Deborah Shmueli is a Professor in the School of Environmental Science at the University of Haifa. She is a planner with expertise in public and environmental policy, her focus extends to water, land use, transportation, and emergency management. Her endeavors revolve around conflict management in the environmental and public sectors, community and institutional capacity building, as well as resilience and emergency management. Prof. Shmueli has published numerous articles on planning, conflict management, justice issues, and emergency/disaster management and resilience.

In 2012, she, along with three Israeli and four German colleagues, were awarded and established the Minerva Center for the Rule of Law under Extreme Conditions. This Center has evolved into a research hub, engaging principal investigators, senior and young researchers, post-docs, graduate students, and research assistants. Further details about the center can be found at http://minervaextremelaw.haifa.ac.il/index.php/en/.

In December 2017, Prof. Shmueli, along with 85 researchers from core institutions such as the University of Haifa, Technion, and Hebrew University, as well as collaborators from RAFAEL, Rambam Hospital, Tel Chai College, the Municipality of Haifa, and NATAN: international humanitarian aid, were awarded The National Knowledge and Research Center for Emergency Readiness. The Ministry of Science and Technology and the National Emergency Management Authority provided funding for this initiative. Prof. Shmueli serves as the Center Head, and additional information can be accessed at http://muchanut.haifa.ac.il.

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 one of five members of the Permanent Geographic Boundary and Resources Committee for the Haifa Metropolitan Area. This committee addresses spatial and holistic issues affecting thirty-six localities and newly formed regional bodies, with a population of approximately 1,207,000. The committee's responsibilities span the redistribution of resources, handling taxes from national infrastructures like refineries, industrial parks, and quarries, as well as addressing land boundary disputes and agreements, and determining the status of localities and the potential 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 2023 she was appointed a Senior Research Fellow at the Shmuel Neaman Institute, Technion.