Itziar Rodríguez Gago is an early-career sociologist and political scientist working in critical and political sociology. She is currently pursuing a Master's degree in Model and Areas of Research in Social Sciences at the University of the Basque Country (EHU), focusing on gender, the new radical right, and social movements. As part of her MA studies, she is completing a research practicum at the Centre for the Study of Collective Identity (CEIC), where she contributes to the project "Models of Intercultural Citizenship for the Management of Diversity in Gipuzkoa," funded under the Etorkizuna Eraikiz 2026-2027 call. She is also a researcher at the New Far Right Global Research Network, affiliated with the Research Committee on Social Movements, Collective Action and Social Change (RC48) of the International Sociological Association (ISA).

She holds a double Bachelor's degree in Political Science and Sociology from EHU and completed an Erasmus+ exchange at Ghent University (September 2023–February 2024). Her first undergraduate thesis examined Israel's discursive strategies and the construction of cultural hegemony through gender. Her second thesis, written under an Ikasiker Collaboration Grant at the CEIC, analysed the underlying networks of mobilisation behind the 2024 pro-Palestinian student encampments at EHU. Both theses received a grade of 9.5/10, the second being awarded the highest honours.

Her research interests lie at the intersection of political sociology, gender studies, and critical sociology. In 2026, she presented a paper at the Spanish Sociology Congress (FES), based on her Political Science thesis, entitled "Gender, Legitimacy, and Cultural Hegemony: The Discourse of the State of Israel Following October 7, 2023."

Her research aligns with the ENLIGHT IDenti-T Network by looking at how identities are used and contested in politics. Through her work on gender, the new radical right, and social movements, she contributes to IDenti-T's themes of gender politics and exclusionary identity discourses. Her involvement in a project on intercultural citizenship in Gipuzkoa also connects her research to diversity and democratic change.