Biography

As an interdisciplinary political science specialist, Sophia Solomon uses multiple qualitative methods to research political violence across various fields such as sports, military, civic society, international relations and the digital space.  

After completing her master's thesis, which analyzed football fans' violence in Israel under the socio-political concepts of “Hooligans” and “Ultras,” the Israeli newspaper The Marker selected Solomon for its “40 under 40” of 2020. Her doctoral thesis compares three cases from Canada, Britain and Israel of public support of army combatants who used excessive force during battle and their resonance with internal socio-political conflicts and international warfare norms. 

Between 2020 and 2021, Solomon worked with researchers from the University of Cologne and contributed a chapter to Democracy under Corona (published in Germany) that won the best paper award from the Adenauer Foundation.  

Between 2021 and 2024, she researched political radicalization and deradicalization in the European Union's HORIZON 2020 project, focusing on social media and AI. Following this project, her latest publication investigated two decades of ethno-religious and nationalist violence in Jerusalem. 

Solomon received her B.A., M.A. and Ph.D. in political science from the Ben Gurion University of the Negev in the Southern District of Israel. Within its Department of Politics & Government, she taught courses on political theory, modern history and international relations as a teaching assistant and as a lecturer after 2015.  

Solomon currently is involved in research at Ben Gurion University’s Sports and Diplomacy Center, focusing on the Middle East region.