Hagai joined the Van Leer Jerusalem Institute in July 2017, and since then he has headed the Science, Technology, and Society cluster. He completed his doctoral studies in sociology and anthropology at Tel Aviv University. From 2001 to 2013 he was the editor-in-chief of the popular science radio program The University on Air, for which he produced nearly 100 radio courses on various topics. Between 2012 and 2017 he was the academic director of the Edmond J. Safra Center for Ethics at Tel Aviv University. In addition to working at the Van Leer Jerusalem Institute, Hagai is an adjunct associate professor in the Department of Politics and Government at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev.

His studies include the fields of sociology of bioethics, the social world of organ donations and solidarity as a determinant of health. His latest book The political economy of organ transplantation was published with Routledge His papers were published in leading journals such Social Sciences and Medicine, Bioethics, American Journal of Transplantations and many more. Together with Dr. Ofri Ilany he published the reader "Anthropocene: The Era of Humankind" with the Van Leer publishing house (in Hebrew).

In addition to his academic articles, Hagai’s publications include articles for the general public, op-eds and participates in various podcasts. You can listen to a series of talks with Hagai on organ donations in "The Lab" podcast (IBA Kan podcasts network). You can also watch his conversation with Orit Chorowicz Bar-Am on the similarities and differences between organ donation and surrogacy.