New Research Grant from the Bloomberg-Sagol Center for City Leadership

I am delighted to share that our research proposal, “Seeking Safety: Public Knowledge, Preferences, and Trust in Civilian Shelter Options Following the Israel-Iran Wars,” has been selected for funding by the Bloomberg-Sagol Center for City Leadership at Tel Aviv University.

Israel’s civilian protection system includes a wide range of shelter options—from private reinforced rooms (MAMADs) and shared residential shelters to public shelters and designated underground facilities. Yet research and public debate have often reduced shelter choice to a simple distinction between private and public protection. The recent wars between Israel and Iran exposed important vulnerabilities in this system and raised urgent questions about shelter accessibility, perceived safety, and public trust.

The new study will examine how Israelis understand, evaluate, access, and use the six officially recognized types of civilian shelters. Based on a nationally diverse

survey of approximately 1,000 adults, it will explore shelter preferences and actual behavior during missile alerts, differences between daytime and nighttime needs, perceived accessibility across geographic areas, and the factors shaping trust in civil-defense guidance and support for policy reform.

The study is particularly important for local authorities, which play a central role in maintaining public shelters, communicating their locations, and helping residents prepare for emergencies. Its findings will be translated into practical, evidence-based recommendations for municipal shelter investment, maintenance, planning, and risk communication. A bilingual policy brief will be developed in collaboration with municipal partners to ensure that the research reaches the professionals and decision-makers best positioned to act on it.

This is the second time our research team has received funding from the Bloomberg-Sagol Center. Our previous Bloomberg-Sagol-supported study examined public compliance with municipal risk communication across different emergency scenarios and identified ways in which local authorities can strengthen trust and reduce counterproductive public behavior. The new project builds directly on that work, extending our research from emergency communication to the physical infrastructure of civilian protection.

We are grateful to the Bloomberg-Sagol Center for its continued confidence in our research and for supporting work that connects rigorous academic inquiry with the practical needs of cities and their residents. We look forward to collaborating with municipal emergency-management professionals and translating the findings into policies that can improve public safety, trust, and resilience.