Prof David Tal, who has been appointed to a new Chair in Modern Israel Studies at the University of Sussex.

Professor David Tal has been appointed to a new Chair in Modern Israel Studies at the University of Sussex.

Professor Tal, who is currently Kahanoff Chair in Israeli Studies and Professor of History at the University of Calgary in Canada, is expected to take up his post at Sussex in autumn 2013.

With this first professorial appointment based in the School of History, Art History and Philosophy, the University of Sussex is developing its research base in modern Middle Eastern history.

Professor Tal will contribute to the Middle East studies programme of the University. His remit will embrace teaching and research in all aspects of Modern Israel Studies, with particular reference to the politics, history and society of contemporary Israel and the Middle East. Professor Tal will also promote and develop links between Middle Eastern and British academics.

Announcing the creation of the professorship in 2012, the Vice-Chancellor, Professor Michael Farthing, said: “In this period of huge social and political change in the wider region, the development of our research in this area is timely. We hope to play our part in aiding understanding and scholarship.

“As an academic development at Sussex, it is part of our tradition of engaging with urgent and complex issues, in this case with a focus on the modern history of the region.”

Professor Tal’s publications include books on Israel Identities: Between east and west (2013); The American Nuclear Disarmament Dilemma, 1945-1963 (2008); War in Palestine, 1948: Strategy and diplomacy (2004); and The 1956 War: Collusion and rivalry in the Middle East (2001).

From 1994-2005 Professor Tal taught at Tel-Aviv University in Israel, where he previously studied for his BA, MA and then PhD.

From 2005-09 he held academic posts at Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia and Syracuse University in New York State.

Support for the new professorship comes from leading philanthropic individuals and trusts including the R and S Cohen Foundation, the Blavatnik Family Foundation, the Atkin Foundation, the Pears Foundation, the Gerald Ronson Foundation and Lord Weidenfeld, who took the initiative in the establishment of the Chair.

Along with the Chair appointment, three further lecturer posts - dealing with the history and culture of the Middle East more broadly - have been appointed and are in post: two lectureships in Middle Eastern history, and a lecturership in philosophy.

The University of Sussex already has leading research in closely related areas within the School of History, Art History and Philosophy, such as within the Centre for German-Jewish Studies, and in related fields across other schools.