"It's a good idea to prepare a plan to return to Israel already when you leave for post-doctorate"

Says Dr. Shai Kobo from the Faculty of Agriculture at the Hebrew University, one of four scientists who tell the story of their return to Israel with the assistance of the Contact Center for Scientists of the Israel Academy of Sciences

Today, A will hold the contact center of the Israel Academy of Sciences. A job fair for scientists who wish to return to Israel from abroad In preparation for the event, the stories of four scientists who returned to Israel in recent years and were absorbed into senior positions at Israeli universities are revealed.

The contact center was founded in July 2007 by the Academy of Sciences according to one of the recommendations of the Shohat Committee (the committee for examining the higher education system in Israel). The president of the academy at the time, Prof. Menachem Yaari, who was a member of the Shohat committee, chaired the sub-committee, which dealt with scientific research in Israel and its cultivation, and in doing so, the topic of Israeli researchers staying abroad. The sub-committee asked to check what can be done to maintain contact with them and facilitate their return to Israel and their integration into the higher education system as much as possible. For the purpose of the sub-committee's work, the Academy operated an online registry for young Israeli scientists and students abroad from February 2007, and in light of the results, the Academy decided to increase this relationship. Prof. Yaari initiated the establishment of the "contact center" at the academy.

The center collects information from the institutions of higher education in Israel and sends groups of researchers, selected according to professional fields, up-to-date information on the vacancies in their areas of specialization. After a short registration with the center, which is recommended for any Israeli academic going abroad, the researcher will begin to regularly receive information about various jobs offered in academia and Israeli industry. The center cooperates with all the official bodies involved in trying to return the Israeli scientists to Israel, including the Center for Absorption in Science of the Ministry of Immigration and Absorption, the National Program for the Repatriation of Academics, and more.

The president of the academy, Prof. Ruth Arnon, said that "the academy aims to use the data collected in the 'contact center' to bring the words of young Israeli researchers abroad to the attention of the competent authorities in Israel and to do its best to assist them in the unique issues that occupy them." Prof. Arnon also said that the higher education system must make a considerable effort to absorb the best young researchers and offer them an adequate professional future.

Dr. Shay Kobo | "It's a good idea to prepare a plan to return to Israel already when you leave for post-doctorate"
"Already during the doctorate we realized that it was necessary to do a post-doctorate abroad," says Dr. Shay Kobo, who returned to a senior academic position he found with the help of the contact center of the Academy of Sciences about a year ago. "We were looking for a place that would be good for both of us, which ultimately led us to North Carolina, to Research Triangle Park." My wife (Dr. Einat Hezkani-Kobo) trained for seven years in a post-doctorate at Duke University, and I trained for five years in a post-doctorate at the university, and then in a position at a government institute of the United States Institutes of Health (NIH)."

"At a certain point", he says, "we were looking for permanent academic positions. We were debating between the United States and Israel. At first we had the thought of staying in the United States, and especially finding something in North Carolina. This is because there was a cohesive community and a high quality of life in the area. At the same time, we registered with the academy's contact center upon its establishment, to check the possibility of returning to Israel. This is an important point - if you only register when you start looking for a job, you lose the history of the jobs offered, the understanding of the dynamics of academic jobs in Israel. You need to register as early as possible."

The position to which he was eventually accepted - senior lecturer in the Department of Plant Diseases and Microbiology at the Faculty of Agriculture in Rehovot of the Hebrew University - was first advertised in June 2012. "After seeing it through a message from the contact center, I registered for the first time in my life for a conference that dealt with mushrooms. This convention paved my way to the field in which I am currently involved. I had the good fortune to give a lecture at the conference, I met relevant researchers, and I also received a research grant in the field. The position was advertised again in July 2013, and then I was ready to run for it."

"Actually," he says, "there was a process here: thanks to the fact that I knew about the position from the contact center, even before I was ready, I took the necessary steps to adapt to it." According to Dr. Kobo, his wife was accepted even earlier for a position combining research and study at the Open University, and the couple and their children returned to Israel in July 2013.

"You have to understand, the situation for foreigners in the United States is not so alarming, even in biotech," says Dr. Kobo. "The institute where I worked had many post-doctoral students, and when you see what jobs they found in the end, you ask yourself if their experience was even necessary."

"The return is complex", he says. "There are many bright spots in life in Israel, and for us the best thing is life with family. This is something that we may not have appreciated enough. We enjoy seeing the children's relationship with their grandparents and cousins ​​- experiences they didn't have in the United States. Academically it's a leap forward, and I got the job of my dreams. Beyond that, although there are many budgetary difficulties in Israel, intellectually and creatively, Israeli science is definitely approaching the level of the best places in the United States."

According to him, "What I would like to make clear to Israeli researchers who go abroad is that they should go to post-doctorate already with a clear understanding of the process: how to find a job afterwards, how to find a job in Israel or abroad. It is highly desirable to have a cohesive plan. Today, the Israeli researchers who go for a post-doctorate do not understand exactly how the process takes place. You need to know where to aim, not just do experiments in the laboratory."

Dr. Chai Dvir "Almost everyone I know would like to return to the Israeli academy"

"We lived in San Diego for about seven and a half years, and we almost saw our future there," says Dr. Hai Dvir, who currently serves as the head of the Structural Biology Center at the Technion. "We debated for years whether to return or stay, when one of our main considerations was the children. My eldest daughter was 13 years old before we returned to Israel, and that was almost the last moment when we could return and allow her to integrate into studies. "Although there was a desire to return to Israel," he says, "we did not consider returning without an academic position. That's why I was happy to see a message in the e-mail from the contact center about an open position at the Technion that suited my specialization."

Regarding the brain drain issue, Dr. Dvir says that "almost all the postdoctoral students I knew in the United States, who reached a level of achievement that justifies seeking an academic position, tried and are trying to return to Israel. The situation is that there are not enough places. There are scientists who are looking for jobs in the US at the same time, and there are those who did not receive job offers in Israel but received prestigious offers from Harvard, so it cannot be said that there is no brain drain. But apparently surprisingly, despite the stressful Israeli reality where survival is at the center of most residents' existence, almost everyone I know would prefer a job in Israel."

According to him, "The advantage of the contact center is that it transmits the information directly to Israeli researchers. He performs the work of concentration and updating for them. I was registered with it almost since it was founded, and it was an extremely important source of information. The updates you receive help you feel that you are not missing a job that might suit you. Along with the jobs and the calling voices, it may be worthwhile for faculties to also publish their general interests through the contact center, to help scientists and researchers understand the picture in the Israeli academy in a better way."

"In retrospect, the decision to return was excellent from a family and social point of view, but also professionally," he says. "You can be a good scientist in many places in the world, but there is something about the culture you grew up in that allows you to use your skills better. This is especially true when it comes to interacting with fellow scientists. Science is indeed done 'in English', but the interaction between people depends on a whole set of cultural codes, and knowing them gives greater freedom of thought and creativity. Personally, I feel better in Israel as a scientist. Although I was at the Salk Institute in the United States, and in other places that are 'top', I did not feel that the science was necessarily done at a better level than in Israel.

"Furthermore, the reception for the children was easy and pleasant far beyond our expectations. Life in Israel allows children more independence compared to the United States. I believe that the fact that a child can walk to school, meet friends on the street and deal with basic life situations by himself gives him a lot of happiness. San Diego is considered a "paradise", but still, something about the Israeli intensity is probably good for children and maybe for us adults as well. There are many excellent values, especially respect for others and language that my children acquired in the United States, and absolutely the education there was better and more advanced, but socially and mentally better for children in Israel. They flourish."

For researchers who are abroad, Dr. Dvir says: "The tenure track is as stressful and intense in Israel as it is abroad. However, it is fascinating and the satisfaction from it is great. Although the United States has more resources to implement more science. However, I believe that the satisfaction from doing it is relative, and if you manage to stand out here, with the available resources, the satisfaction you will get will be similar. It is possible that the recognition of this, more or less consciously, contributes to the fact that most scientists who were educated in Israel still prefer to return to Israel when the employment option exists for them."

Dr. Samdar Ben Tebo de Leon "After two and a half years here I can say that I missed life in Israel"
"By and large, we knew we wanted to return to Israel. In practice, it was very difficult," says Dr. Samdar Ben Tabo de Leon, who returned to Israel to the position of senior lecturer and head of the laboratory for genetic control research in the Department of Marine Biology at the University of Haifa about two years ago. "It was very good there, but we saw how our children are becoming Americans. We knew they had no connection with Israel. In the end, the desire to be close to the family - the feeling - was the strongest thing."
Dr. DeLeon and her family lived in California for seven years. "I was a physicist, and during my post-doctorate I switched from physics to biology at CALTECH (California Institute of Technology). The level, the resources and the ability to do scientific research there are extraordinary. They are at the forefront of science. The sky is the limit, and it really tempted me to stay." According to her, "When I started looking for an academic position, I did so both in Israel and in the United States. The contact center helped me a lot in this matter. They send a message about every vacancy, which keeps you up to date with all the possibilities. There are occasional meetings in the United States where senior scientists explain the process of getting a job in Israel and the requirements of the academic track. It was very instructive."

Dr. DeLeon says that through information provided to her by the contact center, she was able to get funding for her trip to Israel, during which she was interviewed at the University of Haifa. "As a condition for receiving the funding, you are required to meet with a representative of the Ministry of Absorption. It is very effective. They tell you about the rights for a returning resident, about the discounted tickets at El Al. It connects you to the issue of return and makes it real."

Part of the background for the return, she says, was cultural. "The culture in the United States is completely different. The space is very large, so much so that sometimes it creates a feeling of alienation. This is compared to the Israeli friction, everyone's entry into your life and that of your children, which can also be seen as warmth and care. After two and a half years here, I can say that I missed the Israeli warmth. I didn't feel at home there, and here - despite all the difficulties - I feel at home, professionally and personally."
After being accepted to the new position, Dr. DeLeon worked for the past two years on establishing the laboratory. "I built it in such a way that it would be similar to the structure of the laboratory where I did my post-doc at Caltech. For example, the idea for the way my room is built - the table does not separate me from the people, but we sit next to each other - was drawn from the structure of the office of the head of my laboratory at Caltech. I hope I brought more values ​​with me from the United States, such as the desire to solve scientific questions and concentrate less on personal issues," she says.

According to her, "almost everyone I spoke with abroad wants to return to Israel." "My advice to those who want to return is to be interested long before applying officially and to consult with contacts in Israel, to invest in writing resumes that reflect academic excellence and in writing focused and concise research proposals. Before the interviews, it is difficult to assess where the best match will be in all respects, so you should apply to as many places as possible, come to the interviews in Israel with an open mind and try to make a good impression everywhere. Professional connections created in an interview can turn into fruitful collaborations even if in the end the choice will be somewhere else. Regarding returning, my advice is to wait a year or two before deciding whether it was a good decision or not. At first you just have to hold on. I came back because I felt that I had no other choice, that I had to go back, and now I say, 'How lucky I am to have come back.'"

Dr. Ayelet Erez "I was looking for a place that would allow me to combine medicine and research like in the United States"
Dr. Ayelet Erez, scientist and pediatrician, returned to Israel with her family in 2012, after a post-doctorate combined with a clinical subspecialty in genetics at Baylor College of Medicine in Texas. "I was supposed to return already in 2011, but the doctors' strike broke out in the summer of that year," she said. "I already had a position as a research doctor in the United States and we also won American citizenship in a lottery that we signed up for completely by chance, so we thought it would be better to stay in the United States for another year." Dr. Erez stayed with her family in the United States for about seven years. "The comfort there is very great compared to the country. Here everything is intense, stressful, hot. There have been two wars since we returned. It cannot be compared to life in the United States."

She says that the background for the return was family. "We started to feel that the girls were becoming a little American, different from us. There was also pressure from the family to return. In the end, you want to give the children the opportunity to be Israelis. Give them non-virtual grandparents and family on Skype."

According to her, "I was looking for a place in Israel that would allow me to combine medicine and research, like I did in the United States. This is a problematic situation in Israel. Doctors here spend about 80% of their time treating patients, and if you're a researcher, most of your time is spent on science and not on patients. What helped me a lot to decide was the financing of the trip by the 'Center for Absorption in Science' and 'Bio Abroad' (information to which I was referred in the 'Contact Center'), which helped me to come to Israel and do a sort of 'performance tour' in the faculties and hospitals. At first I didn't even think of coming to the Weizmann Institute because here the research is mainly basic research and not clinical, but a friend who works here said: 'If you are going to lecture on your research field anyway, maybe you should give one lecture here as well.'

Dr. Erez says that she was impressed by the scientific and human level of the institute. "I was very quickly impressed by the research infrastructure at the Weizmann Institute and the possibilities of working with other scientists. As a senior researcher, the Weizmann Institute allows me one day a week to work in a hospital, but there was still a question for us whether to return to Israel or not. In the end I will know if the move was successful," she says, "both in terms of work and in terms of the children. Professionally, it is possible to do excellent work in Israel - the consideration should be personal."

More of the topic in Hayadan:

• 2826 Israeli researchers and scientists abroad are interested in returning to Israel and being accepted for work