Yury Zinchenko

Neuropsychological approach to rehabilitation in Russia: Traditions and Perspectives

The last few decades have seen a rapid development of scientific research and practice of rehabilitation work, based on theoretical and methodological development of the framework for studying the rehabilitation process. At the same time, the legal and regulatory framework for rehabilitation is changing, as reflected in the adoption of a number of international resolutions, conventions and definitions corresponding thereto, as well as in the establishment of innovative classifications based on the social model of health and disability and characterizing human life and activities. As such, the World Health Organization (WHO) has developed and adopted the International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health (ICF, 2001), in accordance with which the planning and efficiency assessment of rehabilitation measures is carried out today.

The presentation will be discussing the Russian psychological heritage and key issues in the current sate of affairs in rehabilitation process which have been or can be successfully adopted worldwide.

Yuri Petrovich Zinchenko is full professor in the Faculty of Psychology of Lomonosov Moscow State University. He earned a Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology from Moscow State University in 1998. He is dean of the Faculty of Psychology and chair of Department of Methodology of Psychology at Moscow State University, vice-president of the Russian Academy of Education.

He is member of the Russian Academy of Education; president of the Russian Psychological Society; head clinical psychologist in the Ministry of Health of the Russian Federation; member of Lomonosov MSU Academic Board; president of the Academic Board of the Faculty of Psychology (Lomonosov MSU); president of MSU Dissertation Committee D501.001.15; member of the Commission for Education of the Russian Academy of Sciences; chairman of the Psychological Section of the Education Board for Classical University Education of Russia; deputy chairman of the Psychology Expert Board of the State Commission for Academic Degrees and Titles at Ministry of Education of the Russian Federation); Honorary President of the Society of Law Enforcement Agencies’ Psychologists; member of a number of scientific and methodological commissions and expert boards of the Security Council of the Russian Federation, the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation, the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Russian Federation, the Ministry of the Russian Federation for Civil Defense, Emergency Management and Natural Disasters Response, the Ministry of Justice of the Russian Federation, the Ministry of Education and Science of the Russian Federation, and the Public Chamber of the Russian Federation.

Honorary Member of the Human Science Center at Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich, Germany; Honorary Professor at the University Paris III (Sorbonne), France; Docteur Honoris Causa (Universidade Fernando Pessoa, Portugal).

Dr. Zinchenko is a well-known scientist in Russia and abroad specializing in the methodology of psychology and the psychology of safety. He has successfully developed and applied Lev S. Vygotsky’s Cultural-Historical approach to fundamental psychological research from the perspective of postnonclassical methodology; applied this approach in several branches of psychological research, including the psychology of safety and counter-terrorism; together with academician Viktor A. Sadovnichy, suggested and used supercomputer calculations to process data packages and formalize patterns of functional state of human under extreme conditions; was the first scientist in Russia to have used the technologies of virtual reality (CAVE format) in psychological research; developed scientific and methodological recommendations on the implementation of safety practices aimed at preventing youth from getting involved in terrorist activities; developed a dynamic model of the psychological security of person and society; studied issues related to the ethics of conducting psychological research and psychological practice.