The Birkbeck Institute for the Study of Antisemitism is a centre of innovative research and teaching on antisemitism, racialization and religious intolerance. It contributes to knowledge and understanding, policy formation and public debate.
The Birkbeck Institute for the Study of Antisemitism was established in 2010 by Birkbeck, University of London and Pears Foundation.
We are the only university centre in the UK dedicated to the study of antisemitism and one of only two in Europe. The Institute is renowned internationally for its innovative research and teaching.
Our work is framed by our conviction that antisemitism is a distinctive form of racism. Through our research and public activity we establish points of connection between the problem of antisemitism and the challenge of racisms more broadly.
Our scholarship contributes to public debate on antisemitism, racialization and religious intolerance and we provide expertise and advice to a wide range of institutions in the UK, Europe and the wider world.
The Birkbeck Institute for the Study of Antisemitism is both independent and inclusive.
The juxtaposition of anti-Black racism and antisemitism crystallises the challenge of developing an anti-racist politics that is consistent, universal and sensitive to the experience of different minorities.
The authors of ‘Facing antisemitism’ (Runnymede Trust, 2025) on how Jewish politics is in flux and why Jewish people and Jewish organisations should build the widest possible anti-racist coalition.
In this talk, Omer Bartov will explore the transformation of Zionism from a movement of Jewish emancipation and liberation into a state ideology of ethno-nationalism, exclusion and violent domination of Palestinians.
This series encompasses antisemitism and racism from the ancient world to the present day. It considers topical and theoretical questions and brings historical and multidisciplinary perspectives to bear on contemporary concerns and phenomena.
This report shows how antisemitism is a stain on UK society but current responses to tackling the problem are not working. The report calls for a new approach to both thinking about and combating antisemitism; one that is based on building alliances between Jewish people and other racialised minorities and employs a 360-degree anti-racism.
The antisemitism unleashed during the Dreyfus Affair transformed the nature of Jewish identity, changing how Jews saw their place in the world and their relation to other Jews.
Matthew Bolton explores how UK anti-discrimination law has constructed Jewish identity as a mode of ‘ethnicity’ and encouraged the essentialisation or dehistoricisation of Jewish identity.
We build alliances to promote knowledge and share understanding, making our work ever-more relevant in a world threatened by populisms and conspiracy theories from the political left and right
Professor David Feldman, Director
