People
The Weidenfeld Institute of Jewish Studies is a thriving interdisciplinary research hub with particularly close links to the School of Media, Arts and Humanities (MAH). The team is comprised of academic staff, administrative staff and postgraduate researchers. We welcome proposals for new research projects and ideas for talks and presentations.
The Weidenfeld Institute of Jewish Studies is supported by the Advisory Board
- Core Fellows of the Weidenfeld Institute of Jewish Studies
- Ivor Gaber -- Professor of Journalism
- Ivor Gaber
- Katrin Steffen -- DAAD Professor for Jewish East European History
- Katrin Steffen
- David Tal -- Yossi Harel Chair in Modern Israel Studies
- David Tal
- Victoria Grace Walden -- Senior Lecturer In Media and Film
- Victoria Grace Walden
- Gerhard Wolf -- Senior Lecturer in Modern European History
- Gerhard Wolf
Visiting Fellows of the Weidenfeld Institute of Jewish Studies
Paul Salmons
Affiliated Fellows of the Weidenfeld Institute:
- Paul Davies
- Doug Haynes
- Darrow Schecter
- Claudia Siebrecht
- Clive Webb
Current Doctoral Students
Sally Cherara
PhD topic: “A Historical Exploration into Mashreqism and its Streams of Thought, 1860 to the Present”
Sally is a recipient of the Morris and Bessie Emanuel PhD scholarship in Modern Jewish History and Culture. Sally will explore Mashreqism/Levantinism as an identity expanding in Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, Israel, and the Palestinian territories and in areas that constitute the Mashreq. Despite inhabiting a region fragmented along ethnic, sectarian and tribal lines, her research will demonstrate that various Arab and Jewish intellectuals have attempted to find a common thread that weaves the diverse people of the Mashreq together. The impetus for this research is the popularity and revival of the term Mashreqism among public intellectuals, government officials and activists in the region. This is the case on both an international level, where agreements have been signed between various Mashreqi governments and on an internal level, where Mashreqism and Levantinism have aroused interest in the aforementioned countries and territories.
Samuel Ogden
PhD topic: “Austria and the Holocaust: Coming to Terms with an Unwanted Past”
Samuel is a recipient of the Morris and Bessie Emanuel PhD scholarship in Modern Jewish History and Culture. He is very much looking forward to drawing on the wealth of experience and resources at Sussex to enable his research, which will be centred on the questions of Holocaust complicity in modern Austrian public memory. Aim of this study is to better understand the ways in which contemporary Austrian society is confronting its Holocaust past and identify some of the forces which are shaping the contemporary memorial space. His interest in this field began while living in Germany and observing how German society has interacted with its past. Samuel work is thus designed ti contribute to the body of work which is examining similar phenomena in Austria – a nation with an analogous, but distinct, memorial past.
Past Doctoral Students
- Stefan Boberg
- Florian Zabransky
- Liza Weber
Administrative Members:
- Diana Franklin -- Centre Manager
- Saumya Ranjan Nath -- Administrator