Martin-Springer Center Research Fellows
Research fellows at the center pursue a variety of research topics, individually and as a team. Here you can learn more about the fellows who take part in our work. Fellows include researchers, post-doctoral students, and doctoral students. We will be adding fellows to this list soon.
Michael Sternberg
Post doctoral research fellow
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Michael Sternberg earned his Phd. in Conflict Management and Resolution from Ben-Gurion University of the Negev in Israel. He is currently a post-doctoral fellow at the Martin Springer Center for Conflict Studies at Ben Gurion University. His current interests are personal and collective coping resources during societal crisis, the contribution of community-based interventions to openness towards the other, and the interrelation between intergroup and ingroup conflict.
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Anat Sarid
Doctoral student
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Anat Sarid is a doctoral student in the conflict management and resolution program at Ben Gurion University of the Negev. She finished her M.A. in social psychology in Tel Aviv University in 2001, and has worked as an evaluator in several educational organizations since then. Her research is about the effect that sense of national coherence (SONC) has on the willingness to end the conflict in peaceful ways in the context of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
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Talee Ziv
Post doctoral research fellow
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Talee Ziv is a Developmental Psychologist and Postdoctoral Fellow at the Martin Springer Center for Conflict Studies. She received her B.A. from Tel Aviv University in 2004 and her Ph.D. from Harvard University in 2012. Her research has focused on the development of intergroup relations and fairness expectations in infancy. She is currently leading the implementation of the educational initiative “My Diverse Kindergarten” and its accompanying research, which aims to explore the outcomes of
direct contact with a kindergarten teacher from an ethnic/religious out-group on children’s attitudes toward the “other” group.
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Sharón Benheim
Doctoral student
Sharón is a doctoral student and currently serves as the coordinator of the Martin-Springer Center for Conflict Studies at the Ben Gurion University of the Negev in Beer Sheva. Her research focuses on the impact of encountering the other on attitudes to reconciliation in the context of a long-term residential environmental studies program in the Middle East. Her research interests include the salutogenic model, environmental peacebuilding in areas of conflict, conflict and cooperation, intergroup relationships, and exploring ways to bridge the divide between groups engaged in conflict. Sharón has served as a group facilitator, organizational consultant, seminar and workshop specialist, and English language editor.
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Samar Aldinah
Doctoral student
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Samar is a Phd. student at Ben Gurion University of the Negev in the department of education under the supervision of Prof. Shifra Sagy and Dr. Sarab Abu-Rabia-Queder. Samar’s research is about perceptions and attitudes towards the 'other' among Arab and Jewish kindergarten children.
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Yossi "Pepe" Goldman
Doctoral student
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Yossi is a PhD Student at Ben Gurion University of the Negev in the Department of Education, under the supervision of Prof. Shifra Sagy and Prof. Ephrat Huss. His research is on the internal dynamics of bi-national (Israeli-Palestinian) organizations whose partners represent parties in a currently intractable conflict in the general context. The research focuses on identifying the organizational resources that enable these organizations to survive and even register successes in a polarized and conflicted reality.
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Outside of research, Yossi teaches group processes and group facilitation in a wide range of settings and works as an organizational consultant for organizations operating in the Civil Society in the areas of social justice and the promotion of democracy, pluralism, and peace.
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