Leo Franks is a British Ph.D. student in History with a Designated Emphasis in Jewish Studies. His research interests orbit Jewish legal history.
Franks has taught Jewish history at Berkeley, most recently as a Graduate Student Instructor (GSI) for the course "History of the Holocaust." In 2025, the Center for Jewish Studies awarded him the Goor Prize for his essay, The anti-history of anti- antisemitism: Fred Kormis’ Holocaust Sculpture. Franks previously receieved an M.Phil. in Modern European History from St. Catharine’s College at the University of Cambridge; his dissertation was entitled Jewish Imperialism? Morocco, Protégés and Britain’s Jews. His studies at Cambridge were funded by the college’s annual History M.Phil. scholarship.
Prior to that, Franks was awarded the Forbes Medal and Caithness Prize by the University of Aberdeen for having finished at the top of his cohort in the M.A. (Honors) in History program. His undergraduate dissertation, which received the British and Irish Association of Jewish Studies Dissertation Prize, was entitled: ‘Rays of the spirit of poetry…' Haham Moses Gaster and the advent of Cultural Zionism. Franks has received numerous other awards, grants, and scholarships for his research.
