Naomi de Ruiter is Assistant Professor at the University College Groningen of the University of Groningen. Her background is in developmental psychology. Her research and teaching concern the ontology and developmental processes of psychological phenomena. She studies 'self' as situated in social interactions and time. 

Naomi is the recipient of the 2023 Early Career Award Contributions in Developmental Science, awarded by the Jean Piaget Society. She received her PhD in 2015 at the University of Groningen, which was awarded second place for the PhD Dissertation Award from the VNOP (Association of Dutch Developmental Psychologists). She received an Education Sciences postdoc grant (€ 215,000) from NRO (National Initiative for Educational Sciences), which she conducted at Utrecht University about children's growth and fixed mindsets as enacted in the context of teacher-student interactions. 

She co-authored the book Toward a Process Approach in Psychology: Stepping into Heraclitus' River (2022), published by Cambridge University Press, and co-edited the book Psychosocial Development in Adolescence: Insights from the Dynamic Systems Approach (2019) published by Routledge. Her research has appeared in journals such as Psychological Review, Review of General Psychology, Identity, Frontiers in Psychology, Ecological Psychology, Journal of Adolescence, International Journal of Behavioral Development, Journal for Person-Oriented Research, and Complexity. 

She is a member of the Jean Piaget Board of Directors as of 2023 and the editorial board of the Human Development journal. She is also a board member in the Young Academy Groningen, where she works to facilitate interdisciplinary research at the University of Groningen.