Miren Estensoro

Senior Researcher

Miren holds a PhD in Economics from the University of the Basque Country and is a Senior Researcher. She has also been a lecturer at the University of Deusto since 2012. With over 15 years of experience in territorial, mainly local, and urban development, her career seamlessly bridges research, academia, and policymaking, with action research serving as the core of her work.

Her expertise focuses on governance for the design and implementation of territorial development policies. She facilitates action-research processes alongside local and regional government teams, driving key outcomes such as the co-creation of public programs, the transformation of public-private relationship models, and the promotion of innovative internal governance within public administrations.

She currently leads and contributes to several research projects in collaboration with the City Councils of Bilbao and Donostia/San Sebastián, the Provincial Council of Gipuzkoa, and the Basque Government. Additionally, she partners with UN-ECLAC on initiatives related to collaborative governance for territorial development. Miren has published extensively in books and leading international peer-reviewed academic journals.

Career

Degree in Economics from the University of the Basque Country (2006).
Postgraduate qualification in Spatial and Urban Planning from Newcastle University, UK (2007).
Business Services Officer at Goieki Development Agency (Goierriko Garapen Agentzia) from 2006 to 2011, combining her role as a policymaker with her PhD program.
PhD in Economics from the University of the Basque Country (2012).
Visiting Researcher at the Agderforskning Research Institute (Kristiansand, Norway; August–December 2011) and at the University of San Martín (Buenos Aires, Argentina; January–October 2012), the latter in collaboration with the Multilateral Investment Fund of the Inter-American Development Bank.
She joined the institute as a researcher in late 2012 and promoted to senior level in 2021.
Lecturer at Deusto Business School (University of Deusto) since 2013.