Heather Foran

Prof. Heather Foran serves as Professor and Head of the Health Psychology Unit at the Institute of Psychology, Alpen-Adria-Universität Klagenfurt, Austria. She also coordinates the university-wide research cluster in 'Public Health'. A licensed clinical psychologist in the U.S. and licensed psychotherapist in Germany, she has established an international reputation in family violence research and prevention.

• Alpen-Addia-Universität Klagenfurt, Institute of Psychology (Current)
• Ulm University, Institute of Psychology and Education (2014-2015)
• Technische Universität Braunschweig, Institute of Psychology (2011-2014)

Dr. Foran's research focuses on family health, mental health, depression, parenting, intimate partner violence, public health, and psychometrics. Her work spans clinical assessment, psychopathology, mental illness treatment, and psychoeducation. She has developed expertise in DSM-related diagnostic systems and personality assessment, with particular focus on relationship problems and violence.

Her publication record demonstrates consistent output with 129 publications and over 3,600 citations. Recent work shows increasing focus on international, cross-cultural studies examining parental burnout across 36-42 countries, technology-based interventions, and global health initiatives targeting violence prevention. Her research increasingly emphasizes implementation science and scaling evidence-based programs, particularly in low- and middle-income countries.

Dr. Foran leads significant international collaborations, particularly on the FLOURISH project focusing on adolescent mental health across multiple countries. She has served as Principal Investigator on numerous international projects regarding family maltreatment and mental health symptom prevention.

Her current work includes developing and testing conversational agent self-help programs, examining parental burnout across cultural contexts, and investigating the co-occurrence of intimate partner violence and child maltreatment in Eastern Europe. She maintains active research lines in psychometric validation of assessment tools across diverse cultural settings.