The Israel Academy Contact Center was established in July 2007 in response to the Report of the Committee to Examine the System of Higher Education in Israel, headed by Avraham Beiga Shochat and commissioned by the Israeli government.
In addition to other topics, the committee examined the problem of “brain drain” and recommended it be rectified with a center operated by the Israel Academy which would be responsible for communication with Israeli researchers abroad and geared toward facilitating their position placement and return of to Israel.
The Shochat Committee’s Subcommittee for Furthering Academic Research, which was headed by Professor Menahem Yaari, then President of The Israel Academy of Sciences and Humanities; organized an online survey of young Israeli researchers abroad to better understand their situation. Of approximately 1,000 researchers who responded, the majority declared that they hoped to return to Israel; motivated chiefly by family and cultural ties, concerns about their children’s education and their intentions of finding suitable professional positions. Nevertheless, the survey also surfaced significant challenges facing the researchers in securing faculty positions in Israeli Academy and to continue their research activities.
At the initiative of Professor Yaari, the Israel Academy established the Contact Center in an effort to encourage and facilitate communication between returning Israeli researchers and Israeli Institutions offering research positions and to facilitate their absorption in Israeli academia.
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