Miren Nekane Balluerka Lasa (born 5 December 1966 in
Ordizia,
Gipuzkoa) is a Basque
psychologist
A psychologist is a professional who practices psychology and studies mental states, perceptual, cognitive, emotional, and social processes and behavior. Their work often involves the experimentation, observation, and interpretation of how indi ...
and university
professor.
She held the postition of Rector of the
University of the Basque Country, between 2017 and 2021, being the first woman to hold the position of rector.
In 2021 she was awarded the Euskadi Research Award by the
Basque Government.
She teaches
Behavioural Science Methodology at the Faculty of Psychology,
University of the Basque Country (UPV/EHU).
Academic researcher
She obtained her bachelor's degree in Psychology from the University of the Basque Country (UPV/EHU) in 1989 and a PhD from the same university in 1993, winning the Special End of Degree Prize in both cases.
On completing her bachelor's degree, she began to work as a lecturer at the Faculty of Psychology.
Since 2009, she has held the post of Full Professor of Behavioural Science Methodology. Her research work focuses on methods for drawing up psychological assessment instruments, on the intercultural adaptation of such instruments and on the application of multi-level analysis models to the study of psychosocial phenomena. She has taken part in 42 subsidised research projects, on 9 of which she has been the lead researcher. She is also the lead researcher of the
Qualiker research group, which has been assessed as excellent in the Basque university system. She has co-authored more than a hundred scientific papers, 26 books and 9 book chapters. She has contributed to more than 200 domestic and international congresses.
She has directed or co-directed 10 doctoral theses, two of these theses won the first prize and runner-up prize in the Basque Government's ''Realidad Social Vasca''
€œBasque Social Realityâ€award.
She has spent time as a guest researcher at
Arizona State University
Arizona State University (Arizona State or ASU) is a public research university in the Phoenix metropolitan area. Founded in 1885 by the 13th Arizona Territorial Legislature, ASU is one of the largest public universities by enrollment in the ...
(1995), the
University of California (2005), and the
Cathie Marsh Centre for Census and Survey Research Cathie is both a feminine given name and a surname. Notable people with the name include:
Given name:
*Cathie Adams (born 1950), American politician
*Cathie Beck (born 1955), American journalist and writer
*Cathie Black (born 1944), American educat ...
at the
University of Manchester (2010).
She was a founder member of AEMCCO (Spanish Association for Behavioural Science Methodology) and of the EAM (European Association of Methodology). From 2011 to 2015 she was the editor of the official journal of this last association: ''Methodology. European Journal of Research Methods for the Behavioral and Social Sciences''. She is a member of The Board of the
Donostia International Physics Center (DIPC) Foundation.
University management
Nekane has a long track record in university management. She has been Deputy Dean of the Faculty of Psychology (2004-2006), Vice-Rector for Teaching Quality and Innovation (2006-2009), Vice-Rector for Postgraduate Studies and International Relations (2012-2016), and since January 2017 she has been the rector of the University of the Basque Country. She replaced
Iñaki Goirizelaia
Iñaki Goirizelaia, PhD ( Bilbo, 1958 – ) is a full professor of Telecommunication Engineering at the University of the Basque Country in the Department of Communication Engineering. In 1981 he began his work as a professor at the Faculty of ...
that had been the rector since 2009.
She was the first elected women to be the President of the University of the Basque Country (rector).
Textbooks in Basque language
Balluerka was one of the first authors in the areas of
Behavioural Science and
Psychology to publish textbooks and teaching materials in Basque. She is a member of the UEU (
Basque Summer University
The Basque Summer University (in Basque and officially: Udako Euskal Unibertsitatea, UEU) is a university institution created in 1973, which offers university courses in collaboration with the University of the Basque Country, Mondragon Univers ...
). Her original and co-authored publications include:
*''SPSS eta R Commander. Ikerketa ez-esperimentaleko datuen analisia (2018)''
*''Sentituz, izan sortzaile. Gazteen sormen emozionala sustatzeko esku-hartze programa (2017)''
*''Psikopatologia (2014)''
*''Facilitación de equipos de innovación (2013)''
*''Nortasunaren nahasteen etiologia eta tratamendua (2011)''
*''Kontzientzia fonologikoa lantzeko programa (2008)''
*''Hizkuntza idatziaren didaktika Haur Hezkuntzan eta Lehen Hezkuntzan (2008)''
*''Ikerketa metodoak eta diseinuak psikologian (2007)''
*''Ikerkuntza psikologian. Ikerketa-baldintzak eta diseinuaren baliotasuna (2003)''
*''Diseños de investigación experimental en PsicologÃa. Modelos y análisis de datos mediante el SPSS 10.0 (2002)''
*''Psikologia zientzia gisa: Paradigma eta metodologiako aldaketa nagusiak (2001)''
*''Planificaciónde la investigación. La validez del diseño (1999)''
*''La PsicologÃa como ciencia: Principales cambios paradigmáticos y metodológicos (1998)''
*''Saiakuntza eta sasi-saiakuntza diseinuaren balidezia psikologian (1996)''
*''Datu analisia eta saiakuntza diseinuak portaera zientziatan (1995)''
*''Cómo mejorar el estudio y aprendizaje de textos de carácter cientÃfico (1995)''
Sports
In her younger years, she played football and practised the martial art of Shorinji-Kempo.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Balluerka, Nekane
Rectors of universities in Spain
Women heads of universities and colleges
Academic staff of the University of the Basque Country
Living people
1966 births
People from Ordizia
Basque women