Fellows

Dr. Roey Tzezana

is a fellow in Yuval Ne'eman Workshop for Science, Technology & Security, and lectures in the Technion. He holds a BSc in Biology, and an MSc and PhD in Nano-technology at the Technion. His research is focused in identifying and analyzing emerging and disruptive technologies and their impact on society, and are held in collaboration with the EU, Israeli government and private companies.

Dr. Tzezana is a highly popular lecturer on future and technology, and is the academic manager of the course "Breakthrough Technologies"  at the Hebrew University. Dr. Tzezana is constantly advancing awareness to science and technology with his columns in popular and scientific magazines, and in his blog מדע אחר and Facebook pages. His first book - המדריך לעתיד - has been released towards the end of 2013, and has garnered widespread discourse and attention.

Ilan Scialom is a geopolitical analyst and Lecturer at Université Paris-Dauphine, specialising in cyber power, critical infrastructure security, and the strategic transformation of the energy sector in the Middle East. Combining academic research with extensive experience in cybersecurity strategy and geopolitical risk advisory for private-sector executives, his work focuses on:

1.       Cybersecurity governance and power rivalries in Israel, analysing institutional fragmentation, interagency competition, and the evolving role of the state in protecting critical infrastructure.

2.       Cyber threats against the energy sector, particularly state-sponsored intrusion campaigns targeting Israeli industrial and energy systems.

3.       Hostile influence operations and cognitive security, examining how digital platforms are used by state and non-state actors to shape narratives, polarize societies, and erode decision-making.

4.       Cyber cooperation and the Abraham Accords, studying how emerging cyber partnerships between Israel and Gulf states contribute to reshaping regional security architectures and accelerating techno-strategic interdependence in the Middle East.

A PhD Candidate in geopolitics, his ongoing dissertation, “Cybersecurity of Critical Energy Infrastructures in the Middle East: A Geopolitical Analysis of Israel’s Responses”,  develops a multi-scalar analytical framework bridging cyber power studies, energy security, and national innovation systems. The research also explores how cyber cooperation under the Abraham Accords influences regional stability and the strategic environment.

Ilan Scialom has contributed to the Études Françaises de Renseignement et de Cyber and is a regular media commentator on cybersecurity, Israeli strategic affairs, and the geopolitics of emerging technologies across French and international outlets. Beyond academia, he advises companies on cyber risk governance, conducts industrial vulnerability assessments, and designs executive programs on cyber geopolitics, AI governance, and disinformation warfare.

Deborah Housen Couriel

Fellow at Tel Aviv University's Yuval Ne'eman Workshop for Science, Technology and Security, where she has been involved in the development of Israel's national cybersecurity policy. She co-chaired the 2011 National Cyber Initiative's Policy and Regulation Committee, and publishes research on various legal and policy aspects of cybersecurity. Deborah serves as the full-time Director of the Wexner Foundation's Israel Fellowship Program, based in Jerusalem.

Prior to these positions, Deborah served as Analyst Team Leader for Middle East regional issues at the Reut Institute, an innovative public policy think tank. Between 1994 and 2005, she was Director of the Department of Regulation and International Treaties in the Israeli Ministry of Communications, and served as well in the Director-General's Bureau of the Ministry. During this period, she served on delegations to the World Trade Organization, the International Telecommunication Union, the bilateral negotiations leading up to the Oslo Accords, and for the peace treaty with Jordan. Deborah has taught at the law faculties of Hebrew University, Tel-Aviv University and the College of Management in Rishon LeZion.

She received her B.A. in History and Anthropology summa cum laude from Wellesley College and the Ecole de Sciences Politiques in Paris; her LL.B. and LL.M. cum laude from Hebrew University;  and a M.P.A. from Harvard's Kennedy School of Government  as a Wexner Foundation Fellow in 2000-2001