Yaron Jorgen Balslev

About me

I am an MSCA postdoctoral researcher (2024-2026) working on BLOCYP—Between London, Cyprus, and Palestine: Waste History in the British Eastern Mediterranean. My research explores urban waste treatment in major towns in Cyprus and Palestine under British rule, particularly from the 1920s to the 1940s.

My dissertation, titled “Urban Environmental History in Palestine during the First Half of the 20th Century: The Case of Tel Aviv, 1909-1948” (Tel Aviv University, 2017), examined various geographical and environmental aspects of urban-nature interactions, including waste management, sewage disposal, water consumption, climate, and urban planning. The central focus of the study was to understand how urban development influenced the landscape and how the landscape, in turn, shaped urban growth.

During my PhD studies, I began teaching at the university and engaged with the local and international environmental history community. In 2013, I co-founded the Israeli Forum of Environmental History. From 2015 to 2023, I served as a regional representative for the European Society for Environmental History (ESEH), contributing to several committees and the society's board.

Following my PhD, I completed two postdoctoral positions: one at the Yad Yizhak Ben-Zvi Institute in Jerusalem (2017-2019) and another at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem (2018-2019). In recent years, I have taught courses in environmental history, historical geography, and political geography at various institutions.