Deborah Shmueli is a Professor in the Department of Geography and Environmental Studies at the University of Haifa. She is a planner specializing in environmental policy issues related to water, land use and transportation. A strong focus of her efforts is towards environmental and public sector conflict management and community and institutional capacity building. Examples include targeting consensus-based conflict management capacity within communities, NGO organizations, local governments, and district and national Ministries. She has published numerous articles on issues related to planning, conflict management and justice issues. Since 2012 she, along with three Israeli and four German colleagues, have established the Minerva Center for the Rule of Law under Extreme Conditions. In its fifth year of operation, the Center has become a research hub for the principal investigators, senior and young researchers, post-docs, graduate students and research assistants: http://minervaextremelaw.haifa.ac.il/index.php/en/.

She received her Ph.D. in Architecture and Urban Planning (1992) from the Technion, Israel Institute of Technology, and her M.C.P. and B.S. in Urban Planning from the MIT (1980). In October 2016 she was appointed by the Minister of Interior as a member (one of five) of the Permanent Geographic Boundary and Resources Committee for the Haifa Metropolitan Area. The committee deals spatially and holistically with issues impacting thirty-six localities and newly formed regional bodies (population approximately 1,207,000) regarding re-distribution of resources – taxes from national infrastructures such as refineries, industrial parks and quarries; land boundary disputes and agreements; and status of localities and the combining or separation of local councils. This is an opportunity to harness scholarly endeavors to impact practice on both a metropolitan and national scale.

In December 2017, 85 researchers from the University of Haifa, Technion and Hebrew University as core institutions along with researchers from RAFAEL, MadaTech, Tel Chai College, Holon Institute of Technology, and the Municipality of Haifa and NATAN: international humanitarian aid, were awarded The National Knowledge and Research Center for Emergency Readiness (2017-2020). The funding agencies are the Ministry of Science and Technology and the National Emergency Management Authority. Deborah Shmueli serves as the Center Head: http://muchanut.haifa.ac.il

Selected Research Areas, Research Grants and Publications follow.