N.M.P. (Naomi) de Ruiter, Dr

Naomi de Ruiter is a Senior Assistant Professor (UD1) at the University College Groningen of the University of Groningen. Her background is in developmental psychology. Her research and teaching concern the ontology and developmental processes of psychological phenomena. She studies 'self' as situated in social interactions and time. Her works draws from complex dynamic systems theory, discursive psychology, and theoretical psychology.

She co-authored the book Toward a Process Approach in Psychology: Stepping into Heraclitus' River (2022), published by Cambridge University Press, and her research has appeared in journals such as Psychological Review, Review of General Psychology, Identity, Frontiers in Psychology, Ecological Psychology, Journal of Adolescence, International Journal of Behavioral Development, Journal for Person-Oriented Research, and Complexity. 

In 2023 she was awarded the Early Career Award Contributions in Developmental Science by the Jean Piaget Society for her contributions to the understanding of psychological phenomena as complex and dynamic. She received her PhD in 2015 at the University of Groningen, which was awarded second place for the PhD Dissertation Award from the VNOP (Association of Dutch Developmental Psychologists). After her PhD, she received an Education Sciences postdoc grant (€ 215,000) from NRO (National Initiative for Educational Sciences). She completed her project on "ability mindsets" in the context of teacher-student interactions in 2019 at Utrecht University. 

She is a board member of the Human Development journal, the international Jean Piaget Society for Developmental Science, and the Young Academy Groningen (member since 2022, board member since 2024).