On May 22-23, 2024, The President of The Israel Academy of Sciences and Humanities, Prof. David Harel, attended the convention of the General Assembly of All European Academies (ALLEA) in Berlin. He was joined by Head of International Relations of the Israel Academy, Dr. Neta Peretz and Head of the Young Israel Academy Steering Committee, Prof. Itay Halevi.

ALLEA, which celebrated its 30th anniversary in 2024, connects and coordinates the national academies of Europe and the Israel Academy is a founding member of the organization. The convention’s title was ‘European Research Collaboration in a Shifting Geopolitical Landscape: How Open Can We Be?’, and it included a public symposium with speakers from CERN and the European Commission.

At the convention, Professor Harel met with the outgoing President of ALLEA, Prof. Antonio Loprieno and the incoming President, Prof. Pawel Rowinski. He also delivered a speech in which he called upon heads of European Academies of Sciences to unequivocally reject the use of academic boycotts as a tool to deal with geopolitical issues.

Prof. Harel, Prof. Halevi and Dr. Peretz also met with President of the Berlin-Brandenburg Academy of Sciences and Humanities Prof. Christoph Markschies, and with Presidents and representatives of other fellow Academies.

During their visit to Berlin, Prof. Harel and Dr. Peretz also met with former President of the Alexander von Humboldt-Foundation, Prof. Helmut Schwarz, and discussed ways to support Israeli science and scholarship in light of the challenges and difficulties following upon the events of October 7 and the Israel–Hamas war.