Dr. Daniela Orr (Korbas-Magal), Post-Doctoral Fellow

With a B.A. in journalism and communication studies and political science, an M.A. (Cum Laude) in political theory, and a background as an officer in the IDF Spokesperson’s Unit, I turned to study the complex relationship between scientists, spokespeople, and the media.

My Ph.D. dissertation was titled: “The practical bias in health and environment risk communication”, and was written under the supervision of Professor Amit Schejter and Professor Zvi Reich at the Department of Communication Studies at Ben-Gurion University.

I have a vast experience in lecturing research methods, communication theory, and science and risk communication at Ben-Gurion University, the Open University, and Achva College.

Currently I am a Post-Doctoral fellow at the Faculty of Education in Science & Technology, Where I carry out research under the supervision of Assistant Professor Ayelet Baram-Tsabari. We examine the epistemology of public debates in the social media on public health issues. Along with our research group, we are looking at the facebook debate on the Oral Polio Vaccination (OPV), as well as the debate on the fluoridation of drinking water.

My research interests include science communication, risk communication, epistemology, political and communication theory.

Contact Details

danielaorr[-at-]tx.technion.ac.il
CV

Projects

The Polio vaccination in the social media: Between knowledge and trust

The role social media play in science-related debates: Fluoridation of drinking water in Israel

Publications

Orr, D., Baram-Tsabari, A., & Landsman, K. (2016).
Social media as a platform for health-related public debates and discussions: The Polio vaccine on Facebook. Israel Journal of Health Policy Research 5(34). DOI:  10.1186/s13584-016-0093-4
HTML     PDF

Lea Taragin-Zeller‏, Ph.D.

Lea Taragin-Zeller is a social and medical anthropologist, trained at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and the University of Cambridge. As an ethnographer of biomedicine and society, Lea’s research explores how ‘secular’ and scientific knowledge is negotiated among ethnic and faith minorities – influencing their decisions and raising new ethical dilemmas. More specifically, her research examines how religious minorities and migrants in both Israel and the UK integrate and reconcile frameworks of biomedical knowledge alongside faith, religious theology and authority. From contraception and abortions to genetic testing, Lea examines everyday decision-making vis-à-vis state-minority relations, intersectional dynamics and transnational networks. Her forthcoming monograph is based on seven years of in-depth ethnographic research with Orthodox and ultra-Orthodox couples in Israel, and showcases the ways that shifting state policies concerning demographic anxieties affect intimate desires.Lea has published in leading international journals, such as American Anthropologist, Medical Anthropology and Science Communication

Research Projects

In response to the disproportionate effect of COVID-19 on minorities , Lea is examining the particular challenges science communication poses for religious minorities. In a new project, “Religion, Science Communication and COVID-19”, we draw on studies in science communication and medical anthropology to shed light on the particular types of decision making that characterize COVID-19 related decision-making among Israel’s ultra-Orthodox Jews. 

Lea is also part of the interdisciplinary research project: “Communicating Science among the Jewish Ultra-Orthodox in Israel: Journalistic Praxis and Audience Reception in Insular Communities” explores whether and how the Haredi community in Israel is legitimating and appropriating scientific knowledge (together with Prof. Ayelet Baram-Tsabari, Technion;  Yael Rosenblum, Technion; Prof. Oren Golan and Prof. Yariv Tsfati, University of Haifa). This interdisciplinary project investigates the role of the Haredi press in communicating science and explores the meaning-making processes of Haredi readers as they engage with science education in Haredi media. 

Lea is also leading a new research project “Medicine at State Margins”.. Funded by the Technion Israel Institute of Technology, this ethnographic study examines the particular challenges genetic testing poses for ethnic and religious minorities in Israel-Palestine. 

Currently: Lea is Assistant Professor of Cultural Studies and Public Policy at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and an affiliated scholar at the Reproductive Sociology Research Group (ReproSoc), University of Cambridge.

Contact Details

lea.ta@campus.technion.ac.il

Additional links

Google Scholar

Academia.edu

ResearchGate

Dr. Keren Dalyot.

Dr. Dalyot is a senior research associate. She has multidisciplinary academic and professional background: starting with a BA in communication and international relations, an MA in Theory and Practice of Human Rights and ending with an MA and PhD in International Education Policy. Throughout her academic career, she has focused on several aspects of gender equality including a thesis on media representation of trafficking in women to Israel.

Keren has studied in Israel, England and the United States and brings with her this wealth of experience both in different educational systems and with cooperating with people from all around the globe. While conducting research for her PhD dissertation, she travelled to Ghana and met some extraordinary women working in the education system. In addition, Keren also has undergraduate and graduate teaching experience in the areas of sociology of education, qualitative research methods and academic writing.

Currently, Dr. Dalyot  is leading the European funded (EIT FOOD) educational project – The Classroom as a Platform for Community Engagement with Food Science (FoodScienceClass). This is a collaborative multidisciplinary project that is centred around student led research into food systems and industrialized foods while gaining important science communication skills to engage their communities with healthy and sustainable eating habits. As part of this project teens from Israel, Belgium, Finland, and Poland will share findings from their research projects and social media campaigns through online activities. 2022  will see further development of the FoodScienceClass project into informal educational setting such as museums and youth groups.

In addition Keren is part of the Citizen Lab team, where she supports the development of new grants and international partnerships.

Keren has been part of the applied science communication research group since 2017 when she led  a research project on Risk Communication and Parents’ Perceptions of Non-Ionizing Radiation in Schools: The Case of Wi-Fi in Israeli Classrooms (more information about this project can be found here). Information about this project can be found here. She is also working on a group project in collaboration with Dr. Yaela Golumbic and PhD candidate Yael Barel-Ben David, developing a unique measure for examining scientific reasoning skills in the context of daily life. Lastly, Keren has also been leading a study (Gendered engagement with posts authored by female scientists on Facebook) with Yael Rozenblum. She recently presented this work in NARST online conference and her presentation can be found here.

Recently she has been selected to serve in the newly established Youth Mission Working Group set up by EIT FOOD to strategically examine programming for children and youth across Europe.

Contact details

dalyotkeren@technion.ac.il

For her detailed CV click here