Tragically, Dr Huma Zafar passed away from coronavirus in her home country of Pakistan, in May 2020.
Dr Zafar was a Visiting Academic for Post-Doctoral Fellowship in the Department of Psychology at the University of Sheffield. She was awarded the Fellowship by the Punjab Higher Education Commission, Government of Pakistan. She was an Associate Professor in Psychology and headed up post-graduate classes in the Punjab Education Department, Higher Education Wing in Pakistan.
Dr Zafar received her Master’s degree in Applied Psychology with distinction for outstanding academic performance. In 2005, she earned MPhil degree in Special Education from Allama Iqbal Open University, Islamabad. After being awarded the Indigenous Scholarship in 2007, she did her MPhil in Psychology at the National Institute of Psychology, Centre of Excellence, Quaid-i-Azam University, Islamabad in 2009, and PhD in Psychology at the International Islamic University, Islamabad in 2014.
She co-authored and edited books in the area of psychology and had national and international publications to her credit. She was an editor and peer-reviewer of national and international journals. She conducted numerous workshops and delivered lectures on psychological issues in Pakistan. Besides this, she appeared in various TV and radio programmes as a guest speaker, including for BBC radio, imitation rolex suggesting ways to help children undergoing psychological trauma. Her post-doctoral research focused on the effects of adverse childhood experiences, such as child abuse and neglect, on internalising and externalising problems in adolescents. Her hope was to help promote and inform scientific examination into trajectories of emotional and behavioural disorders in adolescents and in order to develop strategies to improve the implementation of evidence-based practices.
Dr Zafar was a post-doctoral researcher at the University of Sheffield between November 2018 and October 2019, and through her post-doctoral supervisor, Dr Agata Debowska, was introduced to the None in Three Centre as an Honorary Research Consultant. Her untimely death is a tragic loss, and we extend our condolences as a Centre to her family, friends and colleagues both in the UK and Pakistan.
