Bar-Ilan University Establishes a Trauma Research Center to Study the Impact of October 7
The new center will conduct Israel’s first interdisciplinary studies of their kind, in collaboration with diverse populations affected by the war, with the goal of improving trauma diagnosis, treatment, and rehabilitation systems.
Bar-Ilan University is establishing Israel’s first interdisciplinary research center dedicated to studying the post-traumatic consequences of the events of October 7 and the “Iron Swords” war. The center was founded from the understanding that the events of the war created waves of trauma that reached every home in Israel, and that addressing them requires unprecedented academic collaboration.
The center will be led by three leading researchers in the field: Prof. Rivka Tuval-Mashiach and Prof. Danny Horesh from the Department of Psychology, and Dr. Yael Shoval-Zuckerman from the School of Social Work. The center will conduct large-scale studies on the various populations affected by the war, including hostages and their families, soldiers, evacuees from the south and north of the country, and professionals such as medical teams, emergency responders, and journalists.
Examining Trauma as a Broad and Multifaceted Phenomenon
The center’s uniqueness lies in its integrative approach, which views trauma not only as an emotional experience, but as a broad phenomenon with cognitive, biological, social, and legal dimensions. The center will serve as a research platform bringing together leading scholars from across the campus, including experts in mental health, biology, neuroscience, medicine, law, data science, and communication.
Together, researchers will conduct in-depth, multidisciplinary investigations into the consequences of the war, using a wide range of methodologies, from basic research to applied, field-based studies.
Alongside academic research, the center will serve as a hub for research training in the field of trauma. Graduate students will carry out their master’s and doctoral research within the center, learn innovative research methods, and deepen their understanding of post-trauma in its many forms. Many of the studies conducted at the center will be longitudinal, examining the long-term effects of the war over time among diverse populations, including hostages and survivors of captivity, soldiers, evacuees from the south and north, and frontline professionals such as medical staff, emergency responders, and journalists.
The center’s inaugural study, currently in advanced planning stages, will focus on one of the most vulnerable groups affected by the war: hostages who have returned from captivity and their families. The study will seek to understand the psychological and physiological consequences of captivity and to identify resilience factors, based on the understanding that returning from captivity does not mark an endpoint, and that its effects may persist and evolve over many years.
An Opportunity to Identify and Treat Trauma for the Future
Prof. Danny Horesh, one of the center’s directors, explains:
“Unfortunately, in the wake of the war, we have a historic opportunity to understand the effects of trauma in real time. We want to identify vulnerability and resilience so we can improve diagnosis and treatment. Trauma is expressed both in the body and in the mind, and we need studies that examine these elements together. We are bringing together all of Bar-Ilan’s capabilities in brain research, biology, psychology, and the social sciences to provide the most comprehensive response possible.”
Beyond its academic contribution, the center aspires to play a central role in shaping the national agenda. Its findings are expected to have a significant applied impact on Israel’s healthcare, education, and welfare systems, and on all those involved in the country’s rehabilitation efforts in the day after the war.