Dear Faculty members,

 

Lately we have been experiencing a challenging time with the continuation of the war, a situation that sometimes affects our international cooperation. This situation can also affect the enthusiasm for writing research proposals for important funds such as the ERC.

The State of Israel is a full member of the Horizon Program with signed agreements and has paid large sums to be part of the Program. The research institutions in Israel actively participate in the Program and have had good success rates in all the years of its existence. In the last 3 years (2021 to 2023) Israel ranked second in Europe in ERC success rates with an average success rate of 23%. The results achieved in recent months are also encouraging and we have not seen a decrease in winnings/passing a level compared to previous years.

For this to continue we need to keep submitting excellent research proposals. If the fear of biased evaluation causes researchers to refrain from submitting in the first place, we actually guarantee that the number of wins will decrease, and Israeli academia and scientific research will be harmed.

Therefore, we ask you to keep submitting applications and keep winning.

 

Sincerely,

                                                         

Prof. Aaron Palmon                                                                 Prof. Tamir Sheafer

   VP for R&D                                                                                Rector