BGU PRESIDENT'S REPORT 2021

BGU PRESIDENT'S REPORT 2021

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NOTEWORTHY NEWS

Dr. Idan Hod of the Dept. of Chemistry and Dr. Meirav Zehavi of the Dept. of Computer Science both won the prestigious Krill Prize for Excellence in Scientific Research from the Wolf Foundation.

Prof. Itzhak Mizrahi of the Dept. of Life Sciences was awarded two Horizon 2020 grants under a Societal Challenges – Food call. Prof. Ohad Ben-Shahar of the Dept. of Computer Science is part of a consortium with a funded project under a Horizon 2020 – Future Emerging Technologies call. Dr. Michal Segoli , of the Marco and Louise Mitrani Dept. of Desert Ecology, is part of a multidisciplinary research team awarded funding from the prestigious Israel Institute for Advanced Studies . Dr. Muntaser Naamneh , a new faculty member in the Dept. of Physics, received one of just six national Maof fellowships that support the hiring of new faculty from the Arab sector. HONORS BESTOWED The Ben-Gurion Award , honoring women and men who have made significant contributions in the spirit of Israel’s first prime minister David Ben-Gurion, was bestowed in November upon Dr. Yunis Abu Rabiya , the first Israeli Bedouin MD and chair of the Coexistence and Friendship Organization of the Negev; Ann Berger , CEO of the Rosetrees Trust, a British medical

Dr. Tom Levy from the Dept. of Life Sciences was awarded a prestigious Rothschild Fellowship .

David Benisty , a PhD student in the Dept. of Physics, was awarded both the Blavatnik and Rothschild postdoctoral fellowships . Dr. Ella Schwartz of the Dept. of Public Health was awarded the prestigious Alon Fellowship for early career researchers. Computer Science, Dr. Idan Hod of the Dept. of Chemistry, and Dr. Benyamin Rosental of the Shraga Segal Dept. of Microbiology, Immunology and Genetics, were awarded the highly competitive ERC Starting Grants . Prof. Yigal Meir of the Dept. of Physics is part of a consortium that won a very substantial 2020 ERC Synergy Grant to develop fundamentally novel thermodynamic measurement methods. NOTABLE GRANTS Dr. Klim Efremenko of the Dept. of

BSF individual proposals approved 12/35

ISF personal research grants approved 81/300

ISF new faculty equipment grants 14

Competitive GRANTS (Nov. 2019-Oct. 2020)