The Contact Center of the National Academy of Sciences will hold a meeting and job fair on December 25
A unique meeting of the "contact center" and a job fair for scientists with the participation of returning Israeli scientists from around the world and representatives of the universities and colleges in Israel will be held on Sunday, December 25 at the initiative of the Israel National Academy of Sciences. The conference and job fair will be hosted by the president of the academy, Prof. Ruth Arnon, who expressed hope that more and more researchers and scientists will find their place here in Israel.
It is estimated that about 200 returning scientists, most of them from the USA, Canada and European countries, have been absorbed in academic work in the last four years with the help of the "contact center" established by the Israel National Academy of Sciences in July 2007. The purpose of the contact center is to help Israeli scientists abroad find a suitable job within the scientific community in Israel.
Currently, 2,061 Israeli researchers who are employed abroad and are interested in returning to Israel are registered in the Academy's "Contact Center", of which: 1,505 - holders of a doctorate degree, 447 doctoral students (PhD students) and 101 graduates and holders of a master's degree. In recent times, new entrants to the database have been registered every day. The analysis of the contact center's data shows that most of the registered researchers are from the USA - 1,370, from the UK - 179, from Canada - 79, and from Israel - 199. About half of those registered at the contact center (900) are from fields in the humanities and social sciences, more than a third of those registered (800) are from other fields of life sciences and about a quarter of the registered (600) belong to the fields of natural sciences, mathematics and engineering.
By December 2010, 82 researchers had returned to Israel with the help of the contact center, and to date it is estimated that about 200 scientists have been absorbed into work in Israel. For example, Nicholas Veldman, a young researcher in the field of marine geoscience from the University of Bergen in Germany was accepted by the University of Haifa and currently serves as a contact person for the academy and sends jobs to the database for the University of Haifa. Dr. Keren Weinberg, who returned a year ago from Cambridge University where she taught engineering and technology management, was successfully accepted at Rupin Academic College. Dr. Levi Specter, a philosopher from the University of Stockholm in Sweden, was also successfully absorbed into the Open University and, like them, there are many fascinating human stories.
In the last two years, the Academy of Sciences developed special software that captured the data of the thousands of researchers on the one hand and the job offers from the universities and academic colleges in Israel on the other hand. At the same time, companies and government bodies and others turned to the academy to find and hire researchers for their R&D centers. The registered researchers received and receive up-to-date information regarding vacancies according to their areas of expertise.
As part of the government's decision to encourage the return to Israel of Israelis who have been abroad for more than 5 years (the promotion is limited until September 2012), the returnees will receive, through the Center for Absorption in Science, a full refund for the special payment for health insurance, customs and income tax benefits, increased studies in the education system, Integration into employment, assistance in establishing businesses and assistance in the absorption of research and development personnel. Financial aid of between NIS 21,600 - 78,000 will be given according to criteria to employers for one to two years.
The successful project of the "Contact Center" of the Academy of Sciences was also harnessed to assist in the implementation of the five-year plan of VT to establish 30 centers of excellence at a cost of NIS 1.5 billion. The project is coordinated by Dr. Liat Maoz, who herself returned to Israel from Harvard University in the USA. Four such centers will be established in universities already this year, at an estimated variable cost
About NIS 45 million for the center. A national database of Israeli researchers abroad will soon be established based on the "Contact Center" database, the largest and most reliable database of senior Israeli researchers abroad. The database, it is worth noting, is updated on the initiative and by those registered in it.
In December 2010, the president of the academy, Prof. Ruth Arnon, hosted 70 Israeli researchers who wanted to return to Israel in a meeting with Prof. Manuel Trachtenberg and Dr. Liat Maoz. In light of the success of the meeting and the request of the researchers to meet with the representatives of the universities, a meeting and job fair was scheduled to take place on Sunday, December 25, 2011 starting at 16:00 PM at the Israel National Academy of Sciences at 43 Jabotinsky Street in Jerusalem. The meeting will be attended by rectors and vice presidents of 8 universities, the chairman of the board of heads of the colleges and representatives of the academic colleges, representatives of the Center for Absorption in Science of the Ministry of Absorption Alia and Isard (the Israeli director of the fifth framework program of the European Union), bodies that help finance the absorption of returning scientists.
In addition, there will be a job fair, where the researchers and scientists will be able to meet in person with all the participating parties. Researchers who wish to attend the meeting and the job fair are invited to register at the email of the director of the contact center for Israeli researchers, Ms. Bat-Sheva Shur:
Contact-center@academy.ac.il
