Felix Cheung
Assistant Professor, Department of Psychology
Felix Cheung is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Psychology whose two lines of research seek to promote population well-being based on sound empirical research.
In his research, Cheung examines the determinants and consequences of subjective well-being across diverse populations, with a focus on addressing pressing global issues such as sociopolitical unrest, income inequality and terrorism. His studies involve over four million participants based on large international datasets as well as diverse representative samples of participants.
In his most recent publication in Nature Communications, he focused on the impact of the Syrian conflict on Syrians living in Syria and found that the drastic declines in physical, mental and social well-being in the country are unparalleled in the world, even when compared to other countries in turmoil.
Cheung’s research also focuses on meta-science — the scientific study of science — and examines how the reliability of scientific findings can be potentially improved by “Big Science” (studies done by large collaborative teams); open science practices such as pre-registration and data sharing; and research incentives.
He received his BA in psychology from UCLA; and his MA and PhD in social/personality psychology from Michigan State University. Before joining U of T, he was a postdoctoral fellow at Washington University in St. Louis and a research assistant professor at the University of Hong Kong's School of Public Health.
Cheung received the J.S. Tanaka Dissertation Award from the Association for Research in Personality and was named a Rising Star by the Association for Psychological Science.