Germán Gutiérrez obtained his Ph.D. in Behavioral Neuroscience from the University of Texas at Austin, USA. Before that, he completed his Psychology degree at the National University of Colombia (NUC). He is currently an Associate Professor at NUC. His teaching interests are mainly in learning, motivation, and behavioral evolution. His primary research endeavors concern the role of learning in the evolution of behavior. He also investigates the history of psychology and the development of psychology’s scientific and professional aspects.
Gutiérrez has been Director of the Animal Learning and Behavior Laboratory, Psychology Graduate Coordinator, Chair of the Department of Psychology, and Associate Dean for Research at the School of Human Sciences.
Gutiérrez has also served as President of the Colombian Association of Psychology Faculties, Member of the Directive Council and Vice-president of the Colombian College of Psychologists, Member of the workgroup of the International Project on Competences in Psychology, President of the International Society for Comparative Psychology, Delegate for Colombia to the IUPsyS General Assembly, and Member of the Executive Committee of IUPsyS. He is currently the President of IUPsyS.
Germán has been a peer reviewer for the Ministry of Education of Colombia to evaluate psychology programs seeking accreditation. He also has extensive experience in scientific publications, as Chief Editor of the Latin American Journal of Psychology, and Member of the Editorial Boards of multiple psychology journals. He has peer-reviewed articles for over 30 journals. He has published over 125 articles, chapters, and dissemination papers on the evolution of behavior and learning, the history of psychology, and psychology’s status and development in Latin America. He received the National Award for Research in Psychology from the Colombian Society of Psychology.
In recent years, Gutiérrez has worked in capacity-building initiatives to promote an atmosphere of collaboration that recognizes the importance of Psychology worldwide, seeking to promote initiatives that lead to joint construction of processes to strengthen psychology in the Latin American region and a global scope. One such initiative is the Observatory of Psychology in Latin America (OPAL), of which he is its founder and Director. OPAL provides information on the development of psychology in Latin America regarding organizations, professional training and quality, research resources, and global impact (see https://www.observatoriopsi.org).