Professor Miriam E. David is an internationally renowned British Jewish sociologist, feminist scholar, and educator. She is Professor Emerita of Sociology of Education at the UCL Institute of Education and a Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences.
Professor David is a pioneer in feminist sociology of education. Her research focuses on social justice within the contexts of family, gender, and higher education. Throughout her career, she has revealed how societal structures impact the opportunities of marginalized groups.
As a key JVL member, she argues that supporting Palestine is an integral part of the anti-racist struggle, opposing administrative crackdowns on pro-Palestine dissent. She has publicly opposed the “chilling effect” caused by the adoption of the IHRA definition in UK universities, asserting her duty as a Jewish scholar to ensure state actions remain open to critique. She supports targeted boycotts of Israeli state-linked academic institutions involved in maintaining the occupation, arguing that academic freedom cannot exist at the expense of another people’s human rights.
During the recent crises, she co-signed declarations calling for a ceasefire and highlighting “Educide”—the systemic destruction of Palestinian education—while advocating for the rights of women and children in Gaza.
She has her own views on the future of Israel and Palestine, and in the article she says: I do still think it would be a good idea to have a federation – of two countries or three, Gaza as one. Belgium, to some extent Germany, the US – these are Federated countries. But another historian whose work I love, Tony Judt, who spent quite a long time in Israel, argues for a state for all the citizens.