The Institute for Jewish Policy Research
London Jewish communal research institute, successor to the Institute of Jewish Affairs
| Institute for Jewish Policy Research | |
|---|---|
| Type | Private company limited by guarantee; registered charity |
| Logo | |
| Founded | Institute of Jewish Affairs, New York, 1941; UK company 19 December 1966; renamed 1996 |
| Founder(s) | Jacob Robinson (IJA, 1941) |
| Dissolved | |
| Registration ID | |
| Status | |
| Headquarters | |
| Location | 6 Greenland Place, London NW1 0AP |
| Area served | |
| Services | |
| Registration | |
| Key people | Jonathan Boyd (executive director) David Ereira (chair) Howard Leigh, Baron Leigh of Hurley (joint president) Jonathan Kestenbaum, Baron Kestenbaum (joint president) |
| Website | https://www.jpr.org.uk/ |
| Remarks | |
The Institute for Jewish Policy Research (JPR) is a London research institute and think tank on contemporary Jewish life in Britain and Europe. It is a registered charity (number 252626) and a private company limited by guarantee (number 00894309), incorporated on 19 December 1966 as Institute of Jewish Affairs Limited. It used the name Institute of Jewish Affairs until 15 February 1996.[1][2]
JPR describes its purpose as generating “the data Jewish communities need to plan for their future” on demography, health, education, social care, identity, Israel and antisemitism, and sharing findings with communal and public policymakers. Charitable objects cover study of the “social, religious, cultural, economic and communal life and the welfare and status of Jews and Jewish communities throughout the world.”[3][4]
Company and charity
Registered office: 6 Greenland Place, London NW1 0AP. SIC 72200 (research and experimental development on social sciences and humanities). Accounts to 31 December 2024: income £1,140,303; expenditure £1,042,035. Income mix: charitable activities £709,700; donations and legacies £225,150; investments £205,460. Nine employees; several paid over £60,000, including one in the £120,000–£130,000 band. No charges. The charity reports a trading subsidiary.[1][4][5]
JPR says about 75 per cent of a typical year’s budget comes from trusts, foundations and individuals, about 10 per cent from commissioned research, and about 15 per cent from endowment income. The 2023 trustees’ report thanked Pears Foundation, Rothschild Foundation Hanadiv Europe, Maurice Wohl Charitable Foundation, the David and Ruth Lewis Family Charitable Trust, the Bloom Foundation, the Haskel Family Foundation, the Charles Wolfson Charitable Trust, the Kirsh Foundation and the Morris Leigh Foundation. In 2023 JPR and Ipsos won a European Commission tender of about €1 million for an EU-wide study of attitudes to Jews and Israel.[6][7]
History
The Institute of Jewish Affairs was founded in New York in 1941 under the auspices of the World Jewish Congress and the American Jewish Congress. Founder Jacob Robinson argued that Jewish leaders after the First World War had lacked “up-to-date information on the situation of the Jews.” Directors included Robinson (1941–1947), Nehemiah Robinson (1947–1964) and Oscar Karbach (1964–1973). The institute and the WJC Political Department prepared reports for the United Nations in the late 1940s. The IJA moved to London in 1965; the UK company was incorporated on 19 December 1966.[8]
Antony Lerman joined the IJA as a research officer in 1979, became assistant director in 1983 and director from 1991. He oversaw the break from the World Jewish Congress (to 1994) and the 1996 relaunch as JPR, and was founding general editor of Antisemitism World Report. He edited Patterns of Prejudice. He left in 1999 to run the Rothschild family’s Hanadiv / Rothschild Foundation Europe, returned as JPR director in 2006 and left at the end of 2008. The Jewish Chronicle reported that his views on Israel — including an Independent Jewish Voices advertisement against occupation of the West Bank — and his challenge to the Community Security Trust over the scale of antisemitism “incensed critics,” and that his return prompted resignations from the board.[8][9]
Later executive directors have included Barry Kosmin and, as of 2026, Jonathan Boyd. Honorary president Jacob Rothschild, 4th Baron Rothschild died in 2023; JPR recorded his long involvement, including fundraising dinners with speakers such as Henry Kissinger and James Wolfensohn.[7]
People
Joint presidents (JPR website): Howard Leigh, Baron Leigh of Hurley and Jonathan Kestenbaum, Baron Kestenbaum. Leigh is described by JPR as Senior Treasurer of the Conservative Party, senior partner at Cavendish Corporate Finance, president of Westminster Synagogue, chairman of the Jerusalem Foundation (UK), and a member of the executive boards of Conservative Friends of Israel and the Jewish Leadership Council. Kestenbaum sits on the Labour benches, is COO of RIT Capital Partners, and is a vice-president of Labour Together and the Jewish Leadership Council.[10]
Chair: David Ereira. Treasurer: Denise Joseph (also a trustee of British Friends of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Nisa-Nashim, OneVoice Europe, JW3 Trust and Trust for London). Honorary vice-presidents: Simon Haskel, Baron Haskel, Stephen Moss CBE, Harold Paisner. Executive director: Jonathan Boyd. Director of operations / company secretary: Richard Goldstein. Senior research staff include David Graham, Daniel Staetsky (European Jewish Demography Unit) and Keith Kahn-Harris (European Jewish Research Archive). Senior research advisers include Sergio DellaPergola (Hebrew University of Jerusalem) and Stephen Miller.[10][11]
Trustee Efrat Shaoulian-Sopher (listed by JPR as Dr Efrat Sopher) chairs the Ezri Center for Iran and Gulf States Research, is a governor of the University of Haifa, and serves on the World Jewish Congress Executive Committee and Jewish Diplomatic Corps.[10]
Current officers
Companies House active officers as listed in September 2026 (Haskel and Taub resigned in July 2026 after earlier 2025 appointments):[12][13]
| Name | Role | Appointed |
|---|---|---|
| Richard Harry Mark Goldstein | Secretary | 5 March 2020 |
| David Malcolm Ereira | Director | 24 April 2023 |
| Felicia Meryl Epstein | Director | 24 April 2023 |
| Denise Nicole Joseph | Director | 10 July 2023 |
| Mark Berman | Director | 10 July 2023 |
| Efrat Shaoulian-Sopher | Director | 26 January 2024 |
Former secretaries and selected former directors
| Name | Appointed | Resigned |
|---|---|---|
| Antony Lerman | before 31 December 1991 | 19 November 1999 |
| Lena Stanley-Clamp | 19 November 1999 | 29 June 2012 |
| Judith Odette Russell | 12 July 2012 | 5 March 2020 |
| Name | Appointed | Resigned |
|---|---|---|
| Edgar Miles Bronfman | before 31 Dec 1991 | 25 January 1996 |
| Israel Singer | before 31 Dec 1991 | 25 January 1996 |
| Elan Steinberg | before 31 Dec 1991 | 25 January 1996 |
| Greville Janner, Baron Janner of Braunstone | before 31 Dec 1991 | 30 December 1994 |
| Arnold Goodman, Baron Goodman | before 31 Dec 1991 | 12 May 1995 |
| Sigmund Sternberg | before 31 Dec 1991 | 30 December 1994 |
| Peter Lawrence Levy | before 31 Dec 1991 | 31 December 2014 |
| William Frankel | before 31 Dec 1991 | 18 April 2008 |
| Jacob Rothschild, 4th Baron Rothschild | 24 November 1992 | 15 December 2001 |
| Simon Haskel, Baron Haskel | 24 November 1992 / 15 September 1998 | 20 May 1997 / 31 December 2014 |
| Anthony Robert Julius | 18 January 1994 | 24 December 1999 |
| George Weidenfeld, Baron Weidenfeld | 15 January 1995 | 29 July 2001 |
| Andrew Stone, Baron Stone of Blackheath | 15 January 1995 | 27 November 1995 |
| Sidney Brichto | 6 November 1995 | 24 February 2000 |
| Shimon David Cohen | 6 November 1995 | 10 September 2003 |
| Rosalind Preston | 15 April 1996 | 26 November 2002 |
| Ellen Dahrendorf | 11 November 1997 | 14 December 2000 |
| Harold Michael Paisner | 11 November 1997 | 31 December 2014 |
| Melvyn Carlowe | 14 March 2000 | 26 November 2002 |
| Daniel Finkelstein, Baron Finkelstein | 18 January 2005 | 6 March 2006 |
| Julia Neuberger, Baroness Neuberger | 21 November 2006 | 14 March 2011 |
| Avner Azulay | 19 September 2006 / 7 December 2011 | 4 December 2008 / 31 December 2014 |
| Stephen David Moss | 7 September 2010 | 31 January 2025 |
| Howard Leigh, Baron Leigh of Hurley | 29 June 2015 | 30 June 2025 |
| Elizabeth Crossick | 29 June 2015 | 28 June 2024 |
| Sergio DellaPergola | 28 January 2019 | 4 February 2022 |
| Jonathan Haskel | 28 October 2019 | 24 July 2026 |
| Miles Webber | 17 April 2020 | 28 June 2024 |
| William Stephen Benjamin | 6 July 2020 | 31 January 2025 |
| Adam Taub | 1 May 2025 | 21 July 2026 |
Other former directors on the Companies House list include June Jacobs, David Karat, Michael Karp, Stephen Miller, Joanna Newman, Brian Smouha, Hilda Worth and Dominique Moisi.[12]
Israel, Zionism and communal politics
JPR lists Israel among its standing research themes and supplies statistics used by UK communal bodies, the European Commission and UN discussions on antisemitism and “fostering Jewish life.” Its 2023 European Commission contract was explicitly a study of “attitudes to Jews and Israel” in all 27 EU member states.[3][7]
Governance ties the institute to mainstream Zionist and Israel-advocacy networks. Joint president Leigh sits on the executive of Conservative Friends of Israel and chairs the UK Jerusalem Foundation. Joint president Kestenbaum is a former chief executive of the United Jewish Israel Appeal (UJIA) and of the Office of the Chief Rabbi. Treasurer Joseph is a trustee of British Friends of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and OneVoice Europe. Trustee Sopher sits on the World Jewish Congress executive. Historic directors included WJC figures Edgar Bronfman, Israel Singer and Elan Steinberg, and UK communal leaders linked to Israel fundraising and Friends of Israel circles.[10]
The Lerman period showed the opposite pressure. After signing an Independent Jewish Voices statement against West Bank occupation and questioning CST antisemitism statistics, he was labelled “divisive” by the Jewish Chronicle and left JPR. Subsequent leadership and funding (Pears, Wohl, Rothschild Hanadiv, Morris Leigh Foundation) sit inside the communal mainstream that treats Israel attachment and antisemitism monitoring as core communal policy tools.[9][7]
See also
- Institute of Jewish Affairs
- World Jewish Congress
- Jewish Leadership Council
- Howard Leigh, Baron Leigh of Hurley
- Antony Lerman
- Community Security Trust
- Pears Foundation
- Conservative Friends of Israel
External links
Notes
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Companies House, THE INSTITUTE FOR JEWISH POLICY RESEARCH overview Companies House, accessed 9 September 2026.
- ↑ JPR, Contact JPR jpr.org.uk, accessed 9 September 2026.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 JPR, Who we are jpr.org.uk, accessed 9 September 2026.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 Charity Commission, THE INSTITUTE FOR JEWISH POLICY RESEARCH charity 252626, accessed 9 September 2026.
- ↑ Company Check, THE INSTITUTE FOR JEWISH POLICY RESEARCH companycheck.co.uk, accessed 9 September 2026.
- ↑ JPR, Support JPR research jpr.org.uk, accessed 9 September 2026.
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 7.3 JPR, Accounts for the year ended 31 December 2023 jpr.org.uk.
- ↑ 8.0 8.1 Antony Lerman, About me antonylerman.com, accessed 9 September 2026.
- ↑ 9.0 9.1 Simon Rocker, Divisive Lerman leaves JPR The Jewish Chronicle, 4 December 2008.
- ↑ 10.0 10.1 10.2 10.3 JPR, Governance jpr.org.uk, accessed 9 September 2026.
- ↑ JPR, People jpr.org.uk, accessed 9 September 2026.
- ↑ 12.0 12.1 Companies House, THE INSTITUTE FOR JEWISH POLICY RESEARCH people Companies House, accessed 9 September 2026.
- ↑ Charity Commission, Trustees charity 252626, accessed 9 September 2026.