BEN-GURION UNIVERSITY | THE WAY FORWARD

(Drs. Rothman and Rakita), BGU’s exceptional research infrastructure enabled the recruitment of Dr. Iris Grossman-Haham and Dr. Liron David to the Department of Life Sciences, each of whom promises to enrich BGU’s scientific community and inspire our students, as well as Cy Jeffries, a leading staff scientist from Australia with 14 years of experience in Germany and a vast amount of SAXS expertise. He heard about our bolstered research capabilities and reached out to the Ilse Katz Institute for Nanoscale Science & Technology (IKI), joining its scientific team in early 2026. After years of war, raging global antisemitism, and boycotts against Israeli academia, this is virtually unheard of in Israel today. Yet impressed with our growing state-of-the-art research infrastructure and the opportunities it provides, he made the decision to move to Israel. With his arrival, he has increased the breadth of expertise at the IKI and spearheaded the use of the new SAXS system, illustrating that the full impact of donor support often cannot be anticipated and may far exceed initial expectations. INNOVATIVE INITIATIVES AIMED AT PROMOTING RESEARCH AND BUILDING RESEARCH CAPACITY The University is actively cultivating a culture of research excellence on campus and introducing new initiatives to promote research, which complement ongoing calls for proposals promoting multidisciplinary research in various domains. The contributions of our donors fuel these efforts to support and advance research. We are pleased to highlight one of these initiatives below. Research Fest The BGU Research Fest turns the spotlight on a “hot” and emerging research field. The annual day-long event, which is open to the entire University community, celebrates BGU’s research achievements, highlights new research directions and developments in the field, fosters collaboration among faculty members, and raises the stature of research topics and researchers awarded prizes and grants as part of the festival.

Launched in 2021, Research Fest has risen in prominence, attracting hundreds of attendees. While the topic changes each year, attendees consistently enjoy the top-notch speakers, TED style talks, panel discussions, and presentations. The first festival (2021) focused on the themes of energy and sustainability. The second, held in 2023, focused on nutrition, and more specifically, the Food systems, One health, and Resilience (FOR) approach, which is a platform for framing complex health and food systems challenges the world currently faces. The event provided an opportunity to introduce the Manya Igel BGU-FOR Research Center and highlight the BGU-FOR initiative and the work of researchers exploring the connections and impact of food and ecosystems on nutrition quality, equity, and security; the molecular factors contributing to food systems and health; and the relationship between food systems, human and animal health, and resilience in the face of global emergencies. Computational humanities was the subject of the third festival, while the theme of Research Fest 2026 was “Research Makes an Impact.”

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