I am a post-doc fellow at The Department of Sociology at The University of Haifa, where I am developing and exploring a multi-level conceptual framework to assess food waste dynamics. This 3-year project (2020 - 2023) is funded by The Israel Science Foundation (ISF), and is conducted with Prof. Tally Katz-Gerro and Prof. Ofira Ayalon from The University of Haifa, and Dr. Keren Kaplan-Mintz from the Shamir Research Institute.

Our goal in this study is to achieve a better understanding of household food waste and consumer behavior. Our focus on specific cultural and religious groups (i.e. Muslim Arabs and Orthodox Jews) within Israeli society is crucial to promote sustainable consumption and address the challenge of food waste within diverse societies. Insights from this research will enable policy makers to better target individuals and communities in their efforts to reduce food waste.

Food security, Food waste, Food quality, Environmental behavior, Sustainable consumption, Waste management

Households Food Waste: Quantification, Characterization and Drivers

During my Ph.D. studies, I investigated different theoretical and methodological aspects of household food waste. A major portion of my work focused on careful measurement of the food waste phenomenon among households. I collected primary data (sampling ~1,200 waste bags of 192 households, equal to 2,500 kg of waste) to provide a proof of concept for a new measurement method that I have developed. Another focus of my work was to explore which food behaviors determine food waste, and create a conceptual model to support it. We also identified the boundaries of self-reports and provided scientific evidence for their unreliable nature. Papers and reports from the research were published in journals (one paper collected 46 citations, although published less than 2 years ago) and findings were presented at conferences in Israel and abroad. My Ph.D. research was part of a 3-year joint venture between the ARO Volcani Center and The Natural Resources and Environmental Research Center (NRER) at The University of Haifa, funded by The Israeli Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development.

ResearchGate

Google Scholar