Israel Academy of Sciences seeks to bring back promising scientists who emigrated

Scientists, researchers encouraged to come back to Israel and find suitable jobs.

By JUDY SIEGEL-ITZKOVICH
AN ISRAELI doctor 370 (photo credit: Baz Ratner/Reuters)
AN ISRAELI doctor 370
(photo credit: Baz Ratner/Reuters)
A nuclear engineer with a German doctorate who specializes in radiation protection; a physician from Texas who will set up a pediatric cancer genetics center near Tel Aviv; a mathematician from New York University and 427 others – all Israelis – have returned to live here in the last six years and contribute their skills to the country.
The scientists and researchers were all encouraged to come back and helped to find suitable jobs through a center of Jerusalem’s Israel Academy of Sciences, whose president is Prof. Ruth Arnon.
Another job fair and lectures for scientists will be held on Monday at the academy, hosted by its director- general, Dr. Meir Zadok.
A total of 205 of them have returned since 2010 and found satisfying jobs. Most of them had studied and were already working abroad in the US, Canada and Europe.
Some 2,600 emigrant scientists interested in returning home are registered with the academy. Nearly 1,900 have doctoral degrees; 495 are doctoral students; 128 have master’s degrees; and three have bachelor’s degrees.
New names are added to the list every day, said Zadok on Thursday, people who specialize in the life sciences, medicine, exact sciences and engineering and the social sciences.
In the last three years, Tel Aviv University hired 42 of them; Haifa’s Technion-Israel Institute of Technology 34; the Hebrew University and Ben-Gurion University 32 each; the Weizmann Institute of Science and University of Haifa 22 each; Bar- Ilan University 16; the Open University 5; with additional returnees going to work at regional colleges.
Emigrant scientists who have returned or want to resettle should register with Batsheva Schor at Contact- center@academy.ac.il.
The center is also preparing a new website with an interactive job-seeking and job-offer section to keep in touch with Israeli scientists abroad.
According to the academy, the Council for Higher Education’s powerful planning and budgeting committee is working toward adding 2,000 new senior university lecturers and professors in six years. Among the workplaces that will take them on will be I-CORE, 16 centers of excellence to be built around the country, and various hi-tech companies.
The effort is being implemented with the Immigrant Absorption Ministry, which gives benefits to scientists who lived abroad for over five years. Personal counseling for returnees is also available.
Dr. Nurit Eyal, head of the national program for returning academics, will speak at the event on Monday. Dr.
Ami Ben-Yehuda will talk about his personal experiences in returning to the country.