The Human and Biodiversity Research Lab
Members
Assaf Shwartz
Assistant professor Assaf Shwartz heads the research group. He is a conservation biologist who specializes in theoretically-grounded applied research into how to promote environmental stewardship and human well-being. His main drive is to find sustainable solutions for planning and managing of human-dominated and pristine environments for the mutual benefit of people and biodiversity. He leads empirical research aiming to integrate humans into ecological research, by braking traditional disciplinary boundaries and exploring various ecological and social costs and benefits of different interventions. Assaf graduated in Biology and Geography at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, where he continued to do his MSc in Ecology, studying urban ecology and invasion biology. He gain his PhD in urban ecology at the Sorbonne University and Natural History Museum, in Paris, France. From 2012, he was a postdoctoral research associate working on the relationship between biodiversity and ecosystem services (Natural History Museum) and then large scale conservation initiatives at DICE, University of Kent (UK). He form his the Human and Biodiversity research group at the end of 2014 in the Faculty Architecture and of Town Planning, Technion, Israel.
Ronit Cohen-Seffer
Lab manager and Postdoctoral research associate
Ronit is the lab manager and postdoctoral research associate. Her PhD was about "The Paleogeography of the Southern Carmel Coastal Plain during the Late Pleistocene – Holocene" (submitted to the University of Haifa). She did her Post Doc at the GLOWA-JR project and contributed to the "Urban Ecology" chapter at the "Assessing the state of Israel's Nature" (HAMAARAG) as a writer, as an administrative coordinator and as a research assistant.
Dr. Agathe Colléony
Postdoctoral Fellow - Environmental psychology
Agathe is a Postdoctoral Fellow studying ways to counteract both the biodiversity crisis and the so-called ‘extinction of experience’ (i.e. people’s growing disconnection from the natural world), by achieving more sustainable cities that benefit both people and the environment. Her research projects focus on (1) studying the complex relationship between biodiversity and human well-being, and (2) identifying ways to enhance meaningful interactions with nature on its complexity
Dr. Yael Teff-Seker
Postdoctoral Fellow
Yael Teff-Seker is a researcher and lecturer at the Faculty of Architecture and Town Planning at the Technion Israel Institute of Technology and at the Arava Institute of Environmental Studies. She received her Ph.D. in Conflict Studies from the Hebrew University, Jerusalem (2013) and studies the social and political aspects of environmental conflict and cooperation. Her previous research includes environmental planning, public participation and environmental education. Her current projects include cultural ecosystem services assessment, environmental conflict and cooperation and social-psychological aspects of agro-ecological practices. She teaches environmental planning, environmental mediation, environmental education, and environmental conflict and cooperation.
Hila Segre
P.h.D. student
Hila is a Ph.D. student studying agro-ecological environments. Her research focuses on implementation of agro-ecological schemes at the landscape scale to promote ecological corridors. She has a B.Sc. in Life Sciences from The Hebrew University of Jerusalem and a M.Sc. in Ecology from The department of Ecology, Evolution and Behavior, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem.
Danielle Bashan
P.h.D. candidate
Danielle is a P.h.D. candidate studying human-environment relationships. How urban ecology can provide benefits both to humans and conservation properties. She has a B.Sc. degree from the School of Marine Sciences and marine environment, Ruppin and a M.Sc. degree in the department of Evolutionary and Environmental Biology, Haifa University.
Dror Denneboom
P.h.D. candidate
Dror Is a PhD candidate studying methods for conservation and restoration of natural ecosystems and landscapes. His current research focuses on planning optimal mitigation measures to reconnect fragmented habitats and to establish ecological networks. He has a B.Sc. degree in Environmental Sciences from the College of Tel-Hai, and an M.Sc. degree in Environmental Quality Sciences from the CEE Faculty at the Technion.
Lior Ventura
P.h.D. candidate
Lior is a Ph.D student studying the effects of urban planning scenarios and nature-based solution implementation in cities on biodiversity and species distributions. She received her B.Sc. in Biology from the Hebrew University in Jerusalem and her M.Sc. in Dryland Ecology from Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, and has worked as an ecological & environmental consultant to planners and architects.
Gal Geisler
M.Sc. student
Gal is a M.Sc candidate studying the effect of campsites on biodiversity in the Negev desert, trying to find the optimal campsite who will minimize the damage it causes to nature while maximizing the benefits human beings earn from it. He has a B.Sc degree in Biology from the University of Haifa,Oranim.
Raz Simon
M.Sc. student
Raz is a M.Sc. student in the field of agroecology and landscape ecology. In her study she builds a model to evaluate how biodiversity and landscape values are influenced by the intensity levels of agro-ecological systems. The study is focused on olive-grove cultivation systems, as they offer the opportunity for conservation within agriculture areas across Israel. Raz earned her B.Sc. in environmental Sciences from the Academic College of Tel-hai.
Brian Isaac Rizowy
Project manager
Brian is applying to be a Ph.D. student. As a psychologist he is concerned with understanding how our environments affect how we learn, how we change, and whether we thrive. He joined the lab in 2019 and his research focuses on how urban dwellers interact with nature and how cities can use biodiversity to improve residents’ health and wellbeing. After growing up on the north side of Chicago for 17 years, he moved to the Upper West Side of Manhattan, NYC to attend Columbia University where he earned a BA and MA in biological psychology. His clinical externship provided training and experience in addiction management and the treatment of other compulsive behavior disorders through Evidence Based Therapies (EBT) such as Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), Dialectical Behavioral Therapy (DBT), Motivational Interviewing (MI), and Community Reinforcement and Family Training (CRAFT). In 2017 Brian earned his M.Sc. in Science and Technology Education from the Technion’s Faculty of Education in Science and Technology; in collaboration with MIT, his research focused on assessing affective aspects of learning mathematics for computer science in a flipped classroom environment. Brian is delighted to have found a place where he can combine his many passions.
Benjamin Usha
Research intern
Benjamin is a research intern at the lab through Masa Israel Journey. His goal is to proactively pursue environmental sustainability for current and future generations of people, plants, and animals. He studied at DePaul University in the United States where he completed a B.A. in psychology with a concentration in community and a certificate in geographic information systems. In his role in the lab, he has contributed in conducting ecological field work in the desert, creating maps for usage by the lab, supporting ongoing psychosocial research projects, developing a psychometric assessment tool for future socio-ecological research, and assisting in administrative tasks.
Former lab group members
Maya Tzunz
Maya is a M.Sc. student
Hagit Zimrony
Hagit is a M.Sc. student