The history of the Institute of Psychology-MoI begins in 1971, when the Scientific institute of applied psychology (SIOP) was established with the instruction № 122/18.03.1971 of the Ministry counsel.
In 1998, with Decree № 25/02.02.1998 of the Ministry counsel, the Institute has been restructured as an independent body and received its official name, Institute of psychology–MoI.
The creation of the Institute was a progressive act for its time, having in mind that up until late 60s there was no “Psychology” major in the Sofia University “St. Kliment Ohridski”. To this day, IP remains a unique structure in Europe.
In the 70s the line of work as well as the structure of the Institute were dictated by the standards established by the Ministry of Interior and were, for the most part, associated with psychological assistance to the secret service, the counter-espionage, the police and the fire department.
In 1981 the Institute shaped the official regulations for the psychological selection of police officers were made. The first regional psychological laboratories were established in 1982 in the towns of Plovdiv and Gorna Oryahovitsa.
The standards for secondary selection of police officers was established in 1984 and included a psychodiagnostic assessment for all graduates of the police school in Pazardzhik (SMU-Pazardzhik) and police officers, who wanted to transfer to another department. At the same time the Department of psychology was created. The main purpose of this new sector was to provide psychological training for the students of the Police Academy (VIPOND-MoI), and the police officers working in the Ministry of Interior.
The first years after the fall of the communist party (1990-1996) marked an important stage in the development of the Institute, when the structure and the personnel and the line of work of the IP-MoI changed. During that period, more than 60 new psychologists were trained and employed in the newly developed laboratories in the country. The psychological laboratories in the towns of Varna, Burgas and Pleven were established in order to make psychological assistance available on a regional level, improving its proficiency. Those laboratories helped the implementation of a better psychological assessment of the police officers nationwide.
The development of the Criminal psychology in the IP-MoI began in 1998 when the Institute initiated the use of the polygraph examinations in criminal cases along with the psychological expertise used in the justice system, the provision of loyalty check of MI employees and the psychological profiling of unidentified subjects.
In order to increase its efficiency, providing better psychological support to the structures in the MoI, in 1998 the Institute created a net of psychologists assigned to different structures and departments: the Regional Departments of MI in the country, “Migration”, “Border police”, “Communication and information systems”, and the “National security service”.
In the year 2000 two more regional psychological laboratories were established in the towns of Blagoevgrad and Montana. In June 2004 began the realization of the “Program for prevention and management of professional stress of the police officers in the MoI”. This still remains the program which, for the most part, defines the work of the experts in the “Consultative psychology” sector in the IP-MoI.
Today the Institute is the biggest structure of its kind, with more than 95 highly qualified experts in the field of psychology.
The Institute of psychology carries out a broad specter of science and applied research activities including the development and adaptation of diagnostic instruments, analysis of activity и organizational development of the structures in the MoI, as well as providing optimization of the communication between the government institutions and the society as a whole.
Among the founders and the active participants in the development of the Institute of psychology are: docent Alexander Golemanov; senior associate dr. Georgi Boyanov; senior associate dr. Kostadin Gurbalov; senior associate dr. Nikola Bozhkov; senior associate dr. Nevena Grozeva; dr. Yordan Ormankov; dr. Yanko Kuzmanov; prof. dr. Stoyan Gorchev; senior associate dr. Svetoslav Stamenov; prof. dr. Michail Kirov; and senior associate dr. Radoslav Radev.
Directors of IP-MoI:
prof. Rayko Petrov: 1970 – 1972
dr. Diniu Penchev: 1973 – 1983
docent Atanas Atanasov: 1983 – 1992
senior associate II deg. Nadezhda Stamenkova: 1992 – 1995
docent Boyko Ganchevski: 1995 – 2001
prof. Kalin Gaydarov: 2001 – 2009
docent Nedelcho Stoychev: 2009 - 2013
Biserka Zarbova 2013 - 2015
Kristina Nikolaeva: 18.03.2015
