Academic Career

In 2000, Dr. Kazantzis was appointed as Lecturer at the School of Psychology at Massey University, where he was nominated as lecturer of the year and was awarded the University’s Research Medal. He served as Guest Editor for Journal of Clinical Psychology (2002) and Psychotherapy Research (2003) early in his career. During his appointment at Massey University he worked as a psychologist at North Shore Hospital’s inpatient unit, outpatient service, and Cognitive Therapy Centre (Auckland, New Zealand).

In 2004, he was promoted to Senior Lecturer and received the Tracey Goodall Early Career Award for “outstanding contributions” from the Australian Association for Cognitive Behavior Therapy. In 2005, his research was featured in the American Psychological Association’s “APA Monitor” for significant findings relevant to the profession.

In 2006, he established a specialist service at the Albany Psychology Clinic (Auckland, New Zealand), involving group Cognitive Behavior Therapy for individuals with clinically significant levels of anxiety and depression. That same year he established a separate depression service for individuals within his funded research program on depression, launched the workshop program for clinicians, and served as Guest Editor for Journal of Psychotherapy Integration (2006) and the New Zealand Journal of Psychology (2006).

In 2007, he was appointed by the New Zealand Psychological Society (NZPsS) as Editor-in-Chief of the New Zealand Journal of Psychology (tenure 2007-2009) and subsequently received the NZPsS “certificate of appreciation” in recognition of that work. That same year he served as Guest Editor for Cognitive and Behavioral Practice (2007), while also working as a psychologist at the Rodney Adult Mental Health Service, a community mental health clinic in Auckland.

In 2009, he relocated to Melbourne, Australia where he began private practice in primary care and joined La Trobe University as Senior Lecturer, eventually assuming the position of Director of Clinical Psychology Training in 2013. He was appointed by the Australian Psychological Society to serve as Editor-in-Chief of Australian Psychologist (tenure 2011-2015). During the same period he served as Guest Editor for Journal of Clinical Psychology (2012), Cognitive and Behavioral Practice (2013), and was appointed as Associate Editor of the British Journal of Clinical Psychology (tenure 2015-2017) and Cognitive Therapy and Research (tenure 2013-2023). 

In 2012, he received the prestigious Beck Institute Scholar Award from Dr. Aaron T. Beck and Dr. Judith S. Beck “in recognition of excellence in contributions to the field of cognitive therapy.”

In 2013, he was contracted to develop online post-qualification training in Cognitive Behavior Therapy by The Australian Psychological Society, a course that has since been completed by over 10,000 psychologists. During his La Trobe University appointment, he founded the Cognitive Behavior Therapy Research Unit (CBTRU) joining leaders in Cognitive Behavior Therapy in a program of research designed to enhance the science for the in-session processes of therapy in clinical practice.

In 2014, he was appointed as Associate Professor at Monash University where he received multiple teaching awards. In 2015, he was called on to serve as Director/ Convenor of Clinical Psychology Training and led the development and implementation of a new doctoral program in clinical psychology that resulted in an exceptional achievement award. During that appointment he established the Monash Clinical Network offering post-qualification workshops for psychologists. 

In 2016, he served as Deputy Chair for the 8th World Congress of Cognitive and Behavior Therapies held in Melbourne, Australia, and was promoted to the grade of APS Fellow in recognition of “significant contributions to the Australian Psychological Society and profession over a significant period of time”. He served as Guest Editor for Cognitive Therapy and Research (2017) and International Journal of Cognitive Psychotherapy (2017). 

In 2018, the Academy of Cognitive Therapy (New York, USA) invited Dr. Kazantzis to contribute a contribution to “Advances in Cognitive Therapy” on the therapeutic relationship as the heart and soul of change in CBT.

In 2019, the Association for Behavior and Cognitive Therapy (New York, USA) appointed Dr. Kazantzis as Editor-in-Chief of the scholarly journal Cognitive and Behavioral Practice (tenure 2021-2024). That same year his CBTRU team received the American Psychological Association (APA)’s “most downloaded paper award” for producing the paper that was most downloaded across all 89 APA journals, of more than 4,500 articles. He also delivered a keynote address at the Beck Excellence Summit, and was invited by his Alma mater, the Cardinal Vaughan Memorial School in London, England to write the lead article for the inaugural Alumni magazine. 

In 2020, he was appointed as Professor and Director of Clinical Training at the Institute for Social Neuroscience, one of Melbourne’s largest higher education providers in advanced psychology training, where he led the development of a new telehealth psychology service in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. That same year he designed and launched the Institute’s research strategy and model for integrated training, research, and community service clinics. In addition, SpringerNature’s New York office contracted Dr. Kazantzis to serve as editor for the book series “CBT: Science into Practice.”

In 2021, he again consulted to the Australian Psychological Society’s training institute to develop advanced online post-qualification training in Cognitive Behavior Therapy. That same year he was invited to contribute to Australian Psychological Society’s InPsych magazine on the “evolution of CBT”, the Beck Institute’s online blog, and served as Guest Editor for 4 scholarly journals: Cognitive Therapy and Research, Frontiers in Psychiatry, Frontiers in Psychology, and Psychotherapy Research. Dr. Kazantzis received an offer of employment and relocation package from the Beck Institute for Cognitive Behavior Therapy, in Philadelphia, USA, and Adjunct Professorial position offer from Monash University’s Department of Psychiatry, but he decided instead to retire from the academic component of his career and continue private consulting practice in Melbourne, Australia.

As an academic, Dr. Kazantzis was called on to deliver platform addresses; keynotes, plenary sessions, and workshops at major international congresses, including the Beck Excellence Summit, the Association for Behavior and Cognitive Therapies Convention, the British Association for Cognitive and Behavior Therapies Conference, the European Association for Behavioral and Cognitive Therapies Congress, the IACBT congress, and the World Congress for Behavioral and Cognitive Therapies.

He also delivered training for psychologists and psychiatrists at events in 23 countries: Argentina, Australia (multiple locations, including invited talks at Australian National University, Macquarie University, the University of Western Australia, and the University of Queensland), Brazil, Denmark (multiple locations, including invited talks at Aarhus University), England (multiple locations, including invited talks at the University of Southampton), Finland, Germany (multiple locations, including invited talks at Humboldt University of Berlin), Greece (multiple locations), Hong Kong, Ireland, Italy, Malta (including visiting Professorship at the University of Malta), Netherlands, New Zealand (multiple locations), Paraguay (simulcast from Argentina), Russia (including invited talks at St. Petersburg University), Scotland, Slovakia, South Korea, Spain, Turkey (multiple locations), Uruguay (simulcast from Argentina), and the USA (multiple locations, including research collaboration and invited talks at Boston University).