Dr Inmaculada Adarves-Yorno

About me:

Dr. Inmaculada Adarves-Yorno (PhD, MA, MSc, BA) is a world-leading social scientist in social identity research. Her work using the social identity approach has challenged and expanded the fields of creativity and mindfulness, and research on both areas has been published in 4* and 3* journals. She led systemic change in the Kenyan Prison Services (4* impact case study) using research on social identity and mindfulness. She developed innovative and unique leadership development tools and processes which are embedded in her teaching and impact work. She developed as well as accredited leadership programmes. She engages with practitioners offering them a new way of looking at themselves and opening their eyes to new ways of leading. For the last 5 years, she has investigated what factors predict resilience and two key factors are related to mindfulness and social identity.

Since 2007 Dr. Adarves-Yorno has been exploring what areas resonate not only with her intellect but with her whole self. She is particularly interested in the contradictions between our inner and outer lives, some of which are reflected in her work on paradoxes of authentic leaders. She is passionate about change agency and how we can all make a difference utilising mindfulness and social identity processes. Proof of that can be seen in her impact work where inmates become mindful leaders who are transforming themselves, people around them and their institution (see details).

As a practitioner, Dr. Adarves-Yorno worked for five years as an organisational psychologist (CEO advisor and HR manager) for an engineering company in Spain. She has particular expertise in areas such as leadership, organisational commitment, communication, performance and employee wellbeing.

Interests:

PRESENT

My latest research programme lies In the intersection of psychology, neuroscience and leadership. I explore the antecedents and moderators of resilience capacity, mindset and skills. Based on a decade of training experience and 5 years of research on this area, I aim to develop a a robust yet adaptable training which will be underpinned by rigorous research and identity informed practices.

In my last research programme I investigated “Mindfulness within and beyond the individual”. Among other things I broadly looked at (1) What is the impact of mindfulness for individuals, specifically in helping deal with and lead change? (2) How can mindfulness benefit individuals, institutions and communities? And (3) How can others and our shared identity help us become more mindful? Combining mindfulness and social identity some of the questions that I have been looking at are: Can identification with a mindful identity can help us become more mindful? And what are the combined benefits of social identity and mindfulness on psychological outcomes such as mental wellbeing and resilience. This research was conducted in different settings including Kenyan prisons.

Past

Dr. Inmaculada Adarves-Yorno started conducting research in 1996. She worked and collaborated in a wide range of topics (including ‘perverse norms‘, discrimination, affirmative action, social influence, framing, leadership and health related behaviour) with a number of researchers from Europe and Australia.

In 2002 she started her work on social identity which lead to the development of a new approach to creativity together with Prof. Alex Haslam and Prof. Tom Postmes. This work has been in a range of high impact papers. A review of this body of work can be seen in our Personality and Social Psychology Review paper and engaging articles for all audiences can be found in Scientific American Mind.

In 2011 she started working on authentic leadership and change agency. This was a very insightful period of her career and a few qualitative studies were conducted. All those insights have informed her work in all areas although no empirical papers have been formally written yet. Her findings made her realise how essential is to work with social identities when leading change and how social identities can present an unspoken paradox within the authentic leadership realm. Studying change agents she also discover how essential is mindfulness for individuals who are leading change. This reinforced her interest in and commitment with Mindfulness both as a researcher and as a traine

Qualifications:

• PhD on Social Identity and Creativity (Exeter University)
• MSc in Psychological Research Methods, (Exeter University)
• MA in Social Psychology (University Autonoma, Madrid)
• Diploma on Community Interventions (Universidad Autonoma, Madrid)
• BSc (5 years) in Psychology (University Autonoma, Madrid)