On 8 November, Academy President Prof. David Harel took part in a Plenary Table at the Falling Walls Science Summit in Berlin, held as part of Berlin Science Week. The panel, open to the public, carried the title of this year's summit as a whole: Free Science for Humanity. On the same day, Prof. Harel also took part in two closed, invitation-only panels.

In his remarks, Prof. Harel stressed the importance of combating science denial and of communicating science to the public. He underlined the need for science that is fully independent and immune to government interference, while at the same time insisting on the duty of governments to give full support to scientific research and to invest in it. He emphasised that the independence of science and freedom of research apply to the humanities and social sciences no less than to the natural sciences.

Prof. Harel noted that cracks sometimes appear in relations between countries, even between countries whose relations are very good, but that such cracks should not affect scientific cooperation. He called on participants to work to keep Israel in the European research programme Horizon, and pointed out that Israeli science contributes not only to Israel but to world science as a whole.

In response to a question from the audience, Prof. Harel described the Academy's investment in public engagement, including in Israel's periphery.