Research Grants in Gender Studies 2025
Hila Nadav
“Institutional or Communicative Justice? Sexual Assault Victims’ Perceptions of Justice and Online Engagement”
Ariel University
Dear Donors,
I am writing to extend my deepest gratitude for awarding me the Scholarship. Your generous support has not only provided crucial financial assistance but also meaningful encouragement for my personal and academic journey.
I am a Ph.D. candidate at Ariel University. My academic background includes an LL.B. and an LL.M. in Law, as well as a second master’s degree in Gender Studies.
I conduct interdisciplinary research that combines communication, gender studies, and law. My dissertation focuses on the voices of sexual violence survivors on social media. It explores how victims use digital platforms to share their experiences and reclaim agency in the face of institutional silence. The research underscores the importance of voice as a means of justice and healing, particularly for women whose voices have been historically silenced.
I began this research as a divorced single mother raising my young son alone. Today, I am remarried and a mother of two, but I carry with me the strength, resilience, and determination that shaped those early years.
As a lawyer since 2008, I have dedicated a significant portion of my work to advancing gender equality, promoting policy change, and providing pro bono legal representation to women and underserved populations. My professional and activist efforts are driven by the belief that every woman deserves to be heard, supported, and empowered.
Receiving this scholarship reinforces my conviction in the transformative power of research to drive social change. It supports my mission to amplify the voices of women who have been silenced for too long.
Thank you once again for your generosity and belief in my work.
With sincere appreciation,
Hila
Hagar Ben Zaken
“Girl Don’t Walk Alone”:
Experiences of fear by women pedestrians in Israeli smart cities”
Bar Ilan University
To the Donors of the Na’amat Women and War Research Grant
My name is Hagar Ben Zaken a director, lecturer, mother of three, and a PhD candidate in Gender Studies at Bar Ilan University.
I would like to express my deep gratitude for choosing to award me this generous grant in support of my doctoral research, which explores the experience of fear among women pedestrians in smart cities in Israel.
For nearly two years, the daily lives of women in Israel have been shaped by ongoing fear, uncertainty, and collective trauma – marked by sirens, rocket interceptions, graphic imagery, shelters, and the visible presence of weapons in public space. This charged reality deeply affects women’s movement, bodily vigilance, and reliance on urban technologies.
In the midst of this storm, your decision to invest in listening to women’s experiences is both courageous and deeply meaningful.
Your support enables me to deepen my investigation into how fear is embodied, how it shapes movement and behavior, and how such knowledge may contribute to the design of safer, more inclusive, and more just urban environments: both in times of emergency and in times of peace.
Since October 7th, fear has become inseparable from the act of walking in the city. Many women describe a constant sense of existential threat with every step: fear of being attacked, abducted, or assaulted.
As part of my research, I conducted walking interviews with women in the everyday spaces they inhabit across Tel Aviv, Bat Yam, and Petah Tikva. This feminist methodology enabled me to understand fear through the body itself: changes in heartbeat, shifting gaze, slowing pace, avoidance, or changing direction. These are live, embodied testimonies of daily survival strategies that emerged directly from the field.
The findings reveal recurring behavioral patterns: avoiding areas where Arabic is spoken, modifying clothing, carrying keys in hand, reducing presence in public in order “not to attract attention.”
Even places considered safe such as lit streets or public parks are often experienced as threatening or anxiety-inducing. Technologies intended to provide security may, at times, heighten feelings of surveillance, intrusion, or loss of control.
This research seeks to give voice to these experiences. A voice that is female, urban, and visceral and that insists on the basic right to move freely and safely in public space, for women of all ages and backgrounds.
Your choice to support research that centers women and war is, for me, a profound gesture of trust, recognition, and belief in the importance of gender based knowledge rooted in the body, in movement, and in the lived realities of women in Israel during an extremely difficult time.
This grant will allow me to dedicate time to thorough analysis, writing, and sharing this knowledge with policymakers, planners, and academic communities with the goal of contributing to real change in public discourse and urban design.
Thank you for your investment, your attention, and your belief that this kind of knowledge is a vital resource, even when it is painful or trembling and that from within fear itself, healing and transformation can grow.
With deep appreciation and warm regards,
Hagar Ben Zaken
Reut Unna-Tsamaret
“The operationalization of Gender – Equal Parenting labor: Humans, Technologies and Objects in the ” Baby Nurture Network”
Haifa University
Dear Donors,
My name is Reut Unna-Tsamaret. I am 48 years old and a mother of two children. My eldest son will be enlisting in the army this coming September, and my daughter is 16 years old. Since the birth of my children, I have been deeply engaged—as both a mother and a woman—with the tension between the feminist ideal my partner and I share of being equally involved, meaningful parents, and the reality of the public and political space in Israel.
This personal journey led me, when I returned to pursue an additional master’s degree, to focus my academic work on contemporary parenting and motherhood in Israel.
I am currently a fourth-year doctoral candidate in the Department of Anthropology at the University of Haifa, under the supervision of Professor Tsipi Ivry. My doctoral research is titled “The Operationalization of Gender-Equal Parenting Labor: Humans, Technologies, and Objects in the Baby Nurture Network.” This work examines how parenting labor is structured, performed, and negotiated through the dynamic interactions between human actors, technological devices, and material objects. Together, these elements shape contemporary perceptions and conceptions of parenting today.
My exploration of “parenting objects” and “parenting technologies” began during my master’s degree in Cultural Studies at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, where I wrote a thesis titled “The Pursuit of White Gold: The Impact of Breast Pumps on Contemporary Motherhood,” supervised by Professor Tamar El-Or. My research is grounded in connecting material culture with the anthropology of parenting.
Before the outbreak of the war on October 7th, 2023, my work focused on the everyday practices of infant care, examining how aspirations for gender-equal parenting were enacted through daily routines and the use of parenting technologies and objects. Following the war, my research expanded to consider how wartime conditions—displacement, long periods of reserve military duty, instability, and loss of control—have disrupted these efforts toward gender equality. I explore how parenting objects and technologies have become sites of negotiation, adaptation, and sometimes resistance, as families navigate the tensions between shared parenting ideals and the constraints of crisis.
My work seeks to deepen understanding of the complexity of contemporary genderequal parenting, especially the delicate dynamics of everyday life under prolonged political and security instability. By examining how humans, technologies, and objects interact within the Baby Nurture Network, my research aims to illuminate the ways shared parenting ideals are negotiated, challenged, and sustained in times of uncertainty. It also highlights how challenging it can be for parents—mothers and fathers alike—to build a new gender contract in parenting under such conditions.
I wish to express my deepest gratitude for your generous support in my research, especially during this challenging period of war and profound instability. Your contribution enables me to continue exploring how Israeli families—and in particular the women who stand both on the front lines and at home—sustain strength, care, and hope in the face of significant political and security challenges. This support is not only an investment in scholarship but also an affirmation of the resilience and vitality of the Israeli Jewish family. I am truly thankful for your belief in the importance of this work and for standing with us during these times.
With sincere appreciation,
Reut Unna-Tsamare
Recognition Award in Science 2025
Shoshan Horan
Shoshan Haran is an Israeli agronomist and the founder and president of the Fair Planet NPO. Born and raised in Kibbutz Be’eri, she studied for a BA in plant protection at the Faculty of Agriculture of the Hebrew University, Rehovot, Israel. After working in the field in the kibbutz itself she returned to the faculty and worked on a direct path to a Ph.D. under the supervision of Ilan Chet. She then continued to postdoctoral degree at Rutgers University NJ with the help of a Fulbright scholarship and a BARD scholarship.
After returning to Israel, she worked for 11 years at Hazera Seeds, a subsidiary of the Limagrain Group, which specializes in the cultivation of vegetable varieties. Her work in the seeds industry, along with her travels around the world have motivated her to found Fair Planet NPO, which aims to improve the harvest and livelihood of smallholder African farmers by providing them access to professional high quality seed varieties.
Haran is one of around 200 civilians that were kidnapped by Hamas militants into the Gaza Strip on October 7 2023. Along with her, Hamas abducted eight other family members, murdered her husband Avshalom and brother-in-law Eviatar Kipnis, and detonated their house. She was later released as part of an exchange of Israeli hostages for Palestinian prisoners. After her release she joined the advisory council of Hostage Aid Worldwide, a non-profit NGO dedicated to the release of hostages globally and prevention of acts of hostage taking.
Tair Plotnik
Date of Birth: 06/01/1992
Education and Courses:
2022-current: PhD. in Atmospheric Science, Hebrew University of Jerusalem. Fredy and Nadine Hermann Institute of Earth Sciences. Specialization in Atmosphere dynamic and intrinsic predictability with emphasis on Mediterranean extra-tropical cyclones. Supervised by Dr. Assaf Hochman (Hebrew University of Jerusalem) and Dr. Francesco Marra (University of Padova, Italy).
2018-2022: M.Sc. in Geophysics and planetary science, Tel Aviv University. Specialization in Atmospheric science, P.I Prof. Colin Price. Graduated with honors
2014-2018: B.Sc. in Earth Science, Hebrew University of Jerusalem Specializations in Geology and Atmosphere, Climate and Oceanography.
Courses and Certifications:
2020-2021: Sport and Fitness Instructor – Campus Siim.
February 2020-January 2021: John Bryce computer school, Data science, machine learning and big data using Python.
September 2017: Internship in Ocean Campus, Mossel-bay South Africa. Including Marine biology research emphasis on white sharks, Behavioral analysis and monitoring using echolocation research on sharks, Oceanography research on the interaction of the Indian Ocean and the Atlantic Ocean.
June 2023: COST-Action 2nd MedCyclones Workshop and Training School, Toulouse,
France.
Work Experience:
October 2024-Current: Teacher assistant in course Minerals and Rocks (70417) taught by Netta Shalev, Teacher assistant in course Introduction to Paleontology
(70102) taught by Dr. Rivka Rabinovich.
February 2023- Current: COST-Action WG2 – leading with Dr. Assaf Hochman
MedCyclones RCM track initiative. Running extratropical cyclones track algorithm for future predictions in Mediterranean Sea.
August 8-27, 2023: Short Term Scientific Mission (STSM) Grant – E-COST GRANTCA19109, Mediterranean cyclones in regional climate simulations, at the amount of 2700 € (Euros), approved by the MC of the COST Action. Studied at the University of Exeter, England, supervised by Dr. Jennifer Catto.
October 2022-October 2023: Teacher assistant in course “Citizen science-Sustainability and climate action”, taught by Dr. Hadas Magen-Molho. In this course,
students either join an existing project or create their own about environmentalsocial action through citizen science/’living lab’ projects dealing with sustainability challenges in the ‘real world’.
April 2022- October 2023: Participant in the European ”I-Change” project – measurements of atmospheric and air pollution parameters as part of citizen science
and livening-laboratory to create impact and teach people about climate change. Collaboration with “Environmentally Engaged Jerusalamite” project by The Bloomfield Science Museum Jerusalem”. Volunteering with middle-school students and communities to teach about climate change and the Meteo-Tracker instruments while guiding them about the use of the instruments, collecting and analyzing the data via a GIS platform designed by a group of students and myself.
May 2019-January 2023: Ramat Gan zoological center, student position, Zoo kipper
at the department of elephants and giraffes.
February 2021-May 2022: Israel Ministry of Environmental Protection, Department
of Emergency and Cyber events.
March-April 2018: Research project- Prof. Amri Wandel. Astrobiology. Titan- a lab for alien astrobiology. 31th astrobiology conference.
2016-2018 Research assistant- Biogeochemistry lab at the earth science institute
Prof. Jonathan Erez. Including Assisting PhD students in their research and
maintaining the lab on a day-to-day basis, Research about the calcification process in
corals and Foraminifera by calculating alkalinity in the water, calcein coloring and
viewing under electronic microscope, Examination of the calcium parts in sea urchin
by calcein coloring.
2014-2015: Dead see products, SECRET, sells women in New Delhi, India. 2013-2014: Preferred Job.
Military service:
2010-2012: Observer (spotter)- combat intelligent collection corps.
Publications and Awards:
April 2018: Presentation – Titan – a lab for alien astrobiology – 31st Astrobiology
conference.
February 2020: Poster – Sanitation process for the Schumann resonance due to global lightning activity – COST- ElectroNet action WG4 Schumann Resonance meeting.
May 2021: Excellence Award Scholarship Department of Geophysics.
November 2021: Paper publication, Transport of water vapor from tropical cyclones to the upper troposphere, Atmosphere Journal, 12(11), 1506.
June 2022: Poster, Transport of water vapor from tropical cyclones to the upper troposphere – 17th International conference on atmospheric electricity.
December 2022: Paper publication – Impact of the El Niño–Southern Oscillation on upper-tropospheric water vapor, Atmospheric Research 280, 106422.
April 2023: Paper publication, The Sources of Heavy Precipitation Predictability, The Case of the ‘Wet’ Red Sea Trough – Weather and Climate Extremes Journal, 40, 100564.
October 2023: Paper publication, Are Thunderstorms Linked to the Rapid Sea Ice Loss in the Arctic? – Atmospheric Research 294, 106988.
December 2023: Paper publication, Revisiting the link between thunderstorms and upper tropospheric water vapor – Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres, 128(24), e2023JD039306.
June 2023: Poster – The Sources of Heavy Precipitation Predictability, The Case of the ‘Wet’ Red Sea Trough – 2nd MedCyclones Workshop & 9th European Storm Workshop in Toulouse, France.
April 30 2024: Ynet Online Newspaper
May 16 2024: PHYS.org online (editors note)
