About
Dr. Lihi Lahat is an Associate Professor in the Department of Public Administration and Policy at Sapir Academic College and an Affiliate Associate Professor in the Azrieli Institute of Israel Studies at Concordia University, Montreal. Her research areas are policymakers' perceptions of poverty, the regulation of personal social services, trust and well-being among public sector employees, uses of time, well-being and policy, smart-cities, and collaborative governance.
Dr. Lahat holds a BA in political science, an MA cum laude in public policy, and a Ph.D. in public policy, all from Tel Aviv University. Her doctoral dissertation was on policymakers' perceptions of poverty. Her papers have been published in various journals, including Policy Sciences, Social Policy & Administration, International Review of Administrative Science, Journal of Management & Governance, The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, Review of Public Personnel Administration, Journal of European Social Policy, International Journal of Public Sector Management, and Poverty & Public Policy. She has co-edited (with Dr. Sher-Hadar and Professor Galnoor) the book "Collaborative Governance: Theory and Lessons from Israel" (Palgrave Macmillan, 2021).
Dr. Lahat has been a member of the Taub Center for Social Policy Studies in Israel since 2009. She was a member of the executive board of the Political Science Association (2011-2013) and ran the "Outcome Oriented Management and Practice in Human Services Project" in the Ministry of Social Affairs and Social Services (2013-2014). Along with Dr. Sher-Hadar, she was the academic co-director of the research group studying collaborative governance in the Chazan Center at the Van Leer Jerusalem Institute (2015-2018). Lihi served as the public representative on the Social Work Committee, advising the Israeli Minister of Labor, Social Affairs, and Social Services (2018-2021). Furthermore, she serves at the board of ESPAnet Israel, and the Association for Israel Studies(AIS). In fall 2018, she was a visiting scholar in the Azrieli Institute of Israel Studies at Concordia University, Montreal, Canada, and revisited in September-October 2022. She was Israel Institute Visiting Scholar in the Serling Institute for Jewish Studies and Modern Israel at Michigan State University, US, in fall 2019.
"As a researcher in public policy and public administration, my goal is to better understand the way governments work and how it affects our lives. Moreover, I am interested in discovering ways that can improve the actions of governments. My research orientation is mainly nested in the neo-institutional approach, and I am interested in how institutional arrangements affect policy outcomes in their broader definition. I find myself drawn to comparative and multidisciplinary perspectives and utilize different methods as my research questions require. Because I believe that public policy and public administration are intertwined, I explore both fields."
