The Lowy International School I The Global Connection

Prof. Michael Feuer is the Dean of Graduate Education at George Washington University, was formerly the president of the National Academy of Education in the United States, and is an expert on the relationship of education to democracy and equality, In this episode of The Global Connection, The Lowy International School’s Orit Coty interviews Feuer about his new book, Can Schools Save Democracy? Civic Education and the Common Good (2023), and about the growing division on campuses, what has gone wrong and how it can be fixed.

Israel’s military and civilian systems may have been prepared for a disaster the magnitude of October 7, but did the response match the preparation? And how is the state faring as it continues to manage the ongoing crisis?   In this episode of The Global Connection, Larry French, a master’s student at Tel Aviv University (TAU), interviews Bruria Adini, the head of TAU’s international Master of Disaster Management program. The two discuss ways to characterize the crisis, how different levels of society and government mobilized and responded to October 7, and what – from a disaster management perspective – the state should prioritize moving forward.   Interested in the Master of Disaster Management program at TAU? Visit www.international.tau.ac.il/International_Program_in_Disaster_Management

In this episode of The Global Connection, Orit Coty from the Lowy International School interviews Jonti Shepherd about what it’s like to make Aliyah and begin a PhD at Tel Aviv University (TAU), only to have October 7 months later. Jonti, who was born in South Africa but has lived around the world, is now working towards a PhD in hyperspectral remote sensing. He and Orit discuss South Africa’s political animosity towards Israel, his decision to immigrate and the role TAU has played, what his research entails, his hopes and dreams for the future, and why there’s no place he’d rather be than Israel.   DYK? TAU has launched academic integration tracks in English and French to help new olim find their way: www.international.tau.ac.il/academic-integration-tracks  

Today, more than two billion people suffer from unsafe water. In the Water Energy (WE) Lab at Tel Aviv University (TAU), researchers not only develop technologies to purify water, wastewater and waste, but implement them in places like India and Uganda.    This episode of The Global Connection features the head of the WE Lab, Prof. Hadas Mamane, in conversation with PhD candidate Dana Pousty. The two chat about life in the lab and the projects being developed, their clean-water venture SoLED and why it’s so important to make their sustainable technologies available to those in need.   Interested in environmental engineering research?  Check out TAU’s international MSc in Environmental Engineering: www.international.tau.ac.il/Environmental_Engineering_MSc/   Want to learn more about the WE Lab? Visit www.mamanelab.sites.tau.ac.il/      

At the Maoz Lab, Tel Aviv University (TAU) researchers are revolutionizing how diseases and trial drugs can be studied, using human tissues and recreating organs via “organ-on-a-chip” technologies.   This episode of The Global Connection shares the experience of two international researchers in that lab: MSc student Emma Glickman and PhD candidate Neta Fibeesh. Along with Prof. Ben Maoz, they discuss what it’s like to research at TAU and how they’re using stem cells and simulating mini-organs to advance understanding of diseases such as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s.   Interested in a career in biomedicine or engineering? Want to study in English? Check out TAU’s MSc in Biomedical Engineering: www.international.tau.ac.il/Biomedical_Engineering_MSc   Want to learn more about research happening at the Maoz Lab? Visit www.maozlab.com

Dr. Sagi Jaffe-Dax is a researcher with the Sagol School of Neuroscience at Tel Aviv University (TAU), where he heads up the Cognitive Development Lab. In this episode of The Global Connection, Orit Coty from The Lowy International School interviews Sagi about the field of neuroscience; the differences between child and adult cognition; what neuroscience can tell us about the infant brain; and about Jaffe-Dax’s new role as head of the International MSc in Neuroscience program.    Interested in the International MSc in Neuroscience program at TAU? Learn more at  www.international.tau.ac.il/Neuroscience_MSc.

For a number of Jews around the world, one response to October 7 has been a deep desire to come to Israel and to give back. Sharon Fraenkel, executive director of Canadian Friends of Tel Aviv University (CFTAU) for Ottawa, Quebec and Atlantic Canada, is no exception.   In this episode of The Global Connection, Fraenkel is interviewed by Ben Bright – an international MA student at Tel Aviv University (TAU) and a member of the student-led movement @IsraelWarStory. They chat about  Jewish life and antisemitism in Montreal after October 7, Fraenkel’s trip to Israel in the wake of the atrocities, and the steps Tel Aviv University has taken since October 7 to help its students, as well as the country, to cope and begin the healing process.   Want to become a friend to Tel Aviv University? Find out more about the Friends Association in your country: english.tau.ac.il/friends_of_tau   Interested in getting an on-the-ground perspective on October 7 and the war from international students at TAU? Follow Ben and others on Instagram: www.instagram.com/israelwarstory/

On October 7, everything in Israel changed, including for Startup Nation.   In this special episode of The Global Connection, Jackie Goren, head of the Sofaer Global MBA program at Tel Aviv University (TAU), interviews Nimrod Cohen, the managing partner of TAU Ventures. The two discuss how Startup Nation has fared since October 7, its outlook moving forward and the lessons in agility and leadership to be learned from this time.   Want to learn more about the Sofaer Global MBA Program? Visit www.international.tau.ac.il/Sofaer_Global_MBA   Interested in TAU Ventures? Go to www.tauventures.co.il

In this special episode, Ido Aharoni engages in a conversation with Prof. Tamar Herzig about the mass rape of women, and the mutilation of their bodies, during the October 7th atrocities. Prof. Herzig describes herself as a feminist historian and is shocked by the silence of some of her academic colleagues globally. She is the Konrad Adenauer Professor of Comparative European History at Tel Aviv University. She currently serves as Vice Dean for Research of the Faculty of Humanities, as Vice Chairperson of the Historical Society of Israel, and as a member of the Board of Directors of the Renaissance Society of America. In 2014-2021, she served as Director of Tel Aviv University's Morris E. Curiel Institute for European Studies. Her article “Slavery and Interethnic Sexual Violence: A Multiple Perpetrator Rape in Seventeenth-Century Livorno” (American Historical Review 127:1) won the 2022 Best Article Award of the Society for the Study of Early Modern Women and Gender, and was awarded the Mediterranean Seminar’s Article of the Month Award for July 2022. In 2021, she was awarded the Israel Institute for Advanced Studies’ Michael Bruno Memorial Award for groundbreaking research, for her contribution to the study of premodern history and especially of the Italian Renaissance. In 2020 she won the American Historical Association's Rosenberg Prize and later on was awarded Honorable Mention of the Renaissance Society of America's Gordan Book Prize in Renaissance Studies (2021) for her book A Convert’s Tale: Art, Crime, and Jewish Apostasy in Renaissance Italy. (Harvard University Press, 2019; Hebrew Translation: Magnes Press, 2023; Italian translation; Viella, 2023). For her work on religious conversion in early modern Italy, she also won the Kadar Award for Outstanding Research in 2019.   00:00 - Intro 01:55 - Italian history 02:19 - The dark side of the Renaissance 03:48 - Slave women, sexual violence, gang rape 05:26 - Livorno community Italy 08:20 - Crimes against Jews 12:00 - Rape of women as a weapon of war 15:00 - Rape as a strategy 15:00 - Rape and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict 18:00 - Rape by Hamas and ISIS 20:00 - Global denial campaign of rape of Israeli women 21:00 - The silence of the leaders in the #Metoo movement 22:06 - The collapse of feminism 25:48 - Rape as slow murder 30:00 - Israeli rapes are not sexual impulses Lowy International School TAU: https://international.tau.ac.il

In this new episode of TAU Unbound, Ido Aharoni is hosting Dr. Oren Asman, a lawyer and Chair of Psychiatric Review Committees. Oren's academic work focuses on Bioethics and Health Law. He is a Senior Lecturer at the Nursing Department; Director of the Bioethics and Law Center at the Faculty of Medicine; and Director of the Samueli Initiative for Responsible AI (Artificial Intelligence) in Medicine at Tel Aviv University. Here, we discuss what is 'responsible Artificial Intelligence' in Medicine, how it is relevant in health care, the Samueli initiative for responsible AI in medicine, how it’s relevant to the current war in Israel, and what is the future of this exciting field.   01:00 - Bioethics 04:00 - The connection between medicine and law 05:00 - Legislation on medical issues 07:00 - Islamic law 07:29 - Abortions after rape 08:15 - Medical law versus medical ethics 13:00 - Morality and war 19:00 - AI and the connection to medicine 24:00 - The Samueli Initiative for Responsible AI in Medicine 34:40 - Healing VS Killing   Lowy International School TAU: https://international.tau.ac.il

Our new episode of TAU Unbound is about the science of physical anthropology, and more specifically, the role of human fossils in the process of identifying victims of the October 7th massacre. Our guest is Prof. Israel Hershkovitz, Emeritus in Anatomy and Anthropology in the School of Health Professions in the Faculty of Medicine. Here, Prof. Hershkovitz is discussing the essence of physical anthropology, as opposed to social anthropology, methodologies used in forensics, his volunteer work post 10/7 identifying massacre victims as well as the future of his field in the era of AI (Artificial Intelligence).

How do Middle East politics provide further insight into what happened on October 7 and the way the Israel-Hamas war is being fought? And how does this context help us to understand where to go from here?   In this episode of The Global Connection, Maria Ellul – an international MA student at Tel Aviv University (TAU) and a member of the student-led movement @IsraelWarStory – interviews Brandon Friedman, the director of research at the Moshe Dayan Center for Middle Eastern and African Studies. Together they unpack politics in the Middle East and discuss a new international summer program Friedman is launching, called “The Regional Politics of the Middle East: From the 2010-2011 Arab Uprisings to the October 7 War.”   Want to learn more about the new summer program? Visit www.international.tau.ac.il/middle_east_israel_studies/   Interested in getting an on-the-ground perspective on October 7 and the war from international students at TAU? Follow Maria and others on Instagram: www.instagram.com/israelwarstory/

Tel Aviv University’s Buchmann-Mehta School of Music is one of the liveliest schools on campus, and this year the school is celebrating 20 seasons of musical performances. In this musical episode of The Global Connection, Anna Sajecki speaks with Dr. Uri Binjamin Rom, the head of the Buchmann-Mehta School of Music, about what makes TAU’s music school so special.   Want to attend one of the events as part of this year’s music season? Visit https://tau.smarticket.co.il/  Is music your calling and passion? Learn more about the Buchmann-Mehta School of Music International Program: https://international.tau.ac.il/bmsm_program_ma   Finally, for a taste of the Music School's promising vocal talents, listen to soprano Nour Darwish in Puccini's "O mio babbino caro" with the BMSM Symphony Orchestra under the baton of Honorary President Zubin Mehta: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AvrHjfppIpk    *This episode was filmed before October 7

Sean Tsivian and Daniel Canosa are two students in Tel Aviv University’s International MA program in Conflict Resolution & Mediation. In this episode of The Global Connection podcast, they chat with Anna Sajecki about their experiences with the program, why there’s no such thing as absolute truth, and the lessons they’ve learned.   Interested in TAU’s Conflict Resolution & Mediation program? Learn more at www.international.tau.ac.il/conflict_resolution   *This episode was filmed before October 7

October 7th created a massive crisis in all higher learning institutions in Israel and TAU is no exception. Close to 6000 men and women, students, faculty & administration - were called to serve in the army reserves. Most of them are still there three months later. Hundreds of students were directly affected by the massacre and its aftermath. Se veral students, children of faculty and their families were murdered in the music festival. How did TAU cope with this mega crisis? In this episode host Ido Aharoni Aronoff is engaged in a discussion with TAU Vice President for Development and Alumni Affairs Amos Elad and two bright students who now serve in the reserves: Shir Shahar of the Faculty of Medicine and Aviv Kurnas of the Air Force.

Ido Aharoni Aronoff is hosting the prolific Dr. Michael Milshtein, who is the head of the Forum for Palestinian Studies at the Moshe Dayan Center. Michael served as an advisor for Palestinian affairs to COGAT - IDF's Coordinator of Government Operations in the Territories (2015-2018), and as the head of the Palestinian arena in the IDF Intelligence Division (at the rank of lieutenant colonel). As part of his duties, he was involved in shaping Israeli policy in the Palestinian area. His expertise is the strategic analysis of the Middle East as well as issues pertaining to collective memory, popular culture and generational struggles in the regional context. Here Aharoni and Milshtein explore the possible scenarios facing Israel, Hamas, the Palestinian Authority and other actor in this regional arena

Ido Aharoni Aronoff is hosting in the new episode Adv. Galia Feit who is a social cause lawyer and the executive director of the Law and Philanthropy Center at the Buchman Faculty of Law at Tel Aviv University. Galia’s encounter with philanthropy and the establishment of a philanthropy research institute is at the center of our conversation. Contrary to what most people say about the Israelis, that they are not known for their charitable contributions, the response to the atrocities of October 7th indicates otherwise: the philanthropic response to the 7/10 massacre and the Iron Swords War had been overwhelmingly positive - in three circles: (a) Spontaneous reaction of the Israelis - organizations - volunteering and donations, (b) The response of institutionalized philanthropy - strategic donors, philanthropic foundations, Jewish communities abroad, and (c) Philanthropy's response to the outbreak of anti-Semitism and anti-Zionism - perhaps we can talk another time. In this conversation Aharoni & Feit also touch upon the deficient response of Israel’s government since that which does not work well in times of routine (government infrastructure for social services) cannot possibly work well in an emergency. Yet, Feit is highlighting an extraordinary picture of civil mobilization and social solidarity post 10/7. https://www.ilp.sites.tau.ac.il/en/po...

In this episode our host Ido Aharoni Aronoff is hosting Dr. Boaz Hameiri a Senior Lecturer and the Head of the Evens Program in Conflict Management and Mediation at Tel Aviv University’s Faculty of Social Studies. He also serves as a Human Development Lab researcher at the Boris Mints Institute at TAU. He received his PhD in social psychology at Tel Aviv University in 2019, and then did his Postdoctoral Fellowship in the Peace and Conflict Neuroscience Lab at the University of Pennsylvania, and Postdoctoral Innovation Lab Fellowship at Beyond Conflict. Hameiri’s specialty is the examination of different psychological barriers to attitude change and conflict resolution (e.g., victimhood), and the development of psychological interventions (e.g., paradoxical thinking) to address these barriers and promote better intergroup relations and conflict resolution. Here, Aharoni & Hameiri explore ways to overcome the challenge presented by the October 7th massacre and its aftermath.

Dr. Dara Barnat is head of the Division of Languages at Tel Aviv University (TAU), and author of the poetry collections Headwind Migration, In the Absence and The City I Run From: Poems of Tel Aviv. In this episode of The Global Connection, Barnat joins host Anna Sajecki to talk about her journey to Tel Aviv as an international student, discovering her poetic voice in Israel, the influence of Walt Whitman, and capturing Tel Aviv in poetry.   Interested in discovering your own voice in Tel Aviv? Join us at TAU’s international school! www.international.tau.ac.il   *This episode was filmed before October 7

Facundo Pereminksy and Joseph Kababie are two recent alumni of Tel Aviv University’s Sofaer Global MBA program who are using their training as they launch their new startup, Camino TLV. In this episode of The Global Connection podcast, the two chat with host Anna Sajecki about their move from Argentina and Mexico to Tel Aviv, their experience in the Sofaer Global MBA program, what it means to be an entrepreneur, and their vision for Camino – a new local company that offers a new community space for online retailers.   Want to learn more about the Sofaer Global MBA program? Visit www.international.tau.ac.il/Sofaer_Global_MBA   *This episode was filmed before October 7

Ran Tal is a documentary filmmaker and the head of the international MFA documentary film program at Tel Aviv University’s Steve Tisch School of Film and Television. In this episode of The Global Connection, Tal talks to host Anna Sajecki about his career capturing Israeli stories, how historical and individual forces have interacted to shape Israel and its meaning, and his most recent documentary films 1341 Frames of Love and War (about celebrated war photographer Micha Bar-Am) and What If? Ehud Barak on War and Peace. They also chat about the two-year MFA program in documentary film and what it offers students. Interested in the international MFA documentary film program? Learn more at www.international.tau.ac.il/Television_and_Cinema *This episode was filmed before October 7.

What is modernity? How has it shaped the way we live and think? In this episode of The Global Connection, host Anna Sajecki speaks with Dr. Yoav Fromer about a course he teaches called “Modernity and Its Discontents.” The course is one of the most popular taught through Tel Aviv University’s International BA in Liberal Arts, which this year is celebrating its 10-year anniversary.   Learn more about TAU’s International BA in Liberal Arts: https://international.tau.ac.il/Liberal_Arts   Keywords: modernity, modernism, discontents, enlightenment, reason, democracy, nature, individuals, individualism, romanticism, postmodernism, technology, war, abstraction, capitalism, Liberal Arts, humanism, art, humanities, Tel Aviv University, Israel   Unit: Global podcast 27 09 23 Yoav Fromer edited   Episode Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NdbIEfMyu7M  

As technology continues to change how we live, what questions should we ask? Nitzan Waisberg is a lecturer, consultant, and design thinker who served as a consulting assistant professor at Stanford’s Hasso Plattner Institute of Design before returning to Tel Aviv. In this episode of The Global Connection, Waisberg talks with Anna Sajecki about a course she teaches, called “Thinking Critically About Technology,” through the Innovation and Entrepreneurship track as part of TAU’s International BA in Liberal Arts.   Learn more about the Innovation and Entrepreneurship track offered through TAU’s International BA in Liberal Arts: https://liberal-arts.tau.ac.il/ac_tracks

In this episode of The Global Connection, the spotlight is on social media and its relationship to the Israel-Hamas war, as well as what today’s digital platforms mean for the future of humanity. This episode features Dr. Carmel Vaisman, a digital culture researcher and associate lecturer at TAU’s Cohn Institute for the History and Philosophy of Science and Ideas, as well as with TAU’s Multidisciplinary Program in the Humanities. The guest host is Ben Bright: an international master’s student and a member of a Tel Aviv University (TAU) task force fighting disinformation online.   Learn more about the Digital Culture and Communications track offered through TAU’s International BA in Liberal Arts: https://liberal-arts.tau.ac.il/ac_tracks   Learn more about the TAU International Students Task Force: https://international.tau.ac.il/student-task-force  

Prof. Ehud Toledano is the former Director of TAU's Program in Ottoman and Turkish Studies at the Department of Middle East and African History. In this episode of TAU Unbound, he shares with host Ido Aharoni his take on what Israel should do next, how and when. Toledano provides a comprehensive overview of the actors in the conflict: Russia, Iran, Hamas, Hezbollah, Lebanon, Syria, ISIS, PA, Turkey, KSA, USA and more. Between 2004 and 2008, Toledano served as the Director of the Graduate School of History, and from 2005 to 2009, he was a member of the University Board of Directors, representing the University Senate. He received his PhD from Princeton University and conducted extensive research in Istanbul, London, and Paris. He was a Post-Doctoral Fellow at the American Research Center in Cairo, Egypt between 1979 and 1981, a Senior Fellow at St. Antony's College, Oxford (1986/7), a Senior Research Fellow at the University of Pennsylvania (1993/4), and Visiting Professor at UCLA (between 1999 and 2001). 00:00 - Intro 01:00 - Political, diplomatic and military aspects of the attack on 7.10 01:34 - The response must be the destruction of the Hamas organization 02:23 - The political move to destroy Hamas. Expulsion of the leadership 05:54 - The military move in the Gaza Strip 10:35 - "The day after the war" 16:38 - The Arab world 19:03 - Iran and its involvement in the events of 7.10 26:00 - Turkey and its involvement in the events of 7.10 29:10 - Saudi Arabia and its involvement in the events of 7.10 32:10 - Russia and its involvement in the events of 7.10 lowy International School TAU: https://international.tau.ac.il

Our guest is Prof. Emeritus Thalma Lobel former head of TAU’s Psychology Department and Dean of Students. Thalma is a prolific writer who authored several bestsellers on the practical applications of psychological methodologies. In this episode, Lobel shares with host Ido Aharoni ways to reduce stress and mitigate anxiety during wartime in Israel. She received her Ph.D. in Psychology from Tel Aviv University and conducted her post doctoral work at Harvard University. As Dean of students Lobel promoted several social impact programs aimed at narrowing gaps in the Israeli society. 00:00 - Intro 02:06- The psychological rationale behind the actions of Hamas 03:30 - brutality 06:10 - Practice to improve the environment, to help deal with stress and fear 13:00 - More ways to reduce stress 13:44 - The importance of nature, causes a decrease in stress levels and an increase in cognitive performance 18:54 - A virtual tour of landscapes and sounds from nature also reduce stress 19:19 - It is important to listen to the voices of nature 21:00 - In order to relax it is important to reduce watching news updates. Make sure to exercise 23:34 - Tips for those staying in the protected area. lowy International School TAU: https://international.tau.ac.il

In this episode of TAU Unbound, host Ido Aharoni is interviewing prolific Israeli academic and writer Prof. Uriya Shavit of the Department of Arabic and Islamic Studies at the Faculty of Humanities. Shavit, who received his PhD from TAU, talks about the origins of Hamas, its ties throughout the region and Israel’s options. Prof. Shavit is a professor of Islamic studies and, since 2016, has served as the head of TAU’s Department of Arabic and Islamic Studies and its Graduate Program in Religious Studies. Since 2021, Shavit serves as head of the Kantor Center for the Study of Contemporary European Jewry, as well as co-head of the Shandong-Tel Aviv Institute for Israel and Jewish Studies. Shavit also worked as a senior staff writer and editor for Haaretz and other Israeli newspapers and authored novels and books for young readers. He specializes in the study of contemporary Islamic law, theology, and politics, as well as the study of Muslim minorities in the West. 00:00 - Intro 01:58 - The roots of the Hamas organization are anti-Semitism. 02:48 - Signs in a world of denial such as Holocaust denial 03:18 - Violence also by Muslims against Muslims 04:40 - The BDS movement 08:41- The struggle of the Hamas movement is against the West in general 09:50 - ISIS 11:10 - after the war - military government/Hamas government 13:39 - Hamas ISIS VS 18:58 - Islam in Europe 26:45 - Pro-Islamic propaganda in private universities in the United States lowy International School TAU: https://international.tau.ac.il

This new episode of TAU Unbound introduces TAU Vice Provost Prof. Eyal Zisser, who also serves as the holder of The Ettinger Chair in Contemporary History of the Middle East. Dean of Humanities (2010-2015), Director of the Dayan Center for Middle Eastern and African Studies (2007-2010) and Head of the Department of Middle Eastern and African History, Prof. Zisser covered in this conversation the regional perspective with an emphasis on Iran and Syria. Zisser wrote extensively on the history and the modern politics of Syria and Lebanon and the Arab-Israeli conflict. Among his books: Assad’s Syria at a Crossroads (Tel Aviv, 1999); Asad’s Legacy – Syria in Transition (New York, 2000); Lebanon: the Challenge of Independence (London, 2000); Faces of Syria (Tel Aviv, 2003) Commanding Syria, Bashar al-Asad’s First years in Power (London, 2006); The Bleeding Cedar (Tel Aviv, 2009), Syria :Protest, Revolution, Civil War (Tel Aviv, 2014). He received his PhD from Tel Aviv University. He was a visiting professor in Cornell University and a visiting research fellow at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy. 00:00 - Intro 01:00 - To what extent is the 7.10 war a war with Iran? 03:30 - Hamas versus ISIS 07:39 - The west VS the rest 10:16 - The Hamas movement 11:00 - Advice to Israel's leaders 13:06 - The population in the Gaza Strip 15:48 - Qatar involvement 16:20 - The government and the reality in Syria regarding the situation in Israel 18:40 - The involvement of the United States in conflicts in the Middle East - Iraq, Afghanistan and Iran 27:39 - The current government in Israel and its policy towards the Gaza Strip 31:20 - Israel after the war lowy International School TAU: https://international.tau.ac.il

In this special episode of The Global Connection, guest host Maria Ellul – an International student and member of a Tel Aviv University (TAU) task force fighting disinformation – interviews TAU historian Prof. Havi Dreifuss, who is the head of the Center for Research on the Holocaust in Poland at Yad Vashem’s International Institute for Holocaust Research. Together they discuss the meaning of antisemitism, its historical and political contexts, and the current rise in anti-Jewish violence around the world.   Learn more about the TAU International Students Task Force: https://international.tau.ac.il/student-task-force   Learn more about TAU’s Chaim Rosenberg School of Jewish Studies and Archaeology: https://en-humanities.tau.ac.il/jstudies  

In this episode of The Global Connection, renowned diplomat, entrepreneur and academic Dr. Ronen Hoffman speaks with Anna Sajecki about working with Tel Aviv University to launch the new Exploration, Leadership and Innovation (ELI) program – an immersive and academically rigorous gap-year program for Jewish students; as well as what he learned from late Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, and from living a life focused on building a better world, supporting Jewish community and youth, and leading with integrity.   Want to spend your gap year in Israel? Learn more or apply to ELI through the program webpage: international.tau.ac.il/Academic_Gap_Year

Professor Eyal Ben-Dor is from the Department of Geophysics at Tel Aviv University and is currently involved in an international project helping to revolutionize the type of information we can gather about earth from space. In this episode of the Global Connection, Ben-Dor talks with Anna Sajecki about this international project and the future of hyperspectral remote sensing.   Learn more about some of the international projects The Lowy International School is supporting: www.international.tau.ac.il/Lowy-new-global-projects

Corey Gil-Shuster is the Director of the International Program in Conflict Resolution and Mediation at Tel Aviv University; he is also the person behind The Ask Project – a YouTube video project where he solicits questions from around the world and takes them to the street, asking Israelis and Palestinians across Israel and the West Bank. In this episode of The Global Connection, Anna Sajecki talks to Gil-Shuster about his experience running The Ask Project, and what keeps him going after more than 1,100 videos and 275,000 subscribers. Watch The Ask Project:    / @coreygilshusteraskproject   Learn more about TAU's International Program in Conflict Resolution and Mediation: international.tau.ac.il/conflict_resolution

Dr. Yaara Oren is a cancer researcher at Tel Aviv University who recently won a European Research Council grant for her work on persister cells – cancer cells that don’t respond to traditional cancer treatments and remain in the body even after a patient enters remission. In this episode of The Global Connection, Oren speaks with host Anna Sajecki about this rising field of research and its overall significance for cancer research and treatments. Interested in cancer research? Learn more about TAU’s international MSc in Medical Sciences as well as the international MSc in Life Sciences.

Professor Uzi Rabi, who obtained his Ph.D from Tel Aviv University in 2000, is the energetic Director of the Moshe Dayan Center for Middle Eastern and African Studies, and a senior researcher at the Center for Iranian Studies, both at Tel Aviv University. In this episode of TAU Unbound, Prof. Rabi is sharing with us some of his vast knowledge about the Middle East, providing an analysis of the actions of the regions main “actors, such as Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Israel. Formerly, he was the Head of the Department of Middle Eastern and African History at Tel Aviv University. From 2004-2005, he held a visiting professorship at the Lipinski Institute of San Diego State University. His research focuses on the modern history and evolution of states and societies in the Middle East, Iranian-Arab relations, oil and politics in the Middle East, and Sunni-Shi’i dynamics; within this framework he has supervised the dissertations of numerous doctoral candidates in this field over the years.

Prof. Aeyal Gross is a member of the Faculty in Tel Aviv University’s Faculty of Law where he teaches International Law and Constitutional Law. He regularly teaches as Visiting Professor at SOAS, University of London. Prof. Gross, who is a leading voice against the proposed judicial overhaul in Israel, holds an LL.B. from Tel Aviv University (1990) and an S.J.D. from Harvard Law School (1996). In 1998 he was awarded the Diploma in Human Rights from the Academy of European Law, European University Institute, in Florence. He has also served as a member of the Board of the Association for Civil Rights in Israel and a founding member of TAU’s LGBT & Queer Studies Forum. He also contributes to the Israeli daily Ha’aretz. In this episode of TAU Unbound he discusses with host Ido Aharoni Aronoff various legal scenarios for Israel’l political system.

some observations about the state of global economy. Prof. Ater earned his bachelor (law and economics) and Master's degrees, both Cum Laude, from the Hebrew University. Before pursuing his Ph.D. studies in Economics at Stanford University, he also worked at the Israeli Antitrust Authority. His research examines the sources of the high cost of living in Israel. In particular, he studies how government policies, consumer behavior and firm actions contribute to market outcomes in the food, automobile and real-estate markets.

Dr. Adler is a lecturer and researcher at the Department of Math, Science and Technology at Constantiner School of Education at Tel Aviv University. In this episode of TAU Unbound, she discusses with host Ido Aharoni Aronoff, the meaning of "Teaching and learning within socio-constructivist environments”, a system she advocates based on her research and experience. Dr. Adler is a great believer in the community-based approach to learning and studied "Leveraging opportunities for self-regulated learning in the science classroom”. Here she elaborates on the Difference Between Education and Learning and points to the centrality of education in bridging social and economic inequalities.

Major Gen. (Res.) Professor Isaac Ben-Israel is one of the most influential people in Israel in recent decades: he is one of the architects of Israel’s cyber-security prowess, a longstanding advocate of Israel’s increasing role in space as, as the 17-year Chair of the country’s space agency and, of course, as the Director of the Blavatnik ICRC and Yuval Ne’eman Workshop for Science, Technology and Security at Tel Aviv University, one of the driving forces behind the annual Cyber Week. In this conversation with host Ido Aharoni Aronoff, Isaac Ben-Israel is covering a wide range of issues: space and satellites, cyber security and global preparedness and of course the impact of artificial intelligence.

Tel Aviv University’s Prof. Neta Erez is the Head of the laboratory of tumor biology and the Vice Dean of the Faculty of Medicine. Her research centers around ways to understand and combat the spread of breast cancer and melanoma, all the while trying to decode th interaction between the tumor and its environment. In this episode Prof. Erez discusses with host Ido Aharoni Aronoff the early stages of her career, her involvement in the mentoring of young scientists and her ground breaking scientific work.

Tel Aviv University’s Dr. Nadav Cohen as an Assistant Professor of Computer Science and a rising star in the field of artificial intelligence and data analytics. Dr. Cohen’s research focuses on the theoretical and algorithmic foundations of deep learning, analyzing aspects of expressiveness, optimization and generalization. The goal of his research is to derive theoretically founded procedures and algorithms that will improve practical performance. Here Dr. Cohen discusses with host Ido Aharoni Aronoff the meaning of neural networks and the pros and cons of the AI revolution.

USA-born Prof. Laura Rosen is the Chairperson of the Department of Health Promotion in School of Public Health, Faculty of Medicine at Tel Aviv University. Prof. Rosen moved to Israel in 1986. Inspired by her own family experience, she took on the issue of smoking, second-hand smoking and collateral societal damage - as her main focus as a researcher and public health advocate. In this episode Prof. Rosen discusses with host Ido Aharoni Aronoff effective ways to prevent smoking in general and in particular in public areas.

Tel Aviv University’s Prof. Erez Shmueli is the head of the Big Data Lab in the Department of Industrial Engineering. He is the co-head of the undergraduate program in Data Science and a prolific scientist whose work has impacted the lives of many, from digital authentication to digital diagnosis of viral diseases. In this episode Prof. Shmueli discusses with host Ido Aharoni Aronoff the various uses of big data analysis and its potential to improve our lives.

Our new episode of TAU Unbound highlights the importance of Macroeconomics, which focuses on how an overall economic structure (markets, businesses, consumers, and governments) perform, react and influences our lives. Aharoni & Yashiv discuss economy-wide phenomena such as inflation, price levels, rate of economic growth, national income, gross domestic product (GDP), and changes in unemployment. Prof. Yashiv is a Professor at The Eitan Berglas School of Economics at Tel Aviv University and earned his other degrees from LSE (London School of Economics and UCL (University College London). His research spans a number of themes, including labor market frictions in business cycles, asset pricing, economic and public health epidemic management policy, and minorities and migration issues. He has been working on epidemic management issues from an economics and public health perspective: from April 2020 collaborating with system biologists at the Weizmann Institute of Science and from September 2022 scientists at Georgia Tech. Another line of research he pursues pertains to the labor market of Palestinian Arabs in Israel, the West Bank, and Gaza. The latter papers have been published in academic journals and as policy papers. https://www.yashiv.sites.tau.ac.il/

In this special episode of The Global Connection, Dr. Yoav Fromer, the head of Tel Aviv University’s Center for US Studies, interviews TAU international students Ari Spielman and Maria Ellul on their lived experience following the October 7, 2023 terror attacks by Hamas, and on the initiatives they have since helped start to assist victims and fight disinformation with fact. Follow the student-led TAU International Task Force on Instagram or TikTok: https://www.instagram.com/israelwarstoryhttps://www.tiktok.com/@israelwarstory Find out more about Operation Manna: https://www.instagram.com/operationmanna

Episode #17: Ayelet Tsabari on the Art of Representing Israel and the World Israeli-Canadian author Ayelet Tsabari is the award-winning author of short-story collection The Best Place on Earth, memoir The Art of Leaving, as well as a forthcoming novel. Tsabari, who also teaches a prose workshop at Tel Aviv University, joins The Global Connection podcast and host Dr. Anna Sajecki to chat about writing between Israel and the world, the meaning of place in literature, representing Israel’s Mizrahi and Yemeni communities, portraying the self in memoir and more. Interested in taking Tsabari’s prose workshop next year? Find the schedule for Tsabari’s course and other short-term courses here: www.international.tau.ac.il/node/553/?tab=1

Tel Aviv University (TAU) was recently ranked the #2 university in the world (and the top university outside of the United States) for producing founders of unicorn companies, or companies worth more than $1 billion. In this episode of The Global Connection, host Anna Sajecki talks with Nimrod Cohen, the managing partner and co-founder of TAU Ventures, about the unique ingredients that make up entrepreneurship in the Startup Nation, as well as the TAU entrepreneurship advantage. Interested in working with TAU Ventures? Find out more at www.tauventures.co.il

Prof. Justin Cammy is chair of the programs in World Literatures and Jewish Studies at Smith College in the United States and is also an onsite program director for the Naomi Prawer Kadar International Summer Yiddish Program at Tel Aviv University (TAU). In this episode of The Global Connection, Cammy discusses the evolution and distinctiveness of the language; why Yiddish and the flourishing of Yiddish continues to be so central to strong multicultural societies today (including in Israel); and the uniqueness of TAU’s Yiddish program and why it’s so important. Interested in studying Yiddish at TAU? Learn more: www.en-humanities.tau.ac.il/naomiyiddish

This year Tel Aviv University (TAU) has the largest cohort ever of students participating in an academic exchange program. In this episode of The Global Connection podcast, host Dr. Anna Sajecki speaks with Noa Beit On – a TAU biology student who recently spent time studying in Australia – and Sagi Yehudaie – a TAU political science and East Asian studies student heading to Taiwan – about the experience of going abroad for a semester. Want to learn more about exchange programs at TAU? Visit www.international.tau.ac.il/main_exchange

TAU Prof. Daphna Hacker is a sociologist, as well as a full professor in TAU’s gender studies program and in the Buchmann Faculty of Law. In this episode of The Global Connection, host Anna Sajecki asks Dr. Hacker about her academic and activist work, as well as her new role as part of the United Nations’ Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW).  Interested in human rights and law? Learn more about the International Law & Human Rights specialization as part of TAU’s Parasol Foundation International L.L.M Program: www.international.tau.ac.il/international_llm

In Episode #13 of The Global Connection podcast, host Dr. Anna Sajecki talks with international scientific researcher Dr. Arjan Boonman, who works in the Bat Lab for Neuro-Ecology at Tel Aviv University (TAU). The two discuss Arjan’s journey from the Netherlands to TAU by way of Indonesia, the type of research happening at TAU’s bat lab, what it means to be an international researcher at TAU, and the similarities and differences between bats all around the world. Are you an International researcher? Check out TAU’s open research positions: www.international.tau.ac.il/research_opportunities