Professor Osnat Akirav is an associate professor in Political Science at the Western Galilee College, Israel. The head of the Galilee research institute (which she was one of the establishers) at the Western Galilee College. She holds a PhD from the Hebrew University in Jerusalem and postdoc from UCSD. In 2016 she was a visiting scholar at Stanford university. Her specialization is in legislative studies, setting the agenda, candidate selection methods, local government, gender and politics, minorities and politics, research methods and Israeli political system. She has many publications on the representative behavior in local government and in parliaments. She served 10 years as local council representative. Prof. Akirav has won several competitive research grants and research awards including ISF and GIF. In 2010 and in 2015 she received a prize for outstanding teaching in political science from the American Political Science Association and in 2012 she received Edmond Safra award for outstanding achievement and excellence. In 2012 and 2016 she received a prize for best article from the Israeli Political Science Association. In 2015, 2018-2022 she received a prize for excellent researcher from the Western Galilee College. Since 2019 she serves as the vice president of the Israel Political Science Association (ISPSA). And, in 2020 she was nominated to the Western Galilee College president' advisor for gender fairness.

Since 2008, Akirav is a voluntary academic advisor and lecturer at WePower – a non-profit, non-partisan Israeli NGO. In March 2018 she delivered a speech about "Women’s Political Participation" at the annual conference organized by the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) of the United Nation in New York city. In 2022 she received the New Pioneers award from the Union Sefaradi Mundial for her contribution to the Israeli society.