Positive Psychology in the Middle East/North Africa - Springer

Positive Psychology in the Middle East/NorthAfrica

Louise Lambert • Nausheen Pasha-ZaidiEditors

Positive Psychologyin the Middle East/NorthAfricaResearch, Policy, and Practise

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EditorsLouise LambertEditor in ChiefMiddle East Journal of PositivePsychologyDubai, United Arab Emirates

Nausheen Pasha-ZaidiDepartment of Social ScienceHouston Community CollegeUniversity of Houston-DowntownHouston, TX, USA

ISBN 978-3-030-13920-9 ISBN 978-3-030-13921-6 (eBook)https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-13921-6

Library of Congress Control Number: 2019932598

© Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2019This work is subject to copyright. All rights are reserved by the Publisher, whether the whole or partof the material is concerned, specifically the rights of translation, reprinting, reuse of illustrations,recitation, broadcasting, reproduction on microfilms or in any other physical way, and transmissionor information storage and retrieval, electronic adaptation, computer software, or by similar or dissimilarmethodology now known or hereafter developed.The use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, service marks, etc. in thispublication does not imply, even in the absence of a specific statement, that such names are exempt fromthe relevant protective laws and regulations and therefore free for general use.The publisher, the authors and the editors are safe to assume that the advice and information in thisbook are believed to be true and accurate at the date of publication. Neither the publisher nor theauthors or the editors give a warranty, express or implied, with respect to the material contained herein orfor any errors or omissions that may have been made. The publisher remains neutral with regard tojurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

This Springer imprint is published by the registered company Springer Nature Switzerland AGThe registered company address is: Gewerbestrasse 11, 6330 Cham, Switzerland

Acknowledgements

This book could not have been completed without the help of numerous individualswho have contributed their thoughts and expertise. We are particularly grateful toeach of the authors who were exceedingly patient with rewrites, suggestions andquestions as we navigated this process. We would also like to thank Silvia King,Positive Psychology coach, for proofreading and providing another set of eyes inthe editing of the manuscript.

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Disclaimer

The information provided in this book is designed to provide helpful information onthe subjects discussed. This book is not meant to be used, nor should it be used, todiagnose or treat any psychological, medical or health condition. For diagnosis ortreatment of any medical problem, consult a qualified professional.

The views and opinions expressed in this book are those of the author(s) and donot necessarily reflect the views and opinions of the editors, their academic insti-tutions, sponsors or publisher. Therefore, the publisher, editors, individual authorsand their organisations are not liable for any damages or negative consequencesfrom any treatment, action, application or preparation, to any person reading orfollowing the information in this book. Any sponsors of the textbook are alsoexempt from any liability. References are provided for informational purposes onlyand do not constitute endorsement of any particular sources. Readers should beaware that the websites listed in this book may change.

While best efforts have been used in preparing this book, period updates andchanges to the information may produce inconsistencies therein. In this event, everyattempt shall be made by the editors to update the information in consequentpublications.

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Contents

1 Introduction: Musings on a Regional Positive Psychology . . . . . . . . 1Louise Lambert and Nausheen Pasha-Zaidi

Part I Government and Policy

2 The Pursuit of National Wellbeing Policies Across the GCC:The What, How, and Why? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11Louise Lambert, Aziz Mulay-Shah, Meg. A. Warren and Yara Younis

3 Commercial Life: The Private Sector’s Contributionto Wellbeing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37Aziz Mulay-Shah, Louise Lambert, Yara Younisand Bronwyn P. Wood

4 Happiness and the Built Environment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71Aubrilyn Reeder, Louise Lambert and Nausheen Pasha-Zaidi

Part II Education and the Workplace

5 Coming Full Circle: Taking Positive Psychology to GCCUniversities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93Louise Lambert, Rehman Abdulrehman and Cameron Mirza

6 Saudi Arabia’s Road to Positivity: Positive PsychologyEducation and Research . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111Saddiga Jaber Al-Ghalib, Shaden Abdul-Hakeem Al-Khalifah,Afeefah Y. Salim and Rana Abdulrahman Hafed Dahlawi

7 Positivity at Work: It’s Not a Contradiction! . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 133Louise Lambert, Elizabeth Topolskaya, Meg A. Warrenand Mansoor Anwar Habib

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Part III Measurement: Research Trends and Challenges

8 Big Data and Wellbeing in the Arab World . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 159Aamna Al-Shehhi, Ian Grey and Justin Thomas

9 Because a Citation and a Contribution are Not the Same:A Path for (Positive) Psychology Research . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 183Louise Lambert, Nausheen Pasha-Zaidi and Annie E. Crookes

10 Measuring Wellbeing: How and Why? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 207Louise Lambert, Lauren Hotchkiss and Holli-Anne Passmore

Part IV Culture and Religion

11 Islamic Perspectives on Wellbeing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 237Mohsen Joshanloo and Dan Weijers

12 The Life of PII: Developing a Positive Islamic Identity . . . . . . . . . . 257Nausheen Pasha-Zaidi and Muna Odeh

13 Advances in Wellbeing in the MENA Region: Accentuatingthe Positive . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 285Richard J. Estes and M. Joseph Sirgy

Part V Physical and Psychological Health

14 “It Brings Out the Best”: Incorporating Positive Healthinto Health Promotion Initiatives from the UAE’sPhysically Active . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 313Louise Lambert and Lily O’Hara

15 Positive Psychotherapy: Clinical and Cross-cultural Applicationsof Positive Psychology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 333Tayyab Rashid and Mohammed K. Al-Haj Baddar

16 Repercussions of Individual and Societal Valuingof Happiness . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 363Paul K. Lutz and Holli-Anne Passmore

17 Concluding Thoughts on the Development of a MiddleEast/North Africa Positive Psychology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 391Louise Lambert and Nausheen Pasha-Zaidi

x Contents

Editors and Contributors

About the Editors

Dr. Louise Lambert, Ph.D. is a Registered Psycholo-gist (#2659, College of Alberta Psychologists, Canada)and Professor with almost 20 years experience in coun-selling, mental health, not-for-profit organisations, highereducation and research, and primary healthcare. She haslived in the UAE for 9 years and is currently working withthe United Arab Emirates University’s (UAEU) EmiratesCenter for Happiness Research. She has established threeevidence-based positive psychology intervention pro-grammes. Her ‘Happiness 101’ programme is used inclinical settings and has shown 6-month post-treatmenteffectiveness (Lambert D’raven, Moliver, & Thompson,2015), while her workplace character strengths pro-gramme for teens, young adults and entry-level employeesis currently being trialled in Saudi Arabia (Lambert,Budhraja, Mullan, &Gupta, 2018). Finally, her universityintervention programme showed sustainable gains inwell-being at 3-month post-intervention relative to acontrol group, aswell as significant decreases in the fear ofhappiness (Lambert, Passmore, & Joshanloo, 2018). Shealso developed AlNowair’s Bareec positivity schoolprogramme (Lambert, Passmore, Al-Sabah, Hussain, &Scull, 2018), now adopted by the Kuwait Ministry of

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Education for use in government schools and highereducation institutions. She is well published and also theFounder andEditor-in-Chief of theMiddleEast Journal ofPositive Psychology, a journal dedicated to uncoveringhuman excellence in the region.

Dr. Nausheen Pasha-Zaidi, Ph.D. has degrees inCommunications, Education and Psychology. She hasworked as an international educator for almost 20 yearsfocusing on language development and cultural studieswith an emphasis on Muslim populations. Her articleshave appeared in a number of professional journalsincluding theMiddle East Journal of Positive Psychology,Ethnicities and The Journal of International Women’sStudies. She is the author ofTheColour ofMehndi, a novelthat explores acculturation, family values and mentalillness within the Pakistani-American community and thelead editor ofMirror on the Veil: A Collection of PersonalNarratives on Hijab and Veiling. After working in theUAE for almost 8 years as a K-12 ESL teacher, teachertrainer and Assistant Professor of General Studies inEngineering Communication, she recently moved back tothe United States in 2016 and currently teaches psychol-ogy at Houston Community College and the University ofHouston-Downtown. She also serves on the Board ofTrustees for the Chicago School of ProfessionalPsychology and is a founding member and Editor withthe Middle East Journal of Positive Psychology. Shecontinues to do international research through collabora-tions in the United States, Turkey and the UAE.

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Contributors

Dr. Rehman Abdulrehman, Ph.D., C.Psych. is aclinical psychologist and consultant, working withindividual clients and organisations. He is the Directorof Clinic Psychology Manitoba and Assistant Professorwith the Department of Clinical Health Psychology inthe Max Rady College of Medicine, Faculty of HealthSciences at the University of Manitoba (Canada). Heworks locally and abroad; he has been a visitingprofessor at three universities in Tanzania, currentlyworking out of the State University of Zanzibar, wherehe teaches and consults on programme development inlow-resource settings. His other work is focused on hisLeadWithDiversity.com initiative, where he helps pro-fessionals and organisations understand psychologicalaspects of diversity and actionable steps to improvingworkplace inclusion. He has training and experience incognitive behavioural therapy, focusing on anxietydisorders and PTSD. He is the former president of theManitoba Psychological Society and past chair of theCommittee on International Relations in Psychology forthe American Psychological Association. Photo CreditDaniel Crump.

Dr. Saddiga Jaber Al-Ghalib is Assistant Professor atthe Psychology Department at Effat University (SaudiArabia) and the founder and director of the PositivePsychology and Wellbeing Research Lab. She receivedher Ph.D. in Educational Psychology from the SouthernIllinois University Carbondale (USA). She has beenactive in the fields of educational psychology, leader-ship, learning styles, mindfulness, positive psychologyand well-being. She formerly served at Effat Universityas the first Dean of Graduate Studies and ScientificResearch, Director of the Research and ConsultancyInstitute, Director of the Center of Excellence inTeaching and Learning and Chair of the PsychologyDepartment. She is an experienced instructor, dataanalyst and statistical consultant. She has attendedconferences and forums all over the world, both as a

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speaker and guest. She is a life-long learner, alwaysfinding new ways to bring healing to people andmaking life easier for them. She is an inspiration to herstudents and peers due to her relentless passion forknowledge, learning and having fun.

Mohammed K. Al-Haj Baddar is an InternationalPositive Education Network global representative andInternational Positive Psychology Association associateand has a Master’s degree in educational psychologyfrom Al Balqaa University, Jordan. His thesis describedthe relationship between self-regulated learning andrational thoughts among students in Amman and wasawarded Best Thesis in education and psychology in2014. As a positive psychology specialist at the JannatiClinic, Jordan, he uses positive psychology interven-tions with groups, individuals and schools. An appre-ciation of beauty and excellence and love of learningare his strengths, leading him to take dozens of onlinecourses on psychology and positive psychology since2013. This past year, in collaboration with CAREInternational, he conducted seven positive psychosocialsupport programmes with 22 Syrian refugee groups inMafraq and Azraq. He is now writing an Arabic-language practice guide in positive psychology tospread the message of positivity called ةيباجيإلايسفن (MyPositive Psych).

Shaden Abdul-Hakeem Al-Khalifah is a psychologygraduate from Effat University (Jeddah, Saudi Arabia)and co-founder of the Positive Psychology &Wellbeing Research Lab. She formerly worked as aResearch Assistant at the Infant Language and LearningLab at Carnegie Mellon University, USA. She isinterested in studying spirituality and religiosity andtheir clinical application within a Middle Easternpopulation. She has also worked as a psychologistassistant at a number of public and private psychiatricfacilities in the kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

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Aamna Al-Shehhi is a Post-doctoral Fellow at theKhalifa University of Science Technology and Researchin Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates (UAE). Shereceived her Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering andComputer Science Department in 2017 from MasdarInstitute of Science and Technology in Abu Dhabi,UAE. Her present domains of interests are big data, dataanalytics, machine learning, as well as argumentationand time series analysis.

Dr. Annie E. Crookes, M.Sc., Ph.D., PGCertHE hasbeen in Dubai, UAE for 11 years as a lecturer anddepartment leader in Psychology for two British institu-tions. She is now Academic Head of Psychology forHeriot-Watt University (Dubai campus), developing andmanaging the psychology programmes at B.Sc. and M.Sc. levels and overseeing student support. She workswith professional psychologists in the UAE and helpsorganise the annual International Psychology Confer-ence Dubai (IPCD; www.psych-me.com). Her mainareas of teaching are cognitive psychology (memory,learning and perception), biopsychology and advancedcourses in consciousness and mental health studies.Following a recent sabbatical year inwhich she gained anM.Sc. in International Addiction Studies, she has aresearch interest in substance use among young peoplebased in Dubai.

Rana Abdulrahman Hafed Dahlawi holds a Bachelorof Science in Psychology degree from Effat University,Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. She is also one of the Co-Foundersof the ‘Positive Psychology &Wellbeing Research Lab’at Effat University and is currently working as a ResearchAssistant under the Research Lab. She is hoping topursue a career as a Clinical Psychologist in theKingdomand is interested in studying mental illnesses, genetics,resilience and cognition and how they can apply tovarious clinical and non-clinical settings in the MiddleEastern society.

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Karim El-Jisr has 20 years of experience in resourcemanagement, climate change and urban planning. Hevisited The Sustainable City in January 2014, duringthe initial construction phase, and immediately decidedto relocate there to promote sustainable living. He iscurrently establishing the SEE Institute—a globalplatform for advancing knowledge in sustainability inthe built environment. The Institute manages severalmulti-year research programmes, implements specialprojects with industry partners and is deploying amodular training programme for professionals in thebuilt environment. He holds a Bachelor of Science anda Bachelor of Engineering in Agriculture, and a Masterof Science in Ecosystem Management from theAmerican University of Beirut. He also holds a coursecertificate in Business Sustainability Management fromthe University of Cambridge Institute for SustainabilityLeadership (CISL). A seasoned speaker, he is fluent inArabic, English, French and Danish.

Dr. Richard J. Estes is Professor Emeritus of SocialWelfare of the School of Social Policy and Practicewith the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia,USA. He holds graduate degrees in social work(University of Pennsylvania, Master of Social Work;University of California at Berkeley, Doctor of SocialWelfare), as well as a post-master’s Certificate inPsychiatric Social Work. He has worked throughout theworld and garnered professional awards for his work onsocial development and nation-building. In recentyears, he has focused on patterns of social developmentand progress in societies that are predominately Islamic.He has authored many articles and his recent booksinclude Advances in wellbeing: Toward a better worldfor all (2018, with M. J. Sirgy); The pursuit of humanwellbeing: The untold global history (2018, withM. J. Sirgy), and Social progress in Islamic societies:Social, political, economic, and ideological challenges(2016, with H. Tiliouine) among earlier volumes on avariety of topics. He has a special interest in the originsof Jihadist terrorism and for the formulation of morepeaceful ways of settling legitimate grievances betweenWestern and Islamic countries.

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Dr. Ian Grey holds a Ph.D. from the NationalUniversity of Ireland and a D.Clin.Psych. fromTrinity College Dublin, Ireland. He holds additionalpostgraduate qualifications in Applied BehaviourAnalysis and in Forensic Psychology. He worked as aclinical psychologist for almost 20 years and previouslyspecialised in the application of assessment and inter-vention methodology to the remediation of behaviouraldisorders in children and adolescents with neurodevel-opmental disorders. He has more recently worked inforensic psychology settings specialising in psychome-tric assessment in legal settings. He has also worked asan applied practitioner and research simultaneouslyover his career. In addition to being Director ofServices for a centre for children and adolescents withneurodevelopmental disorders and published over 40book chapters and journal articles, he has held numer-ous grants. He is currently transitioning from hisposition as co-founder of the Culture, Cognition andPsychological Wellbeing unit within Zayed University,Abu Dhabi (UAE), to the Lebanese AmericanUniversity in Beirut, Lebanon.

Dr. Mansoor Anwar Habib is a Family Medicine andOccupational Health Consultant with du. Joining in2009, he established two staff clinics and a wellnessdepartment where he treats patients, tackles occupationalhealth complaints, manages chronic disease and imple-ments prevention strategies. He restructured du’s entirewellness department and launched a dedicated executivewellness programme that set wellness KPIs for companyexecutives. He was recognised with the ‘Idea Arabia’award by the Dubai Quality Group and in 2016, thenational agenda for happiness and positivity wasassigned to his department. Since 2012, he has beenthe Regional Chair of the International Associa-tion of Worksite Health Promotion, and Chair of theWorkplace Wellness Taskforce Group with the DubaiChamber. In 2017, he was nominated as the company’shappiness champion and graduated from the UAEgovernment executive leadership programme in

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collaboration with Oxford University and WhartonUniversity’s private sector happiness and positivityprogramme. He writes regularly about wellness innewspapers and magazines around the country.

Lauren Hotchkiss is a Research Assistant and JobCoach at the University of British Columbia, Canada.She has a Bachelor of Science (Honours) in Psychologyfrom the University of British Columbia Okanagan. Shehas conducted research on gratitude, hope, meaningfulwork and well-being. For her Honour’s Thesis, sheinvestigated how virtual communication and helpingothers influenced job meaningfulness and well-being.She continues to work with researchers around theworld on well-being projects.

Dr. M. Joseph Sirgy is a Management Psychologistand Virginia Tech Real Estate Professor of Marketingat Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University(USA). He spent his early years in Cairo and Beirut,with his parents being of Lebanese and Syrian descent.He is well published in well-being and quality-of-life(QOL) research and is the author/editor of many books.He co-founded the International Society for Quality-of-Life Studies (ISQOLS) in 1995 as well as its officialjournal, Applied research in quality of life (2005),where he continues to serve as editor. In those years, hereceived the Distinguished Research Fellow Award,Distinguished QOL Researcher Award and a record oflifetime achievement. In 2012, he was further given theEuroMed Management Research Award. He has editedthe ISQOLS/Springer book series on Handbooks inquality-of-life research and community quality-of-lifeindicators (best practices) and his recent book includesThe pursuit of wellbeing: The untold global history(2017). He is now serving as Springer’s book seriesco-editor for Human wellbeing and policy-making.

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Dr. Mohsen Joshanloo is an Assistant Professor ofPsychology at Keimyung University, South Korea. Hehas completed his Ph.D. in 2013 at Victoria Universityof Wellington, New Zealand. His research is focused onmental well-being, personality and research methodol-ogy. He has extensively published on mental well-being in non-western cultures with a particular focus onthe Muslim world. He advocates culturally inclusiveresearch into well-being and works with a vast networkof international colleagues from a broad range ofnations, including the UAE.

Amol Kadam is the co-founder of RBBI, the region’sfirst User Experience (UX) and usability consultancyestablished in Dubai in 2011. He is an expert in UserExperience, Usability, User Research, Strategy and CXand has written for leading publications within theregion and participated as a speaker in internationalconferences. For more than 22 years, he has concep-tualised, designed and managed significant projects fora wide range of clients involving digital transformation,CX, UX and strategy and usability. He is a certifiedusability professional and a registered member ofUsability Professionals Association Worldwide. Heholds a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Applied Design fromSir J.J. Institute of Applied Arts, Mumbai University(India) and Master’s Certificate in Human–ComputerInteraction from Washington University (USA).

Paul K. Lutz is a third-year undergraduate studentcurrently pursuing a Bachelor of Arts (Honours) inPsychology at the University of British ColumbiaOkanagan (Canada). His primary research interests fallat the intersection of moral and positive psychology.Specifically, he has conducted research on moralemotions, well-being, meaning in life and moral identityunder the supervision of Holli-Anne Passmore(Ph.D. Candidate) and Dr. Derrick Wirtz. He is alsocurrently serving as a Research Assistant for theEnduring Happiness and Continued Self-Enhancement(ENHANCE) trials, a comprehensive intervention pro-gramme helmed by world-renowned researcher Dr. EdDiener and colleagues, that aims to promote variousaspects of well-being.

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Cameron Mirza is a skilled education leader with bothinternational experience, and within the UK and MiddleEast including working with two UK prime ministers.At the Department for Education (UK), he was respon-sible for the establishment of the young apprenticeshipprogramme and led the review of diversity in thecurriculum with Sir Keith Ajegbo. He was appointedDirector for Strategy for Higher Education Council,Bahrain from December 2011 to May 2016 where heco-authored a national higher education strategy and thenation’s first industry-led graduate skills guide. In 2016,he was appointed Head of Transformation at theUniversity of Bahrain, authoring the transformationplan of the national university. He is a board member ofBETT Middle East and a fellow of Oxfords Gulf Talentadvisory board.

Aziz Mulay-Shah former Canadian diplomat, is nowthe Managing Director of Global CommunicationsAgency (GCA), a well-being policy advisory firm,specialising in commercial happiness audits across theUAE and GCC region. GCA also develops socialimpact investment strategies as a component ofCorporate Social Responsibility projects for clients inthe Gulf, Canada and MENASA region. He is a leaderin developing strategic ideas, policy prescriptions andleading teams to implement them. He favours a holisticapproach when advising his clients in which hecombines policy planning, implementation and evalu-ation to address challenges relating to internationalassistance and humanitarian aid, strategic politicalcommunications, and coalition building. His goal is tocreate new civic models and enhanced communities,whether local, regional or international. He holdsadvanced graduate degrees in International Relations,public policy and music.

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Muna Odeh is a Palestinian Jordanian now living inDubai (UAE) and a graduate of the American Universityof Sharjah (Sharjah, UAE). She received her Bachelor’sdegree in International Studies with a minor inPsychology and currently works in media contentanalysis. Her interests are positive psychology, mediapsychology, identity development and creative writing.She takes great interest in considering how a positiveIslamic identity can be developed, by young adults inparticular, given contemporary media portrayals.

Dr. Lily O’Hara is Associate Professor of PublicHealth at Qatar University. She is a public health andhealth promotion academic and practitioner withextensive experience in Australia, United ArabEmirates and Qatar in community, workplace, univer-sity and school-based programmes. Her researchfocuses on assessing health and well-being status atthe community and organisational level, and develop-ing setting-based critical health promotion initiatives.She is actively engaged in critiquing public healthapproaches to body weight and developing ethical andevidence-based public health initiatives using theHealth at Every Size approach. Her research is alsofocused on developing the competencies of the healthpromotion workforce. She is the co-author of the RedLotus Health Promotion Model, a model for holistic,salutogenic and ecological health promotion.

Holli-Anne Passmore (ABD) is a positive psychologyresearcher focusing on the connection of nature towell-being, meaning in life and the sense and experi-ence of being alive. Her work has been published inmany academic journals (e.g. Journal of PositivePsychology, Journal of Happiness Studies andInternational Journal of Wellbeing) and books (e.g.International Contributions to the Study of PositiveMental Health, Positive Psychology among Childrenand Adolescents). She has presented her work at manyconferences including the past four World Congresseson Positive Psychology, Canadian Positive PsychologyAssociation and International Network on PersonalMeaning conferences. She was awarded (2017) the

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University of British Columbia’s (Canada) Provost’sAward for Teaching Assistance Excellence andreceived over $200,000 in grants and scholarshipfunding for her research. She is currently collaboratingwith researchers in the UAE, China, Germany, Japan,Korea and Russia.

Dr. Tayyab Rashid is a Therapist by heart andResearcher by head at the Health & Wellness Centre,University of Toronto Scarborough Canada (UTSC)who tries to integrate symptoms with strengths,resources with risks, weaknesses with values and hopewith regrets. He has worked with 9/11 families andsurvivors of Asian tsunamis as examples of hisclientele. He is best known for the development of apositive clinical psychology and protocol for a positivestrength-based psychotherapy (Rashid, 2014). He hasshared his insights from these connections throughtraining at diverse settings including Kings College,UK, University of Maastricht, U of Paris, PrincetonUniversity, Wellington College, UK, and the GeelongGrammar School, Australia. Many of these insightswere published in several peer-reviewed journals, bookchapters and caught the attention of Wall Street Journal,Psychology Today, Toronto Star, The Globe and Mail,and Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC).

Aubrilyn Reeder supports United World Infrastructure’s(UWI) Urban Ecology initiatives, including HappierCities. She has presented this work at internationalconferences, such as the International Gross NationalHappiness Conference in Bhutan and the FIABCIInternational Real-Estate Congress in Dubai. She was ajudge for the Happiest Communities designation at themost recent Gulf Real Estate Awards. She has over 15years of experience working with communities to improveeducational and livelihood opportunities including design-ing and managing training programmes for the SupremeEducation Council of Qatar, leading curriculum andleadership training development programmes for over1000 schools in India, and working with migrant farmworkers in the United States. She began her career with

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Teach for America, working with children in under-resourced public school systems. She earned a Bachelor ofArts in Cognitive Science from the University of Virginia(USA) and a Master of Education from Harvard University(USA).

Afeefah Y. Salim is a highly motivated individual whograduated from Effat University (Jeddah, Saudi Arabia)with a Bachelor of Science in Psychology with FirstHonors. Her dissertation was an experiment on amindfulness intervention for university students, dis-cussed in her chapter. Her interests lay in the subjectsof well-being, positive psychology, mindfulness, spir-ituality, as well as mental health. Her love forconducting research in general is the reason she helpedco-found Saudi Arabia’s first Positive Psychology andWellbeing Lab.

Dr. Justin Thomas earned his Ph.D. in experimentalpsychology from the University of Manchester, UK,and has professional postgraduate qualifications inhealth psychology and cognitive therapy. He is aChartered Health Psychologist with the BritishPsychological Society and Professor of Psychology atZayed University in Abu Dhabi (UAE). There, hedirects the Research Cluster for Culture, Cognition andWellbeing. He also publishes extensively on topicsrelated to culture and psychological well-being, as wellas psychopathology. His most recent book isPsychological wellbeing in the Gulf states: The newArabia Felix (2015). He also believes in promoting apublic understanding of science and writes for thepopular press, like The National (UAE), and makesregular media appearances and gives public lecturesand workshops on a variety of psychology topics.

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Elizabeth Topolskaya is working in Dubai (UAE) asan instructional designer with Pearson Education, theworld’s largest educational company. Much like thecompany’s slogan, ‘always learning’, she pursues herpassion in research and has published works on onlinelearning in the GCC, emerging HR trends and publichealth awareness initiatives on male cancer. She has abackground in public health and has worked in an HRconsultancy firm, which allowed her to understand thenuances of the HR practices across the GCC region.Following her passion for research and learning,she strives to ensure that science becomes easilyavailable to professionals and that the most progressiveresearch is implemented across industries by visionarymanagement.

Vafa Valapour is the Co-Founder/Principal of UnitedWorld Infrastructure (UWI) and leads its strategicinvestments in real estate and infrastructure assets, andguides new business initiatives. He has worked exten-sively with multinational organisations, banks andgovernment-linked agencies to develop strategic infras-tructure systems that encourage economic integrationand technology transfer. He has overseen multibillion-dollar transnational investments across the Americas,Asia, the Middle East and North Africa. Serving indifferent positions in The Executive Office of Dubai,including Chief Investment Officer in the real estate andinfrastructure group, he managed the financial planningand development of large-scale real estate assets. Heearned his Bachelor of Arts in Economics and Historyfrom the University of Pennsylvania (USA).

Dr. Meg A. Warren is Assistant Professor of Manage-ment atWesternWashingtonUniversity, USA. She is thePast-President of the Work & Organizations Divisionof the International Positive Psychology Association(IPPA), and Co-Founder and Associate Director of theWestern Positive Psychology Association (WPPA). Herresearch includes positive approaches to diversity andinclusion, empowering work relationships and organi-sational virtuousness. She has a strong interest in culturalinfluences on well-being and actively works withcollaborators in Africa, the Middle East and South

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America. She is the lead editor of two 2017 volumes,Scientific Advances in Positive Psychology and Toward aPositive Psychology of Relationships: New Directions inTheory and Research. She has published articles in manypeer-reviewed journals, including the Middle EastJournal of Positive Psychology, Journal of PositivePsychology, International Journal ofWellbeing, Journalof Wellbeing Assessment, as well as CanadianPsychology. She holds two graduate degrees in businessand a Ph.D. in psychology.

Dr. Dan Weijers was formally Assistant Professor atCalifornia State University Sacramento (USA) and isnow a Philosophy Lecturer in the School of SocialSciences at the University of Waikato (New Zealand).Although primarily a philosopher, most of his research ison interdisciplinary happiness and well-being studies.He has published in a range of disciplines, includingphilosophy, psychology, economics, politics and publicpolicy. He has also promoted research on interdisci-plinary happiness and well-being studies by co-foundingand co-editing the International Journal ofWellbeing, aninterdisciplinary open access academic journal, andco-organising a series of international conferences onwell-being and public policy.

Dr. Bronwyn P. Wood has a consulting, research andteaching background in consumer research, especiallyconsumer values, and with a special interest in IslamicMarketing. She serves as Associate Editor of theInternational Journal of Islamic Marketing andBranding, and on the Senior Editorial Advisory Boardof the Journal of IslamicMarketing. Her research has beenpublished in the Journal of Business Research, MarketingIntelligence and Planning and the International Journal ofTourism Management, among others. She has taught inher native New Zealand, Saudi Arabia, Oman, and haslived in Japan. She is currently in the BusinessAdministration Department at the United Arab EmiratesUniversity in Al Ain (UAE).

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Yara Younis though born and raised in Dubai (UAE),nonetheless feels detached from her ‘home’ in the GazaStrip of Palestine. Now, having spent years contem-plating traditional Arab society, she considers themeaning of modern Arab identity, as well as how andwhether policy decisions can have an impact on suchquestions. She graduated from the Canadian UniversityDubai with a B.A. (hons) in media and communicationstudies, with a focus on advertising. She joined theDelma Institute in Abu Dhabi as a MENA researchanalyst and is currently working as the Deputy Advisorand Project Coordinator for the UAE Minister ofCulture and Knowledge Development. She recentlyreceived a full international Master’s level scholarshipto study in Canada and is preparing for an illustriouscareer in International Studies.

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