OFEK EDRI-PEER
I am a PhD candidate in the Department of Public Administration and Policy at the School of Political Sciences, University of Haifa, a fellow in the IDIT Fellowship of the Herta & Paul Amir Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Haifa and a fellow in ISEF doctoral program.
I am passionate about exploring the influence of frontline public servants on citizens' lives and how the former may shape the prospects and opportunities of the latter.
My research interests include street-level bureaucracy, procedural justice, policy implementation, law enforcement policy, and social policy. My latest work has been published in Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory, Public Management Review, Public Administration and the American Review of Public Administration.
MY RESEARCH INTERESTS
PROMOTING SOCIAL EQUITY IN PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION
February 2025
What factors encourage or deter street-level bureaucrats’ (SLBs) practices aimed at promoting social equity? What strategies do they use to promote social equity? Social equity is one of the four pillars of public administration. While it has become a leading goal in the agenda of public organizations, it has still not been achieved. This project explores the role of SLBs in the attempt of public administrative systems to achieve social equity, and the factors influencing their decision-making and behavior in this context.
PUBLICATIONS
PEER REVIEWED ARTICLES IN SCIENTIFIC JOURNALS:
1. Edri-Peer, Ofek, & Cohen, Nissim. (2023). Procedural Justice and the Unintended Role of Street-Level Bureaucrats in Prompting Citizens to Act as Vigilantes. The American Review of Public Administration, 53(2), 51-63. [Article]
2. Edri-Peer, Ofek, Silveira, Mariana Costa, Davidovitz, Maayan, Frisch-Aviram, Neomi, Shehade, Jamal, Diab, Hadeel, Golan-Nadir, Niva & Cohen, Nissim. (2023). Policy Entrepreneurship on the Street-Level: A Systematic Literature Review, European Policy Analysis. [Article]
3. Edri-Peer, Ofek and Cohen, Nissim. (2024). Citizens' Illegal Behaviour as a Response to Unsatisfactory Street-level Encounters: The Causal Relationship between Procedural Justice and Vigilantism. Public Management Review. [Article]
4.Gershgoren, Sagi, Edri-Peer, Ofek & Cohen, Nissim (2024). Cognitive Bias in Street-Level Resolutions: The Case of Multiple Claims in Tax Disputes. Public Administration. [Article]
5. Edri-Peer, Ofek, Cohen, Nissim & Gilad, Ziv (2025). Why do Street-Level Bureaucrats Risk their Lives in Times of Crisis? The Case of the October 7 Attack in Israel. American Review of Public Administration. [Article]
6. Edri-Peer, Ofek & Cohen, Nissim (2025). Revisiting Coping Mechanisms on the Street-Level: A Systematic Literature Review. Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory. [Article]
7. Edri-Peer, Ofek & Cohen, Nissim (2026). Cognitive Coping on the Street-Level: A Systematic Literature Review. Public Management Review. [Article]
OTHER SCIENTIFIC PUBLICATIONS:
1. Edri-Peer, Ofek & Cohen, Nissim (2023). “When Social Workers Impact Policy and Don’t Just Implement It: A Framework for Understanding Policy Engagement - a book review of John Gal and Idit Weiss-Gal’s book, Public Administration Review. [Article]
2. Cohen, Nissim & Edri-Peer, Ofek. (2024). Bounded Rationality in Public Policy. In: van Gerven, Minna, Rothmayr Allison, Christine & Schubert, Klaus (eds.), Encyclopedia of Public Policy. [Article]
3. Edri-Peer, Ofek & Cohen, Nissim. (2025) Policy Entrepreneurship within Street-Level Bureaucracies. In: Peters, Guy (ed.), Handbook of Bureaucratic Autonomy: Politics, Resources, Power. [Article]
AWARDS AND HONORS
2026. Founders' Fellows Class of 2026, the American Society for Public Administration.
2026. Scholarship for Excellent Research Students, School of Political Science.
2025. Founders' Fellows Class of 2025, the American Society for Public Administration
2025. Arnon Soffer Fellowship, the Chaikin Institute for Geostrategy.
2024. The Israel Academy of Sciences and Humanities’ Alix de Rothschild Fellowship Program for Doctoral Students in the Humanities and Social Sciences.
2023. ISEF Fellowship for Doctoral Students.
2022. Idit Fellowship for Excellent Graduate Students, University of Haifa, Israel.
2020. Award for Excellence for Graduate Students, ISEF.
2019. ISEF Fellowship for Graduate Students.
2019. Scholarship for Excellence for Graduate Students, School of Political Sciences, University of Haifa, Israel.
2019. Award for Excellence for Undergraduate Students, ISEF.
2017. ISEF Fellowship for Undergraduate Students.
2017. Scholarship for Excellence for Undergraduate Students, School of Political Sciences, University of Haifa, Israel.
SELECTED CONFERENCE PARTICIPATION
February 2026. ESPANET 2026 annual conference. Emek Hefer, Israel – Presenter (“Equity through Identification: How Adverse Childhood Experiences Shape Equity in Public Service Delivery”).
January 2026. ISPSA 2026 annual conference. Jerusalem, Israel – Presenter (“Equity through Identification: How Adverse Childhood Experiences Shape Equity in Public Service Delivery”).
January 2026. COPPR 2026 annual conference. Bern, Switzerland – Presenter (“Equity through Identification: How Adverse Childhood Experiences Shape Equity in Public Service Delivery”).
September 2025. AIS 2025 annual conference. Haifa, Israel – Presenter & Discussant (“Why do Street-Level Bureaucrats Risk their Lives in Times of Crisis? The Case of the October 7 Attack in Israel”)
August 2025. EGPA 2025: EGPA at 50: Prospects for Public Administration across Europe. Glasgow, Scotland – Presenter & Discussant (“Revisiting Coping Mechanisms on the Street-Level: A Systematic Literature Review”; “Cognitive Coping during Public Service Delivery: A Systematic Literature Review”; “Why do Street-Level Bureaucrats Risk their Lives in Times of Crisis? The Case of the October 7 Attack in Israel”)
July 2025. ISPSA Conference for Junior Researchers. Herzliya, Israel – Presenter & Discussant (“Revisiting Coping Mechanisms on the Street-Level: A Systematic Literature Review”)
March 2025. ISEF Annual Conference: Economic Views. Jerusalem, Israel – Presenter (“Why do Street-Level Bureaucrats Risk their Lives in Times of Crisis? The Case of the October 7 Attack in Israel”)
February 2025. ISPSA Conference: Politics and Policy in Times of War, Beer-Sheva, Israel – Presenter (“Social Equity in Public Administration: Lessons from the Street Level”)
September 2023. EGPA 2023: Steering the European Union through poly-crises storms: The Role of Public Administration. Zagreb, Croatia – Presenter & Discussant (“Social Equity in Public Administration: Lessons from the Street Level”)
June 2023. International Conference on Public Policy 6, Toronto, Canada – Presenter (“Social Equity in Public Administration: Lessons from the Street Level”)
May 2023. International Workshop on Street-Level Bureaucracy and Inequality, Haifa, Israel - Presenter (“Social Equity in Public Administration: Lessons from the Street Level”)
March 2023. ASPA 2023 Annual Conference: Protecting Democracy, Online Conference – Presenter (“Procedural Justice on the Street-Level and Citizens’ Tendency to Act as Vigilantes: an Experimental Study”)
February 2023. ISPSA Conference: Politics and Democracy in an Era of Fateful Changes, Tel Aviv, Israel – Presenter (“Procedural Justice on the Street-Level and Citizens’ Tendency to Act as Vigilantes: an Experimental Study”)
June 2022. IWPP3 2022 Workshop: International Workshop on Public Policy, Budapest, Hungary – Presenter (“Procedural Justice and the Role of Street-Level Bureaucrats in Prompting Citizens to Act as Vigilantes”)
June 2022. SLB 2022 Conference: Street-Level Bureaucracy Conference 2022, Copenhagen, Denmark – Presenter (“Procedural Justice and the Role of Street-Level Bureaucrats in Prompting Citizens to Act as Vigilantes”)
TEACHING EXPERIENCE
2020-2022. Teaching assistant for a special seminar for excellent students (B.A.), School of Political Sciences, University of Haifa, Israel
2020-until today. Teaching assistant for the course “Setting Public Policy” (M.A.), School of Political Sciences, University of Haifa, Israel.
2020-2021. Teaching assistant for the course “Public Design, Analysis and Evaluation” (M.A. in English), Tiomkin School of Economics, The Interdisciplinary Center (IDC) Herzliya, Israel.
2019- until today. Teaching assistant for the course “Research Methods and Academic Writing in Political Sciences” (B.A.), School of Political Sciences, University of Haifa, Israel.
2019-2025. Teaching assistant for the course “Governance and Politics” (B.A), School of Political Sciences, University of Haifa, Israel.
EDUCATION
2019-2022. M.A. in Public Policy and Administration with Thesis (Summa Cum Laude), School of Political Science, University of Haifa, Israel.
Thesis topic: “Procedural Justice and the Role of Street-Level Bureaucrats in Prompting Citizens to Act as Vigilantes.”
Thesis Grade: 98. Advisor: Nissim Cohen
2017-2019. B.A in Political Sciences (Magna Cum Laude), University of Haifa, Israel.