Israel Science Foundation (ISF)

The Planning and Budgeting Committee of the Council for Higher Education provides 96% of the ISF’s budget: approx. 700M NIS per year. Most of the budget is allocated to the Personal Grants Program, alongside which are operated more specific programs are operated such as: the infrastructure fund for early-stage and mid-career researchers, the quantum and science and technology grants program (as part of The National Program in Quantum Science and Technology), and various bilateral cooperation program. Further details, including links to Calls for Proposals can be found on the ISF’s website.

Horizon Europe

The Planning and Budgeting Committee of the Council for Higher Education funds 50% (675M NIS per year) of Israel’s participation in the European R&I program for the years 2021-2027 – Horizon Europe – as an Associate Country. Participation in the program allows Israel’s researchers to compete for large research grants, mobility grants for PhD students, post-doctoral researchers and faculty members, and consortia grants, which provide an opportunity for collaboration between academia and industry. The Israel-Europe R&I Directorate – ISERD – is the National Contact Point (NCP) for the program, and assists in the dissemination of Calls for Proposals and the preparation of grant applications. Further details can be found on ISERD’s website.

 NSF-BSF Program

The U.S-Israel Binational Science Foundation (BSF) was established 50 years ago to promote scientific collaborations between the two countries by supporting joint projects of Israeli and American researchers in diverse fields. In 2013, a new program was launched, NSF-BSF, which provides the possibility for Israeli researchers to jointly apply with their American counterparts to the American National Science Foundation. More details about the program can be found here. The NSF-BSF’s budget, funded by the Planning and Budgeting Committee of the Council for Higher Education, between the years 2017-2022 was 200M NIS. This budget served to finance the grants awarded to Israeli researchers through the NSF-BSF program, and is planned to grow substantially in the coming five years.