- Fortune, Z., Mera, S., & Ling, P (2021). Piloting a method for the aggregation and visualisation of audit data to enhance forced labour risk identification. Journal of Modern Slavey, 6:1.