Galily, Yair

Yair Galily (Hebrew: יאיר גלילי; born July 10, 1970) is a behavioral scientist, head of the Sport, Media and Society (SMS) Research Lab at the Sammy Ofer School of Communications and a senior researcher at the International Institute for Counter-Terrorism (ICT) at Reichman University (IDC). He is a Chartered Member (CPsychol.) of the British Psychological Society and is the Chief Behavioral Officer for the Israel Olympic Football team, which has successfully qualified for the Paris 2024 Summer Olympic Games. Thus far (2024), has written and edited 10 books and more than 170 peer-reviewed articles in international academic journals in various fields related to behavioral and social aspects of sports and exercise. His research on the "Choking under pressure" phenomenon of NBA players (2018) gained worldwide resonance, including in the New Yorker and the World Economic Forum. His research on the media power and social activism of basketball player LeBron James, alongside "Artificial Intelligence and sports Journalism" (2019), is gaining similar reverberation. He is the founder and head of the research unit at the Israeli Football Association and member of the Union of European Football Associations’ (UEFA) club licensing committee. Lieutenant Colonel (Res.) Galily is chief (Organizational and Instructional) Behavioural Scientist of the Israel Defense Forces Combat Fitness Centre.