The Academy's Contact Center helped bring Israeli postdocs from abroad to participate in the ILANIT Conference of life sciences and medicine in both 2013 and 2017. Very soon afterwards, most of them successfully found positions in Israel. In view of this success, the Contact Center brought 8 Israeli postdocs to the FEBS CONGRESS In life sciences which took place this month at Binyanei Haouma, Jerusalem.
Those who won the fellowship were chosen by a committee comprised of Prof. Abdussalem Azem, Chair of the Congress and head of the Department of Chemistry and Molecular Biology of Tel Aviv University, Prof. Michal Sharon, member of the Israel Young Academy and professor of Biomolecular Science at the Weizmann Institute, and Prof. Eli Keshet, Academy Member and professor of Molecular Biology at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. The Contact Center took care of all expenses incurred for their travel and accommodations, providing them with the opportunity to present their science and to network towards finding faculty positions to come home.
At the FEBS CONGRESS, on Monday, September 11th , the Contact Center held a Special Session, attended by the deans and chairs of search committees of all the research universities in the fields of life sciences and medicine. At this special session additional Israeli researchers and New Olim participated, amounting to about 40 young researchers who aspire to return to Israeli or make Aliya to research positions in their fields.
At the onset, Batsheva Shor, Director of the Contact Center, explained the advantages of registering with the Contact Center, since each researcher gets a personalized ads board which includes all ads in their own academic disciplines as well as access to the general ads board which includes all career opportunities of all disciplines. In addition, once registered, one receives important general information and updates regarding annual conferences and career fairs, which the Contact Center holds at the Academy House.
Monika Lev-Cohen told the researchers about Science Abroad, another way to remain in contact while studying abroad. In the panel which followed, each university representative described the application procedure of faculty positions in their institution and even provided tips on how to apply effectively. The panel answered questions from the audience, which continued enthusiastically until the place was closed down for the evening. We hope this important activity will bring as impressive results as it did in the past.
(Panel of Deans and Selection Committee Chairs - FEBS CONGRESS 2017)