Hebrew University of Jerusalem
The Hebrew University of Jerusalem (HUJI) is the oldest university in Israel. Founded in 1918 and opened officially in 1925, it is Israel’s premier university as well as its leading research institution, ranked among the 100 leading universities in the world. It offers a wide array of study opportunities in the humanities, social sciences, exact sciences and medicine. Its student body numbers 23,000 students from Israel and 65 other countries. HUJI encourages multi-disciplinary activities in Israel and overseas and serves as a bridge between academic research and its social and humanistic applications. HUJI has set as its goals the training of public, scientific, educational and professional leadership; the preservation of and research into cultural, spiritual and intellectual traditions; and the expansion of the boundaries of knowledge for the benefit of all humanity. https://new.huji.ac.il/en
The Paul Baerwald School of Social Work and Social Welfare at HUJI was established in 1958 was the first in the country. Immigration was a core issue to this school. Starting in the 1960s, a program to train immigrants with academic degrees to engage in social work was introduced and the school encouraged faculty to specialize in immigration research and teaching. To date the School has over thirty full time faculty members, more than 100 field instructors and nearly 900 students. https://en.sw.huji.ac.il/
NEVET Greenhouse of Context-Informed Research and Training, which participates DEMO was established in 2013. NEVET team comes from the disciplines of social and community work, psychology, criminology and medicine. It aims to develop knowledge, inform policy and promote context-informed perspectives for professionals and services working with immigrant families and children in multicultural and international contexts. The Greenhouse hosts several immigration studies and specializes in capacity building of graduate and postgraduate students who immigrated from diverse backgrounds. https://en.sw.huji.ac.il/book/nevet-greenhouse-context-informed-research-and-training-children-need
Prof. Dorit Roer-Strier
Dorit Roer-Strier is a co-head of DEMO at the Hebrew University. She is a Professor with the School of Social Work and Social Welfare and the director of NEVET. She is a qualitative researcher who specializes in childhood and family studies in multicultural societies. Her research and publications have focused on: a) Contextual aspects of families with applications to interventions and theory; b) Individuals and families coping with contextual changes (e.g. immigration, religious change and political conflict) and c) Context-informed innovative qualitative methodologies.
Dr. Yochay Nadan
Yochay Nadan is a co-head of DEMO at the Hebrew University. He is a Senior Lecturer at the School of Social Work and Social Welfare and is affiliated with NEVET. In his research, he focuses on cultural and cross-cultural aspects of research, direct practice and training in social work; cultural aspects of children in at-risk situations, including abuse and neglect; and clinical social work with families. Alongside his academic career, Yochay is a certified marital and family therapist.
Dr. Naomi Shmuel
Naomi Shmuel teaches at the School of Social Work and is the coordinator for NEVET’s special training program for professionals working in culturally diverse environments. She is an author and anthropologist specializing in families in transition. Naomi's original, prize-winning children’s books are widely used throughout Israel in schools and pre-school programs to foster cross-cultural understanding and tolerance. Her research focuses on the process of continuance and change across generations among Ethiopian immigrant families in Israel and especially on parenting across cultures.
Ms. Lior Birger
Lior Birger is a social worker and a Ph.D. student at the School of Social Work and Social Welfare. She is a fellow at the interdisciplinary program "Human Rights Under pressure" (a joint program of The Hebrew University and The Free University, Berlin), and at NEVET. Her Ph.D. research explores the contextual dimensions of the relationship between social workers and refugees from Eritrea, in both Germany and Israel. Lior has been working with refugees and asylum seekers, through different social services, NGOs and community initiatives. Her MA Thesis dealt with issues of gender and sexuality among Eritrean men in Israel. Recently, together with two other colleagues, Lior has published a research report, including testimonies of refugees who “voluntarily” departed Israel to Rwanda and Uganda and after a hazardous journey gained protection in Europe.
Ms. Efrat Lusky Weisrose
Efrat Lusky is a Ph.D. student at the School of Social Work and a researcher in NEVET greenhouse. Her research focuses on child sexual abuse in the ultra-orthodox Jewish community. Alongside her research, Efrat worked as a medical social worker with patients with chronic diseases. She is the coordinator of the Disability Studies Center and the coordinator of the Demo Erasmus+ project at HUJI.
Mr.Yan Serdtse
Yan Serdtse is a Ph.D. student at the School of Social Work and a coordinator of the mentoring program in NEVET greenhouse. His research focuses on the experiences of fathers, fatherhood and fathers’ perceptions in families of immigrants from the former Soviet Union in Israel and among Israel born fathers. Yan also teaches a number of methodological and clinical courses at the School of Social Work and Social Welfare.
Ms. Hannah Bartl
Hannah Bartl is a psychologist and a Ph.D. student at the Department of Psychology. Her research deals with belief systems and perception towards early attachment relationships in various socio-cultural backgrounds in Israel. Hannah's research aims to provide a culture-informed perspective to trainings of professionals working with children and families from various backgrounds and to influence the formation of ‘context-sensitive’ social policy. She is a member of NEVET and a teaching assistant. Previously, she worked in program development, quality management and teaching for the German mentoring program Baloo and You (German: Balu und Du), a highly effective primary-preventive program for underprivileged primary school children.
Mr. Amitai Marmor
Amitai Marmor is a Ph.D. student at the School of Social Work and a member of NEVET. He is working on his Ph.D. research on sibling incest in the orthodox and ultra-orthodox Jewish society. Amitai is a clinical social worker in the field of sexual abuse, currently working with children and youth who had been exposed to offensive or inappropriate sexual behaviour in various cultural contexts.