Naomi Chazan is professor emerita of political science and African studies at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.  Together with Prof. Hanna Herzog, she established the Center for the Advancement of Women in the Public Sphere (WIPS) at the Van Leer Jerusalem Institute in 2009, where she has been a research fellow since.

Naomi Chazan holds BA and MA degrees from Columbia University and a PhD from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. She served as chair of the Truman Research Institute for the Advancement of Peace at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, was a visiting professor of government at Harvard University and the University of Chicago, a research fellow at the Weatherhead Center for International Affairs at Harvard, and a research fellow at the Center for International Studies at MIT.

Prof. Chazan served as a member of Knesset for three terms (1992–2003) on behalf of the Meretz Party. She was deputy speaker of the Knesset and a member of numerous committees:  Foreign Affairs and Defense, Education, Economics, Immigration and Absorption, and the Advancement of the Status of Women.

Naomi Chazan was one of the founders of the Israel Women’s Network and is also active in a variety of women’s, human rights, and peace organizations.  She served as the President of the New Israel Fund (2009–2012) and is a member of its international board.

She has written and edited many books on comparative politics and has published numerous articles on African politics, the Israeli-Arab conflict, politics in Israel, and the status of women.