Dr. Yossi David
The Department of Communication Studies
(email)

Dr. Yossi David is a researcher, social entrepreneur, former ultra-Orthodox, first-generation in higher education, and ultra-trail runner. He is a faculty member in the Department of Communication Studies, a member of the Data Science Research Center, and the head of the BIAS Media Lab at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev. Prior to this, he was a faculty member in the Department of Communications at Johannes Gutenberg University, Mainz, in Germany (2018-2022). From 2023 to 2029, he is serving as Vice Chair and Chair of the Ethnicity and Race in Communication (ERIC) division of the International Communication Association (ICA).

His scholarly interests center on understanding how Beliefs, Ideologies, Affect, and Stereotypes (BIAS) media shape human social interactions. His current research explores the behaviors and emotional states that maintain and perpetuate prejudice, discrimination, and xenophobia.

 

In addition to his research and teaching, he served as head of both the Ethics Committee and the Graduate Students Committee in the Department of Communication Studies at Ben-Gurion University between 2023 and 2026. He is also a member of the Haredi Research Group (HRG) and DigiWorld, a scientific collaboration network that compares election campaign strategies in digital communication channels internationally.

In my free time, I take part in mountain endurance challenges and volunteer to make higher education more accessible for first-generation students, especially those who have disaffiliated from the ultra-Orthodox community. I am the founder of the Equal Opportunities Unit for first-generation students at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and a co-founder of Out for Change, an organization that aims to help people who disaffiliate from the ultra-Orthodox community better integrate into society. In 2021, I founded the social running club Runners for Change, which seeks to inspire people undergoing major life changes, such as disaffiliation from the ultra-Orthodox community, to use the power of physical movement to manage the challenges associated with this process.