Education
Specialization in Medical Informatics and Healthcare Management, Medical University – Varna, 2025
PhD in Community Research and Action, Minor in Quantitative Psychology, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, USA, 2018
Non-degree Graduate Study in Community Psychology, DePaul University, Chicago, USA, 2010-2011
Master's degree in Clinical and Counseling Psychology, Sofia University, Bulgaria, 2010
Bachelor's degree in Psychology, Sofia University, Bulgaria, 2007
Bachelor's degree in Economics, Sofia University, Bulgaria, 2002
Other Qualifications
Program evaluation (USA; UNICEF), Community organizing (USA), Gestalt Practice (USA), Career Counseling (Bulgaria), Organizational behavior and leadership (Bulgaria), Group facilitation (Bulgaria).
Professional Experience
Teaching and research, project coordination and training in the civic sector, copywriting for advertising, career center management.
Research Experience
A phenomenological study of psychotherapy work in Bulgaria (Master's Thesis), 2009-2010.
Research Assistant in Planning the Evaluation of Healthcare Service Delivery Reform in the State of Illinois, USA, DePaul University, Center for Community Research, 2010-2011.
Research Assistant in Nashville Urban Partnership Academic Center of Excellence on organizational networks for youth violence prevention funded by the U.S. CDC, Vanderbilt University, 2011-2013.
A sociological study of the Anti-fracking movement in Bulgaria (Doctoral Thesis), winning the Newbrough Award for best dissertation in community studies, Peabody College, Vanderbilt University, 2012-2014.
Investigator in UNICEF ECARO Regional Study on Parenting Programs for Parents/Caregivers of Adolescents in Belarus, Bulgaria, Georgia, Moldova, Montenegro and Romania, implemented by Association Roditeli, Bulgaria, 2017-2018.
Investigator in Initial Mapping of the School Social Environment and Teachers-Parents Relationships in Bulgaria, a project of Association Roditeli, Bulgaria funded by the Ministry of Education, 2018-2019.
Investigator in Bulgarian Health System Performance Assessment: Effectiveness, Equity, Sustainability, a project of Medical University Varna, 2018-2023.
Investigator in the Green Sea Yard of Varna, a project for early child development, Medical University - Varna, 2018 – present.
Investigator in Creation of a Direct Assessment Instrument for Measuring Social-emotional Skills of Children 7-10 years of age, Lachezar Tsotsorkov Foundation, 2021 – present.
Investigator in Strategic support for community engagement and policy advice regarding routine child immunization in Bulgaria, Medical University – Varna and UNICEF Bulgaria, 2024-2025.
Research Interests
Sociology; medical sociology; community psychology; social movements; organizational theory and development; healthcare system responsiveness; social and emotional learning; program evaluation; quantitative, qualitative, and mixed research methods.
Teaching
Sociology, Research Methods, Human Resources Management, Organizational Behavior, Program Evaluation, Doctoral Seminars.
Google scholar
Omidvar Tehrani, S., Perkins, D.D. and Mihaylov, N.L. (2025), A Political–Economic Model of Community and Societal Health Resources: A 92-Country Global Analysis. Sociol Health Illn, 47: e13865. https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-9566.13865
Rohova, M., Koeva, S., Dimova, A., Mihaylov, N., Atanassova, E., Koeva-Dimitrova, L., Minev, M., Nikolova, V., Panayotova, S., & Kostadinova, T. (2023). Healthcare System Performance Assessment: Bulgaria. Varna: Medical University – Varna. (In Bulgarian).
Perkins, D. D., Mihaylov, N. L., & Bess, K. D. (2023). Organizational and coalition strategies for youth violence prevention: a longitudinal mixed-methods study. American Journal of Criminal Justice, 48(5), 1105-1131.
Mihaylov, N. L. (2023). Meaning-making as Empowerment: Technology Discourses in the Anti-fracking Movement in Bulgaria. Human Ecology, 51(3), 529–546.
Rohova, M. Mihaylov, N. L., Paunov, T. S., Pancheva, R., Radeva, N., Hadzhieva, S., Ivanova, E., Chamova, R., and Kolarova, M. (2023). Determinants of COVID-19 vaccine acceptance in Bulgaria. Obshta Meditsina / General Medicine, 25(3), 13–22.
Mihaylov, N. (2022). Construction of a Measure of the Responsiveness of the Healthcare System in Bulgaria. Black Sea Journal of Medicine and Public Health, 2, 2022, 188-195.
Mihaylov, N. L. (2021). Speaking power to power: Grassroots democracy in the anti-fracking movement in Bulgaria. Journal of Community Psychology, Advance online publication, https://doi.org/10.1002/jcop.22358.
Mihaylov, N. L., Douglas D Perkins, D. D., & Richard C Stedman, R. C. (2020). Community responses to environmental threat: Place cognition, attachment, and social action. In L. Manzo & P. Devine-Wright (Eds.), Place attachment: advances in theory, methods and research (2nd ed.) (pp. 160-176). London: Routledge.
Mihaylov, N. L. (2020). From victims to citizens: Emerging activist identities in the anti-fracking movement in Bulgaria. Journal of Community Psychology, 48(2), 170–191.
Mihaylov, N. L. (2020). Becoming a therapist in Bulgaria: A grounded developmental model. Scripta Scientifica Salutis Publicae, 6(1).
Mihaylov, N. L. (2019). Psihoterapevt – kak da stanesh, kak da badesh i zashto si struva. [Psychotherapist. How to become, how to be one, and why it is worth it]. Varna: Steno.
Uzunova, E., Biserinska, S., Mihaylov, N., and Ivanova, V. (2018). Stapka po stapka kam uspehsni proekti. Otsenka na inovatsia v 90 SU General Hosse De San Martin – Sofia [Step by step to successful projects. Evaluation of an innovation in 90 Secondary School General Jose De San Martin - Sofia]. Sofia: Institute for Progressive Education.
Iosifov, I., Mihaylov, N., and Kyuranov, D. (2018). Znaem li kakvo e da si roditel na tiineydzhar v Balgaria? Natsionalni izvodi ot edno regionalno izsledvane [Do we know what it is like to be the parent of a teenager in Bulgaria? National findings from a regional study]. Sofia: UNICEF-Bulgaria.
Harvey, R., and Mihaylov, N. L. (2017) Doing community psychology internationally: Lessons learned in the field. In J. Viola & O. Glantsman (Eds.), Diverse careers in community psychology: a guide through the diversity of options (pp. 270-293). Oxford University Press.
Wegman, H., Fisher, B.W., Geller, J., Lunn, L.M., Palmer, N.A., Perkins, D.D., Mihaylov, N., Partridge, W.L., & Shields, S. (2016). The fieldschool in intercultural education as a model for immersive action-research training and service-learning. In S.L. Barnes et al (Eds.), Academics in Action! A model for community-engaged research, teaching, and service (pp. 167-190). New York: Fordham University Press.
Mihaylov, N. L., & Perkins, D. D. (2015). Local environmental grassroots activism: Contributions from environmental psychology, sociology and politics. Behavioral Sciences, 5(1), 121–153. http://doi.org/10.3390/bs5010121.
Mihaylov, N., & Perkins, D.D. (2013). Community place attachment and its role in social capital development in response to environmental disruption. In L. Manzo & P. Devine-Wright (Eds.), Place attachment: advances in theory, methods and research (pp. 61-74). Routledge. (Volume won juried prize for the 2014 Environmental Design Research Association Achievement Award)
Mihaylov, N. (2013). Where do youth violence prevention needs and services meet in Nashville? Implementing spatial analysis to a social and policy issue. In Gercheva-Nestorova, G. (Ed.) Proceedings from the XII International Conference in Applied Psychology, Varna Free University Press, Varna, Bulgaria, 675-687.
