Appointment ceremony of the new Dean of the Faculty of Social and Human Sciences
The University of Deusto will hold the appointment ceremony of Gorka Urrutia as the new Dean of the Faculty of Social and Human Sciences on Tuesday, 16 June. The ceremony, presided over by the Chair of the Board of Governors, Francisco José Ruiz Pérez, and the Rector, Juan José Etxeberria, will take place at 13:00 in the Ceremonial Hall.
Gorka Urrutia holds a PhD from the University of Deusto and a degree in Political Science and Sociology from the University of the Basque Country. He is a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Social and Human Sciences at the University of Deusto. Since 2015, he has been Director of the Pedro Arrupe Human Rights Institute. His research activity, spanning more than 20 years, focuses on human rights, religious diversity, migration and minorities. He has participated in numerous competitive research projects at both national and international level in these fields. He is a member of the Centre of Excellence research team “Human Rights: Social and Cultural Challenges in a Changing World”, recognised by the Basque Government.
In the area of teaching, he lectures at undergraduate, postgraduate and doctoral levels. His academic profile is distinguished by a strong international outlook and a commitment to societal engagement and knowledge transfer. He has served as Chair of the Sociology of Religion Research Committee of the Spanish Federation of Sociology (FES). He has also acted as adviser to the Basque Government’s Directorate for Human Rights on matters relating to religious diversity (2011–2012), and has been Director of the Joint European Master in International Migration and Social Cohesion (MISOCO) and of the Human Rights Training Programme for Indigenous Leaders in Latin America (University of Deusto, in collaboration with the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights).
He currently serves on the Executive Board of the international migration research network IMISCOE and actively contributes to advisory bodies such as the Basque Council for Development Cooperation and the Basque Forum on Migration and Asylum. He is also a trustee of the Gernika Gogoratuz Peace Research Centre Foundation and a member of the Board of Directors and Treasurer of the Basque Association of Sociology and Political Science. Throughout his career, he has received significant distinctions, including the First Pluralism and Coexistence Research Award (2016), presented by the Pluralism and Coexistence Foundation of the Spanish Ministry of Justice.