Dr. Nurit Hashimshony-Yaffe is a political scientist and Senior Lecturer at the School of Government and Society at the Academic College of Tel Aviv-Yaffo, where she also heads the Academia–Community Relations Centre. She holds a PhD from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, where she began her fieldwork career in Africa (Nigeria).
Her research focuses on civil society initiatives in Israel and Africa, sustainable development in marginalised regions, African migration (from Eritrea and Sudan), and innovative sustainable-finance models in higher education. She has participated in several European research projects as well as a global study on the impacts of COVID-19 in the drylands of Africa, Asia, and the Middle East, coordinated by the University of Bayreuth, Germany.
Nurit is currently engaged in research on Israeli civil society and is a member of the COST Action “Redressing Radical Polarisation: Strengthening European Civil Spheres Facing Illiberal Digital Media (DepolarisingEU).” She also teaches a course on democratic backsliding in Israel for non-political science students.