Israel is engaging in efforts to bring back some of its top scientists who are working abroad to assist Israel during the coronavirus pandemic, Science and Technology Minister Yizhar Shai (Blue and White) said, according to a Jerusalem Post report.

“The strength of the country is founded on advanced technology,” Shai said last Wednesday at an online conference of Science Abroad, an Israeli NGO that “harnesses the power of senior Israeli scientists living abroad. ”

“We need to bring back home some of our brightest stars,” Science Abroad director Nadav Douani told The Jerusalem Post. “This can be done if the country maintains its academic excellence and funds research positions. Our scientists want to return home. The question is ‘How?’”

One way Science Abroad is trying to attract scientists into returning to Israel is granting a NIS 280,000 two-year scholarship to scientists to return to Israel and establish a lab. It also matches large firms in Israel seeking scientists with Israeli scientists who wish to return home.

Any employer that hires an Israeli scientist from abroad is eligible for a two-year grant through the Immigration and Absorption Ministry.

“To get a job in Israel we are expected to do a postdoc overseas,” Dr. Zeev Melamed told the Post. Melamed, who belongs to the Science Abroad San Diego group studied amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) in San Diego under a top scientist in the field and is returning to Hebrew University next year to open his own research lab in ALS.

There are 32 Science Abroad branches around the world.

“Our goal is to keep the Israeli [scientific] community together,” Douani said. “We have amazing stars. We want to bring them back.”

(YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)