Yael Laor Ph.D.

My current research is focused on the management and recycling of agricultural and municipal waste and the environmental impacts associated with those processes. I have worked with livestock manure, olive mill wastes (wastewater, semi-solid, and soild), municipal sewage sludge, different kinds of green wastes, and poultry carcasses. Composting is at the core of my research work, including aspects of process control, emission of gases, volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and odors, pathogen persistence and compost quality. I also focus on methodological issues and regulatory implications related to air and odor emissions. Besides waste management, I am interested in multiple aspects of sustainable agriculture. Since 2018, I serve as the scientific director of the Model Farm for Sustainable Agriculture, which aims to study, demonstrate and implement sustainable agricultural practices . Since 2022, I serve as the head of the Volcani Research Center for Sustainable Agriculture.

We seek for a PhD/Postdoc fellow to join a research project investigating ammonia and odor emissions from livestock operations in Israel. The research will assess emission factors of ammonia and odor from various livestock operations and analyze their implications on odor regulations in Israel agricultural environments. Methods include fieldwork and sample collection, analytical chemical analyses (GC-MS), operating an olfactometry lab and using odor dispersion models.

If you are interested, please get in touch (laor@volcani.agri.gov.il)