Ben-Gurion University of the Negev

Boaz Huss is a professor of Jewish thought at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev in Beer Sheva, Israel. Professor Huss received his PhD in the history of Jewish thought from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, after which he was a Fulbright post-doctoral fellow at Yale University, a Starr fellow at the Center for Jewish Studies at Harvard University, and a fellow at the Institute for Advanced Studies of Jerusalem. He has published extensively on Kabbalah, Western esotericism, and New Age culture. His recent publications include Zohar: Reception and Impact (The Littman Library of Jewish civilization 2016) and The Question of the Existence of Jewish Mysticism”: The Genealogy of Jewish Mysticism and the Theologies of Kabbalah Research (Van Leer Institute 2016, in Hebrew).

Haim Hames is a professor at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev. His publications include: The Art of Conversion: Christianity and Kabbalah in the Thirteenth Century (Leiden 2000), Like Angels on Jacob’s Ladder: Abraham Abulafia, the Franciscans and
Joachimism (State University of New York Press 2007) and Ha-Melacha ha-Ketzara: Ramon Llull’s Ars brevis in Hebrew (Brepols 2012).
He was guest editor of two volumes of the Mediterranean Historical Review entitled Mediterranean Reflections Studies in Honour of David Abulafia (2010, 2011), as well as Jews, Muslims and Christians in and around the Medieval Crown of Aragon:
Studies in Honour of Elena Lourie (Leiden 2004).He was the editor of The Brighter Side of Medieval Inter-Religious Encounters, which appeared as a special number of Medieval Encounters (22:1-3, 2016).

Ora Limor is a professor at The Open University. She is about to complete a book on early medieval pilgrimage narratives (7th to 11th centuries, the first Muslim period in the Holy Land), following her book Holy Land Travels: Christian Pilgrims in Late Antiquity (Jerusalem 1998),
which won the Ben-Zvi prize for best research on the Holy Land for the year 2000. At the same time, she was making progress on another volume: The Mount of Olives: A Biography. This book is a cultural history of the Mount in Christianity,
Judaism and Islam. It engages with the many holy traditions of the Mount and aims to decipher its significance in the religious imagination.

Dr. Chen’s publications include the volume “Speedily in Our days…. The Temple Activists and The Nationalist- Religious Society in Israel (Hebrew 2017) She has taught at several academic institutions in Israel and in the US:

The Hebrew University, Ben Gurion University, Open University Achva College, Tulane University, Northeastern University and UCLA. She is the editor, curator and content adviser of the Online Course “Reading Conversion”.

Dr. Yoed Kadary is a scholar of Kabbalah working at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev. Dr. Kadary received his PhD on the angelology of Rabbi Moses Cordovero from Ben-Gurion University and is currently an Ephraim E. Urbach Post-Doctoral Fellow. He teaches for the graduate program in spirituality at the Schechter Institute for Jewish Studies in Jerusalem. Dr. Kadary has two forthcoming monographs, one on the intellectual history Kabbalah in early-modern Jerusalem, and another on the relationship between theoretical and practical Kabbalah in the writings of Rabbi Moses Cordovero. He is also an independent director and producer and worked for the channel 2 news company in Israel and for the Japanese TV network, NHK.

Dr. Irina Revayev is a staff member in the Department of Software Engineering at Sami Shamoon College of Engineering.
Additionally, Irina is the academic coordinator of the computer science program at the Odyssey Program offered by the Jusidman Center for Science-Oriented Youth at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev. Irina’s field of expertise is image processing and analysis of historical documents. She is active in the review committees of professional journals and international conferences in this field.
.Irina holds a PhD in computer science from Ben-Gurion University of the Negev.

דור עצמון הוא פוסט-דוקטורנט במחלקה למדעי המחשב ב-Royal Holloway, University of London. הוא סיים לימודיו לתארים ראשון (BSc), שני (MSc) ודוקטורט (Ph.D.) במחלקה להנדסת מערכות תוכנה ומידע באוניברסיטת בן גוריון. תחומי העיניין המחקריים שלו כוללים חיפוש יוריסטי, בעיות אופטימיזציה, תכנון ומשחקים.

Dr. Marina Kogan-Sadetzky completed a master’s degree in computer science from Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, and subsequently she has worked on studying and developing algorithms in Oracle for 10 years. She later returned to Ben-Gurion University of the Negev for her PhD studies. Marina completed her doctoral dissertation in 2019 and since then she has been serving as an associate in the Department of Computer Science at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev.
Marina’s field of specialty is high-performance data structures, big data and caching.

חבר סגל במחלקה להנדסת מערכות תכנה ומידע בפקולטה להנדסה באוניברסיטת בן-גוריון בנגב. נדב הינו  ראש המעבדה למידעי עתק רפואיים וביומולקולרים. במעבדה זו חוקרים וממשים אלגורתמים מבוססי למידת מכונה ובינה מלאכותית בכדי לרתום את כמויות המידע העצומות הקיימות היום בכדי לקדם אותנו לקראת רפואה מותאמת אישית. סוגי המידע מגוונים וכוללים גליונות רפואיים אלקטרונים, מבתי חולים ומקופות חולים, מידע גנטי וכן נתונים ביומולקולרים אחרים.
נדב השלים את לימודי הדוקטורט במדעי המחשב באוניברסיטה העברית בשנת 2015. לאחר מכן, השתלם כעמית מחקר בבית החולים האוניברסיטאי ב University of California, San Francsico.
המחקרים במעבדה מתבצעים תוך שיתופי פעולה עם רופאים וחוקרים בבתי חולים ובאוניברסיטאות בארץ ובעולם.

Dr. Rogel is a lecturer at the Ben-Gurion University of the Negev. Dr. Rogel develops and facilitates workshops and programs in the field of personal, community and national resilience for the public and private sectors. He serves deputy to the CEO of the Community Stress Prevention Center Kiryat-Shmona , and Professor of Psychology at Tel-Hai College, Israel

Dr. Bar David completed her studies for a bachelor’s degree in the Faculty of Life Sciences at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem (1992), where she also received her master’s degree in genetics (1995). She received her PhD from Tel Aviv University in 2003, where she studied the return of the Persian fallow deer to the Israeli natural landscape. As part of her postdoctoral continuing education program at the University of California, Berkeley, in the United States, she studied the dynamics of diseases among wildlife populations, and at Haifa University she integrated ecological and genetic data in order to study the endangered fire salamander’s patterns of space use.
Since 2007, Dr. Bar David has been a staff member at the Mitrani Department of Desert Ecology, the Jacob Blaustein Institutes for Desert Research at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev. Currently she serves as a senior lecturer and head of the laboratory for preservation and ecological genetics.
Her studies focus on the field of spatial ecology and spatial genetics and their implications for biological preservation and wildlife management. Among the subjects of her study were the spatial and genetic structure of wildlife populations, the return of wildlife to nature as a preservation tool, the factors influencing the distribution range of wildlife populations, and individual roaming patterns in different landscape scenarios.

דוקטורנט במחלקה להנדסת מערכות מידע ותוכנה. עמית חוקר וראש צוות המוביל פרוייקטים המבוצעים מול חברות מהתעשיה ( Israel Innovation Authority, Taboola, KBC Bank) בתחומים של מערכות המלצה.
מחקריו של עמית פורסמו בכנסים מובילים בתחום, RecSys, WSDM, CIKM וכתבי עת נחשבים ACM Transactions on Management Information Systems (TMIS) ,  Computers, Environment and Urban Systems ועוד.

פרופ’ אריאל פלנר בעל דוקטורט במדעי המחשב מאונ’ בר-אילן ושהה בפוסט דוקטורט בטכניון ובאוניבסיטת USC בקליפורניה. הוא AAAI Senior Member, EuroAI Fellow וכן מכהן כ associate editor בכתבי העת: Journal if Artificial Intelligence Research  וכן Journal of Autonomous agents and Multi Agent Systems. פרופ’ פלנר פרסם למעלה ממאה מאמרים מדעיים בתחום של בינה מלאכותית ושימש כיו”ר האיגוד הישראלי לבינה מלאכותית בשנים 2013-2017. הוא לימד את הקורס “מבוא לבינה מלאכותית” במחלקה להנדסת מערכות תוכנה ומידע ובמקומות אחרים  למעלה מ12 שנה.

ברכה שפירא היא פרופ’ מן המניין במחלקה להנדסת מערכות תוכנה ומידע באוניברסיטת בן גוריון בנגב ברכה שפירא עסקה רבות במחקר ובפרקטיקה של מערכות המלצה שונות והובילה פרוייקטי מחקר חדשניים בתחום. (לדוגמא בין השנים 2004-2008 הובילה את פרוייקט ePaper  שכלל המלצת קטעי חדשות עבור חברת דויטשה טלקום).  בתחום של מערכות המלצה – להתאמת תכנים  היא שימשה גם כיועצת ומרצה לחברות שונות בתחום.

ברכה חוקרת פעילה בתחום וזכתה למענקי מחקר שונים בתחום זה,. היא  פרסמה למעלה מ-200 מאמרים בכתבי עת וכנסיים בינלאומיים מובילים ויותר מ 20 פטנטים. היא היתה בין העורכים של ה Handbook בתחום מערכות המלצה (וכותבת של פרק הפתיחה) שזכה לפופולאריות רבה (למעלה מ 3000 ציטוטים) ולתרגום לשפות שונות וביקורות מצוינות. ב 6 השנים האחרונות היא מארגנת באוניברסיטת בן-גוריון כנס בתחום ה data science  שבו יש תמיד מושב אחד לפחות בתחום מערכות המלצה ומגיעים אליו חוקרים בעלי שם מהארץ ומחו”ל.

כמו כן, יש לה באופן קבוע תפקידים בכנס המרכזי הבינלאומי בתחום מערכות ההמלצה : ACM Recommender Systems ‘ למשל השנה, היא אחראית על ה doctoral Symposium , בין המארגנים של סדנא שם בתחום של שילוב של למידת מכונה ומערכות המלצה ומשמשת כsenior program committee member.  בשנת 2015 היא הייתה בין המארגנים של ה challenge בכנס יחד עם חברת YOUCHOOSE הגרמנית, שכלל תחרות לניבוי קנייה של לקוח בסיטואציה של המלצות קצרות טווח.

פרופ’ גיא שני בעל דוקטורט במדעי המחשב מאוניברסיטת בן גוריון. פרופ’ שני עבד במעבדות מייקרוסופט ברדמונד על מחקר במערכות המלצה. לאחר מכן הצטרף לסגל המחלקה להנדסת מערכות תוכנה ומידע. כיום עוסק פרופ’ שני במחקר תאורטי בתכנון עבור מספר סוכנים העוסקים בשיתוף פעולה, ובמחקר יישומי בתחומי החקלאות המדייקת, בעיקר בשימושים של עיבוד תמונה.

Prof. Katoshevski studied in the Technion, where he received both his bachelor’s degree and master’s degree in aeronautic engineering, and a PhD in applied mathematics. As part of his postdoctoral studies, he carried out two projects: for one year at RWTH-Aachen in Germany he has studied the burning of diesel aerosols, and for two and a half years at Caltech he has studied aerosols floating in the atmosphere.
From 1998 onwards, Prof. Katoshevski has been a staff member in the Department of Environmental Engineering at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, where he currently serves as a professor. He conducts studies on various subjects, including the dynamics of particles and fragments, atmospheric models, the burning of biological fuels, air pollution monitoring, the inhalation and exhalation of aerosols, and recently also water treatment.
He serves as chairperson of the Israeli Society for the Study of Burning Processes, and as head of the Unit for Safety Management and Engineering.

Prof. Meir has studied at the Technion, where he received both his bachelor’s degree and master’s degree in architecture and urban planning. He received his PhD in archeology from Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, for his study on construction technologies used in Byzantine settlements in the desert. In 1986, he joined the staff of the Jacob Blaustein Institutes for Desert Research at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, where he currently holds the rank of an associate professor. Between 2005 and 2010 he headed the program for desert architecture and urban planning, and the Bona Terra Department of Man in the Desert. He delivers lectures both in Israel and abroad, including in the following establishments: Architectural Association School of Architecture, London (1992); Oxford Brookes University (2000-1); Aristotle University of Thessaloniki (2010-2011); Donau Universitaet, Krems (2012-3); and the International Hellenic University (2012-2017).

Prof. Meir participated in planning projects for environmental awareness and experiments conducted in deserts in Israel, and he serves as consultant and member of institutes, NGOs and other professional agencies. Among his main scholarly interests are sustainable planning in arid areas; energy preservation in buildings; evaluation of buildings’ performance after their population and maintenance of intra-mural environmental quality; analysis of the buildings’ energetic life cycle; betterment and improvement of vernacular settlements using simple techniques; open space micro-climate, and entrepreneurial planning.

In 2014, in recognition of his studies, his educational activity and his involvement in promoting green and sustainable architecture, a team of experts named him one of the 100 most prominent contributors to environmental policy in Israel (in the field of infrastructures and construction). Among other things, he also received the award for leadership in green construction (2016) by the Israeli Green Building Council.

Prof. Ziv completed his bachelor’s degree in the Faculty of Life Sciences at Tel Aviv University in 1988, his master’s degree in ecology from Ben-Gurion University of the Negev in 1991, and his PhD in ecology and evolutionary biology from Arizona State University in the USA in 1998. As part of his doctoral studies and his postdoctoral project in the University of New Mexico in the USA, he specialized in ecology of societies, macro-ecology and biological preservation.
Prof. Ziv joined the staff of Ben-Gurion University of the Negev in 1988 and currently serves an associate professor in the Department of Life Sciences and as director of the Green Campus project in the university.
Prof. Ziv’s studies are concerned with the impact of the spatial organization of physical and biological factors on dynamics and diversity in ecological units, ranging from genes to individuals and populations to communities and eco-systems. The staff in his laboratory investigate a variety of fundamental scientific questions and participate in many preservation initiatives, such as ecological restoration, agroecology and the preservation of the distribution of biodiversity.
Prof. Ziv is also highly involved in many environmental protection activities, and he sits in many national and international committees on this matter. He currently serves as board member of both the Israel Society of Ecology and Environmental Sciences and the Society for the Protection of Nature in Israel. He is also a member of the Israeli Man and Biosphere Committee to UNESCO, and the Israeli delegate to the European Platform for Biodiversity Research Strategy.

Prof Limor Aharonson-Daniel, VP for Global Engagement, is the founding director of the PREPARED Center for Emergency Response Research at BGU. She is a Professor in the School of Public Health in the Faculty of Health Sciences. Limor is an international expert on injury epidemiology and played a significant role in the academization of the field of emergency preparedness and response and in the development of innovative approaches and tools for the study of emergency situations. Among these are the Barel body region by nature of injury diagnosis matrix, Multiple Injury Profiles and the Conjoint Community Resiliency Assessment Measure (CCRAM).

פרופ’ מאיר קלך בעל דוקטורט במדעי המחשב מאונ’ בר אילן. בשנים 2007-08 היה post doctoral fellow באונ’   Harvard. הוא מומחה בין-לאומי בדיאגנוזה של תקלות מבוססת מודל ופרסם עשרות מאמרים בתחום. המעבדה שהקים מקדמת שיתופי פעולה מחקריים עם התעשייה, כגון IBM, GM וחברת מקורות, וכן עם משרדים ממשלתיים.

Prof. Elkin completed his bachelor’s degree in computer science and mathematics at the Hebrew University in 1995. He completed his master’s degree and PhD in the Department of Mathematics and Computer Science at the Weizmann Institute of Science, the latter being completed in 2022. After two years of postdoctoral continuing education programs at the Institute for Advanced Study at Princeton and at Yale University, he joined the senior staff at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev in 2004. His main field of expertise is algorithms for graphs, distributed algorithms and metric algorithms.

Prof. Gross has received his bachelor’s degree from the Faculty of Agriculture at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem (1993), and both a master’s degree (1996) and a PhD (1995) from Auburn University in the United States, where he studied the nutrition cycles in water reserves. As part of his postdoctoral studies in Australia and at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, he studied various environmental subjects related to water treatment and reuse. In 2003 he joined the staff of Ben-Gurion University of the Negev.

He currently serves as associate professor and as head of the Department of Environmental Hydrology and Microbiology, Zuckerberg Institute for Water Studies, the Jacob Blaustein Institutes for Desert Research at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev.

Among Prof. Gross’s main areas of study are the treatment and effective use of marginal water and gray water, rehabilitation techniques and environmental risks posed by water source pollution and polluting sludge (that is to say, treated wastewater used in agriculture, wastewater and groundwater pollution).

פרופ’ קובי גל בעל דוקטורט במדעי המחשב מאוניברסיטת Harvard ופוסט דוקטורט ב MIT. מלמד קורס על מודלים סטטיסטיים בבינה מלאכותית באוניברסיטאות בן גוריון  ו Harvard. הוא חתן פרס קריל של קרן וולף לשנת 2013 למדענים ישראלים צעירים.

בעל תואר שלישי בהנדסת מערכות תוכנה ומידע מאונ’ בן גוריון. בשנים 2012-13 היה post doctoral fellow באונ’ Harvard. בשנים 2019-2020 עבד כ Principal Scientist ב Palo Alto Research Center, וכיהן בעבר כנשיא האגודה הבינלאומית ל Combinatorial Search.

Dr. Kissinger is a geographer and scientist engaging in the field of sustainability, specializing in biophysical responsibility and in sustainability-oriented policy and planning. He holds a master’s degree in natural resources management from Haifa University and a PhD in urban and regional planning from the School of Community and Regional Planning at the University of British Columbia, Canada.

Dr. Kissinger is a senior lecturer in the Department of Geography and Environmental Development at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, where he is the head of a group studying sustainability and environmental policy. He is also the director of the Negev Center for Sustainability.

Dr. Kissinger’s main areas of interest and his academic background are multi-disciplinary in nature. In his studies he examines the dependence between human activity and the natural environment, and their mutual impact on one another. He uses biophysical tools (such as soil, energy, water and waste) and tools checking for responsibility to sustainability, as well as develops such tools, and he examines the implications of policy on the interrelations between man and environment on both spatial and cross-spatial scales. In recent years he has been involved in a wide variety of studies on sustainability, including urban sustainability, food systems sustainability, the ensemble of relations between society and energy, as well as behavior and environment.

Prof. Lahad is the founder and President of the Community Stress Prevention Center Kiryat-Shmona, and Professor of Psychology at Tel-Hai College, Israel. He is a Senior medical psychologist; Author and co-author of over 35 books and many articles on the topics of Communities under Stress, and Coping with Life threatening Situations. He is the developer of the Integrative Model of Resiliency BASIC–Ph, ”Islands of resiliency” community recovery model and the See Far CBT psychotrauma treatment protocol.