Short biography
Merav Cohen is a doctoral candidate at the Technion’s Faculty of Architecture and Town Planning, where she studies the interface between human society and its environment. In particular, she investigates what characteristics prepared some communities for the Covid-19 pandemic better than others. Her research explores resilience, or a society’s capacity to endure external shocks/stress like pandemics or climate change, through the lens of ‘social ecology’, a discipline that studies the interconnections between society and its natural environment, viewing them as a single, holistic system.
Merav began her professional career in Tel Aviv as a lawyer in the field of energy and infrastructure. In 2013 she moved to Beijing where she worked on a collaborative project between the European Union and the Chinese government to promote environmental governance. At the end of the project, she moved to New York where she managed a program to promote sustainable practices among communities across the US.
Merev returned to Israel in 2020 and commenced her PhD studies at the height of the Covid-19 Pandemic. After completing a prerequisite exploratory research Merav submitted her doctoral proposal and passed her PhD candidacy exam in July 2022.
Merev holds a master’s degree in Environmental Science and Policy (MPA) from Columbia University in New York, and a bachelor’s degree in law (LLB) from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.
Title of thesis/dissertation
What makes a socio-ecological system more resilient? – Insights from Covid-19
Research interests
Socio-ecological resilience, ecological-economics, environmental law and policy, socio-ecological research methods, long-term socio-ecological research infrastructure and standard observations.
Other interests
Doughnut Economics (co-founder of Israel Doughnut Economics Community), animal welfare, Chinese language, Israeli folk dancing
Links to relevant work/projects/articles/presentations
Doughnut Economics launches in Israel with call to update priorities, protect Earth
Other relevant links
