Dr. Bell Yosef, LL.B., LL.M., Ph.D., M.A. is a senior researcher in the Research Division at the Tachlith Institute. Her research interests include constitutional law, administrative law, inter-institutional interaction among the branches of government, theories of judicial review—particularly theories of constitutional dialogue—legislative studies, parliamentary oversight, law and politics, and constitutional remedies.
She earned her academic degrees at Tel Aviv University. Her doctoral dissertation focused on mechanisms for promoting constitutional dialogue between the Supreme Court and the Knesset. Within this framework, Dr. Yosef developed a dialogic model of constitutional judicial review, based both on the existence of effective judicial review and on encouraging constitutional decision-making by political authorities. For her research, she has received numerous awards and fellowships, including the President of Israel’s Scholarship for Excellence and Scientific Innovation; an Excellence Fellowship from the Institute for the Study of the United States in conjunction with a Fulbright Fellowship; the Zegla Prize for an outstanding student article at the Faculty of Law, Tel Aviv University; and the ICON-S-IL Prize for Young Scholars in memory of Baruch Bracha.
Dr. Yosef currently teaches courses in various fields of public law and lectures at conferences in public law. Her research has been published in leading academic journals in Israel (such as Iyunei Mishpat, Mehkarei Mishpat, and Law and Government) and internationally (International Journal of Constitutional Law, American Journal of Comparative Law, The Journal of Legislative Studies, The Theory and Practice of Legislation, among others).
At the Tachlith Institute, her central activity is leading the research project “A Functional Knesset,” which places the Knesset at the center of constitutional thinking and examines various ways to improve its functioning and strengthen its status as an independent authority with significant influence on Israel’s public agenda. במסגרת זו she has published studies on parliamentary oversight, a proposal to expand the size of the Knesset, a proposal for a public participation mechanism in legislation, and more.
In parallel with her role at Tachlith, Dr. Yosef is a faculty member at the Faculty of Law, Ono Academic College, a member of the Executive Committee of the Israeli Association for Public Law, an expert member of the Professional Committee for Civics Studies, and a public representative at the National Labor Court.
She lives in Rishon LeZion, is married to Ariel, and is the mother of Sarah, Yair, Eitan, and Ruth.
