Dr. Ira Shefer

Ph.D. Title: German-Israeli interactions and their contribution to domestic climate governance

The starting point of this research is that transnational interactions concerning climate change and sustainability are increasing. More than ever before, these interactions encompass broad array of actors that collaborate and interact in complex settings across scales and jurisdictions. Moreover, often roles and jurisdictions overlap and intersect. The research project examines these complex ties in the context of German-Israeli and European-Israeli environmental collaborations. It searches how certain types of interactions contribute to developments of domestic climate governance, especially concerning the subnational level. For that purpose, the research draws on policy transfer and orchestration frameworks, as well as climate governance literature.

Ira holds a double-major B.A. in Law and Asian Studies (Haifa University, Israel) and an M.A. in Environmental Studies (Nagoya University, Japan). His Master’s thesis examined environmental cooperation between Japanese and East Asian cities. Previously, Ira worked as a reporter and an editor for urban environment in an Israeli local magazine.

Publications

Groen, L., Türker-Alpay, E. and Shefer, I. (18 July, 2017). Silent Spring (School): The Hidden Carbon Burden of INOGOV’s Heerlen Event. INOGOV Blog. Available at: https://inogov.eu/silent-spring-school-hidden-carbon-burden-inogovs-heerlen-event/

Shefer, I. (2019). Policy transfer in city-to-city cooperation: implications for urban climate governance learning. Journal of Environmental Policy & Planning, 21(1), 61-75. https://doi.org/10.1080/1523908X.2018.1562668

Shefer, I. (2018). The role and contribution of foreign, non-state actors in domestic climate governance: an orchestration approach. INOGOV Working Paper 3. Available at: https://inogov.eu/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/Shefer_WP3.pdf

Shefer, I. (October 2018). Local Elections in Israel: An Opportunity to Go Green. Israel Public Policy Institute. Available at: https://www.ippi.org.il/local-elections-in-israel-an-opportunity-to-go-green/.

Shefer, I., Groen, L. and Türker-Alpay, E. (2017). Reducing the carbon footprint of academic conferences: lessons learnt from the INOGOV Spring School in Heerlen. INOGOV Policy Brief No.3. Available at: https://www.inogov.eu/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/INOGOV-Policy-Brief-No-3-Sept-2017-1.pdf.

Shefer, I. (ed.) (2017). University Alliance for Sustainability Spring Campus 2016 Conference Proceedings. University Alliance for Sustainability (UAS), Working Paper Series No. 1. Freie Universität Berlin, Berlin.

Conferences & workshops (papers)

September 2019 (forthcoming): ECPR General Conference, Wroclaw (Poland).

May 2019: German-Israeli environmental collaborations (invited talk), the German-Israeli Sustainability Dialog. Berlin

April 2019:  PhD workshop, the University Alliance for Sustainability (UAS), Freie Universität Berlin. Berlin.

November 2018:
The 2018 Utrecht Conference on Earth System Governance. Utrecht, The Netherlands.
Israel-TUM Winter School: Climate and Energy Policy in an Era of Technological Change. Technical University of Munich, Munich.

June 2018:  The 34th Annual Meeting of the Association for Israeli Studies. Berkeley School of Law, University of California.

April 2018: Polycentric Climate Governance after Paris: Expectations, Challenges and Pathways. INOGOV Workshop, Freiburg, Germany.

March 2017: Governing Climate Change: Polycentricity in Action? INOGOV International Spring School, Heerlen, The Netherlands.

September 2016: Contemporary urban governance for mitigation and adaptation: Mapping, exploring and interrogating. INOGOV workshop, Amsterdam, The Netherland.

April 2016: The University Alliance for Sustainability (UAS) Spring Campus & PhD Conference. Free University of Berlin, Berlin, Germany (Co-organizer).

May 2014: The 12th Biennial Conference of Asian Studies in Israel. Haifa University, Haifa, Israel.

Research Experience

June – September 2019: Research fellow, the Institute of Advanced Sustainability Studies (IASS Potsdam).

October 2018 – present: Research fellow, the Israeli Public Policy Institute (IPPI), Israel.

July 2017 – February 2018: co-researcher, the Israeli Green Building Council (ILGBC). National policies for zero-energy buildings in Germany, California and Australia (internal publication submitted to the Israeli Ministry of Energy).