Ms Valerie Brachya became Director of the Environmental Policy Center at the Jerusalem Institute for Israel Studies in June 2009. She retired from her previous position as Senior Deputy Director General for Policy and Planning in the Ministry of Environmental Protection, where she had been responsible for 5 departments. Ms Brachya qualified in Geography and Planning in England before immigrating to Israel in 1972. She joined the academic staff of the Hebrew University nearly 20 years ago to initiate a course on environmental planning.