Sivan Hirsch-Hoefler received her PhD in Political Science in 2008 from the University of Antwerp with a dissertation focusing on the action strategies of the Israeli Settlement Movement. Currently she is a post-doctoral fellow at the Government Department, Cornell University. Her major interests include Political Extremism and Violence; Collective Action and Social Movements; Political Behavior; Political Sociology; Religious and Ethnic Conflict. Explaining radical political attitudes and behaviour has driven her research in recent years (including her doctoral dissertation). Specifically, she looks into the connections between individual, structural-organizational and macro-political conditions as antecedents of radical political behavior.

Sivan has published in Political Psychology, International Journal of Intercultural Relations, Israel Affairs, Terrorism and Political Violence, Palestinian Israeli Journal, among others.

Sivan also served as the managing editor for the Journal of State and Society (Haifa University) as well as the coordinator of the Extremism and Political Violence Project at the National Security Studies Center (NSSC), Haifa University.