Research Fellows

Ehud Gonen is PhD candidate at the Department of Asian Studies at the University of Haifa and a Researcher at Haifa Maritime Policy and Strategy Research Center. Ehud's area of research is OFDI (Outgoing Foreign Direct Investment) from China into the Sea-Port sector under China Belt & Road Initiative (BRI) . Ehud held the position of Senior Fellow Researcher at the Harold Hartog School of Government & Policy...

Nir Zarchi is a research fellow at the Haifa Research Center for Maritime Policy and Strategy at the University of Haifa since 2015. He received his M.A. in National Security & Political Science studies (2014) from the University of Haifa and his B.Sc in Industrial Engineering (2003) from Ben-Gurion University. His research focuses on Energy Policy and Critical Infrastructures in the maritime arena, while using OR methods. Over the years Zarchi TEMP has performed several...

Lt. Cmdr. Mark Shipton is an M.A. student in the National Security Maritime Strategy program and an MBA student in the Port and Shipping Management program at the University of Haifa. He is an officer in the Israeli Navy with over 15 years of experience in submarine warfare. Mark holds a B.A. in Political Science and International Relations (summa cum laude, 98). His latest research focuses on the effects of anthropogenic noise pollution on the marine ecosystem and maritime security...

Semion Polinov holds a B.A. (summa cum laude, 94) and an M.A (magna cum laude, 93) both from the Department of Geography and Environmental Studies, University of Haifa. Since 2017, Semion Ph.D. Candidate at Dr. Moses Strauss Department of Marine Geosciences at the University of Haifa. His Ph.D. work deals with “Historical changes in human activities in the Mediterranean Sea and their drivers”...

Itai Sela is CEO at Naval Dome cyber defense solution for maritime platforms. Itai served as a Naval Commander and has 25 years of experience in the Israeli Navy and Prime Ministers Office holding numerous field and HQ commanding positions. Itai holds a BA in Social Sciences from Bar Ilan University and an MBA from Ben Gurion University.

I am 28 years old, originally from Ein Harod (Meuhad) Kibbutz in Jezreel Valley, and studying for a master’s degree in the thesis track of the Program for National Security and Maritime Strategy at the University of Haifa, under the supervision of Prof. Shaul Chorev. I was born and raised in Ein Harod; at the age of 19, after a year in which I worked with children as part of the Kadima organization in Rehovot...

Tzevy Mirkin is a historian, specialising in the history of the Russian Navy and Russian Naval Strategy. In 2014 taught a course on the history of the Russian foreign policy at the Faculty of Government of the IDC in Herzliya. In the past served as an analyst at the Center for Political Research of the Israeli Foreign Ministry and as a diplomat at the Israeli embassies in Russia and in Latvia. He is Ph.D. Candidate at the Department of Maritime Civilizations...

Itsik Bilia is a MA student in the National Security and Maritime Strategy program at University of Haifa. He holds a degree in Software Engineering (cum laude) from ORT Braude College (2002) and he has 15 years of experience working in the field of software development in several Israeli high tech industry companies, including Rafael, SanDisk and Western Digital. He served in the Israeli Army in the field of Military Intelligence...

Alex Grinberg is an expert on Iran and Islamist movements. He holds an M.A. in Arabic Language and Literature. He is fluent in Farsi, Arabic, French, English, Russian, and Hebrew. Alex’s main research interest is Iranian intellectual history and modern Shi’a thought. He teaches Persian at Ariel University. Alex held several positions in the IDF military intelligence research department (AMAN). He is currently employed as a geopolitical and intelligence analyst in private firms. Alex was born in Moscow and is hence fluent in Russian and vested in Russian affairs.

I. Holds a B.A from the Department of Middle East Studies at Tel Aviv University and a M.A in Security Studies from the Department of Political Science at Haifa University. His M.A. work dealt with the study of shipping as an infrastructure for terrorism. I. is a retired colonel and research fellow at the Maritime Policy & Strategy Research Center, starting his third degree studies this year. His research focuses on the field of combat units

Lauren Dagan Amoss is an India's foreign policy specialist, she is a Ph.D candidate from Bar-Ilan University in Political Science. Her research focuses on India foreign relations; India politics. She is a lecturer in the Department of Political Science and Dedicated programs and A researcher fellow at Maritime Policy & Strategy Research Center. Haifa University.

Polina is a postdoctoral researcher in social sciences and maritime studies in Solent’s Research, Innovation and Enterprise department. She completed a PhD project (2018) entitled: ‘Careers and Labour Market Flexibility in Global Industries: Teh case of seafarers’, which focuses on teh flexibilisation of labour among seafarers.

Inbar Kirshenboim is a Ph.D. student in the National Security Maritime Strategy program. Inbar has an academic background in life sciences and especially diving physiology. Currently, her research focuses on maritime cyber threats and national security, supervised by Prof. Shaul Chorev.

Dr. Elai Rettig is an assistant professor in the Department of Political Studies at Bar-Ilan University. His research focuses on patterns of international conflict and cooperation over energy resources. He was previously an “Israel Institute Teaching Fellow” in the Environmental Studies Program at Washington University in St Louis, and a lecturer in the Jones Graduate School of Business at Rice University in Houston...

Dr. Nizan Feldman is an assistant professor of international relations, in the school of political science at the university of Haifa. He has published studies about the connection between political events and economic processes in leading academic journals. Formerly a post-doctoral student at the Leonard Davis Institute for International Relations and the Truman Institute at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.

Omri Eilat is a social and economic historian of Modern Turkey and the Ottoman Empire. Recently, he completed his doctoral studies at Tel-Aviv University under the supervision of Prof. Ehud R. Toledano. Currently he teaches and researches at the Maritime Strategy and Policy Center and the Department of Middle Eastern and Islamic Studies at the University of Haifa.