Osnat Akirav is an associate professor in Political Science at the Western Galilee
College, Israel. She is the president of Israel Political Science Association. She
received her PhD from the Hebrew University.
Her specialization is in legislative studies, setting the agenda, candidate selection
methods, government formation, democratic backsliding, local government, gender
and politics, minorities and politics, research methods and Israeli political system.
Her research on democratic backsliding has been published with Journal of
Democracy, Frontiers in Political Science, PS: Political Science & Politics, Journal
of legislative studies, and European Politics and Society.
Her work regarding legislative studies and government formation has been published
in numerous outlets, including Party Politics, West European Politics, Parliamentary
Affairs, International Political Science Review, British Politics, Journal of legislative
studies, representation, Legislative Studies Quarterly. She also published a book
titled “Parliamentary Representation of Political Minorities” (Palgrave Macmillan,
2024).
She is a board member of the Research Committee of Legislative Specialists (RCLS)
of the International Political Science Association (IPSA). She also a board member of
the Association for Israel Studies (AIS) and a board member of the Israeli Association
of legislation.
In 2015, 2018-2025 she received a prize for excellent researcher from the Western
Galilee College. In 2012 she received Edmond Safra award for outstanding
achievement and excellence. And, in 2022 she received the New Pioneers award from the Union Sefaradi Mundial for her contribution to the Israeli society.