Orit Gazit-Lederman received her undergraduate, masters and Ph.D. degrees in sociology and anthropology and international relations, as well as a law degree (LL.B), from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, and in 2011 she was awarded the Rothschild (yad hanadiv) post-doctoral fellowship. Her research is placed within the field of international migration and diasporas, and focuses on issues of citizenship, identity and transnationalism.

As an NCIS post-doctoral fellow for 2012, Gazit-Lederman will teach under the auspices of the UCLA Department of Sociology and play an active role in the academic activities of the Nazarian Center. For Winter quarter, she is teaching a course on migration and diasporas in Israeli society, and in the spring quarter she will be teaching a course titled "The Sociology of Israeli Society".

Her doctoral dissertation focused on the South Lebanese Army (SLA) in Israel, a group of Christian-Maronites from the Southern-Lebanese - Israeli 'security zone', who fled to Israel in May 2000 when Israel withdrew from their country. Her master’s thesis examined political exiles from Latin America in Israel, and she has also researched and written about Ethiopian immigrants to Israel.

Gazit-Lederman’s recent publications include "Power and Examination: A Critique of Citizenship Tests" in Security Dialogue and the edited volume Collective Identities, States and Globalization – A Tribute to SN Eisenstadt.