Dr. Merle Parmak

Dr. Merle Parmak has been an applied and academic psychologist for about 20 years now. Her interest in psychology began largely by chance when her life first took her to military service in 1994. This was the time when the Soviet Union collapsed and Estonia began to look for its independent identity. She studied psychology at the University of Tartu and Tallin, and after ten years, her studies led to a unique joint doctorate in Belgium, in organisational psychology and military and social sciences.

As a researcher, she has always been interested in studying human behaviour in harsh and/or morally challenging situations. Currently, in addition to organisational and staff wellbeing issues, she is focused on national resilience and national identity in multinational societies. Accelerated migration around the world has made her interested in the experiences of different sub-communities within the wider society.How do these sub-communities respond to social and political change? How do people from different socio-cultural backgrounds form their attitudes and make behavioural decisions, and what is the role of individual expectations and experiences? How does social and cultural variation in value systems intervene, and how does national identity develop in multinational societies? She believes that in an age of dramatic social and political change around the world, these issues are affecting cohesion and well-being in every society more than ever.

Professional experience

For most of her university years, she worked full-time in the Estonian army as a "psychologist in uniform".The first 4 years, during her apprenticeship, took her to practise psychology in a 'boots on the ground' way in different military units. The last 7 years of her military career were more academic, she was teaching military psychology and conducting applied research. During this period her research focused on the role of personal predisposition in adapting to and coping with military missions. She was also actively involved in international collaborations with other researchers, which was recognised by the highly acclaimed Harry Greer Award by the International Military Testing Association Steering Committee.

She retired from the uniformed service and in 2013 switched to private consultancy and academic teaching. Since then, she has lectured internationally as a member of the academic staff of different universities, but also as a contracted trainer-instructor in the subject areas of security-, health- and organisational psychology. She has also continued to consult on personnel selection and mental health projects in Estonian security and health care institutions.

Education

2011 PhD in Organisational Psychology, University of Leuven

2011 PhD in Social and Military Sciences, Royal Military Academy

2005 MSc in Psychology, University of Tallinn

2003 BSc in Psychology, University of Tartu

1998 BA in Business Administration, Estonian Management Institute