Team
Principal Investigator
Prof. Jennifer Oser
Jennifer Oser is the PI of the project, and a Full Professor in the Department of Politics and Government at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev in Israel. She completed her PhD at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, and conducted research as a Visiting Fellow at Harvard University, and the University of Pennsylvania. Her research focuses on the relationships between public opinion, political participation, and representation. Oser is an elected member of the Israel Young Academy (2023-2027), and an elected member of its executive committee for 2025-2026. Additional information on Oser's research agenda and publications can be found on her personal website.
Team
Dr. Jesper Lindqvist
Postdoctoral Researcher
University of Gothenburg in Sweden
Expertise and PRD roles:
Data harmonization and analysis​
Full-time PRD researcher, 2023-2025; team alum and collaborator beginning September 2025
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Jesper Lindqvist is a postdoctoral researcher at the Department of Political Science at Lund University in Sweden on party positions in relation to emerging transnational conflict, within the framework of a research project led by Professor Jonathan Polk. With a focus on political science, Lindqvist completed his BA at Uppsala University, his MA at Leiden University, his PhD at the University College Dublin, and was a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Gothenburg in Sweden. Research based on Lindqvist’s dissertation on left-right attitudes has been published in the European Journal of Political Research. For more information, see his research profile at Lund University here.
Dr. Aya Shoshan
Postdoctoral Researcher
Ben-Gurion University, Israel
Expertise and PRD roles:
Qualitative fieldwork and literature mapping
​Full-time PRD researcher, 2023-2025; part-time PRD researcher, 2025-2026
A postdoctoral researcher at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev in Israel, Aya Shoshan is PRD’s lead research team member for qualitative fieldwork and literature mapping. With a focus on political science and sociology, Shoshan completed her BA at Yale University, and her MA and PhD at Ben-Gurion University. Shoshan’s research on social movements has been published in Social Movement Studies and the International Journal of Press/Politics, and her research on literature mapping has been published in PS: Political Science & Politics.
Francisca Castro
Postdoctoral Researcher
International Security and Development Center in Berlin, Germany
Expertise and PRD roles:
Experimental and observational research
​Part-time PRD researcher, 2023-2026
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Francisca Castro completed her PhD at Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Germany in Prof. Anselm Hager’s Chair of International Politics, and she is advancing PRD’s experimental and observational research related to representation and policy change. With a focus on political science and sociology, Castro completed her BA and MA at Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, and her PhD dissertation focuses on the connection between protest and democratic backsliding. Additional information on Francisca's research agenda can be found on her personal website.
Johan Lyrvall
PhD Student
University of Catania, Italy
Expertise and PRD roles:
Latent class analysis​
Full-time PRD researcher, 2023-2025; team alum and collaborator beginning September 2025
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A PhD student at the University of Catania in Italy co-supervised by Dr. Roberto Di Mari, Johan Lyrvall is PRD’s lead research team member for latent class analysis methodological innovations. With a focus on economics, Lyrvall completed his BSc at Lund University, and his MSc at KU Leuven. Lyrvall is a co-developer of an R package (posted to arXiv) for single-level and multilevel latent class analysis that is already widely used. Additional information on Johan's research agenda can be found on his personal website.
Barak Zur
PhD Student
Tel Aviv University, Israel
Expertise and roles:
Data coding and analysis
​Part-time PRD researcher, 2023-2026
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A PhD candidate in Political Science at Tel Aviv University in Israel supervised by Prof. Yotam Margalit, Barak Zur’s research focuses on comparative political economy and political behavior. Zur completed his BA in Philosophy, Political Science, and Economics (PPE) at Tel Aviv University, and his MA in Economic History and an MSc in Economics from Bayreuth University in Germany. His dissertation focuses on the connection between international employment opportunities and political behavior. Zur contributes to PRD's harmonization and analysis of data on participation and representation.
Raya Even David
Administrative Manager of PRD
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Raya Even David completed her BA at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem where she studied Judaism and Education. She has extensive experience leading, educating, and facilitating diverse groups. Even David has been working at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev since 2018 as an administrative manager of high-impact research projects for the faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences.
