Prof Aneela Maqsood
Consultant
Professor Aneela Maqsood is a mental health researcher, academic, and consultant with over 22 years of experience in teaching, research, and program development in the field of mental health and behavioral sciences. She holds a Postdoctoral qualification in Mental Health from Queen Mary University of London and completed her PhD fellowship at Nottingham Trent University, UK. Professor Maqsood has extensive experience in academic leadership and research management. She has served in several senior administrative roles, including as Head of the Department of Behavioral Sciences at Fatima Jinnah Women University (FJWU), where she played a pivotal role in establishing and strengthening postgraduate education by initiating the M.Phil. and PhD programs. She also served as Director of the National Centre for Research on Suicide Prevention at FJWU, one of the few centres of its kind globally and a collaborative initiative under the Pakistan Institute of Living and Learning (PILL), contributing to national capacity building in suicide prevention research and policy. She served as Professor and Head of the Department of Applied Psychology at the National University of Modern Languages, where she also led the university’s counseling center.
As a Principal Investigator, Professor Maqsood has successfully secured and managed multiple competitive research grants from national and international funding bodies. These include the US–Pakistan University Partnerships Grants Program, Thematic Research Grants from the Higher Education Commission (HEC), HEC Committee of Social Sciences grants, funding from the British Council, the HEC–British Council International Strategic Program for Research and Education, as well as research funding from the industrial sector. She has also contributed as a Co-Principal Investigator and consultant trainer in projects supported by the US Alumni Grant and the Australia Awards. Her work increasingly focuses on implementation science and school health. Her research expertise includes the development, cultural adaptation, and validation of psychological assessment instruments, as well as the design and evaluation of therapeutic and psychosocial interventions. A central aspect of her work involves establishing clinical and research guidelines to ensure that psychological assessment tools are culturally sensitive and responsive to contextual and sociocultural factors, thereby supporting the effective use of evidence-based mental health interventions across diverse populations. Her research focuses on translating mental health evidence into practical interventions across diverse settings. Her work has contributed to the development and implementation of strategies aimed at improving mental health outcomes and strengthening human capital in educational institutions, communities, and organizational environments. Her research excellence has been recognized through several prestigious awards, including the Research Innovation Award from the South Asia Triple Helix Association. Her commitment to community engagement, particularly in supporting marginalized populations has been acknowledged through multiple community service awards. She provides professional training in wellbeing, mental health promotion, and research pedagogy. She has supervised more than 100 postgraduate and doctoral research theses and continues to contribute to academia and policy through her roles as an editorial board member, subject expert, and consultant for universities, research organizations, and governmental institutions.