Blavatnik Foundation to extend awards to Israeli scientists
Three promising university faculty members will receive $100,000 each next winter
Shoshanna Solomon was The Times of Israel's Startups and Business reporter
The Blavatnik Family Foundation will be awarding “three young and promising faculty members from Israeli universities” with $100,000 each for extraordinary achievements, exceptional promise and accelerating innovation, in an extension to the prizes it has been giving to promising US scientists.
The New York Academy of Sciences and the Israel Academy of Sciences and Humanities said that the Blavatnik Awards for Young Scientists will be conferred this year, for the first time, also to Israeli scientists and engineers, to support them early in their independent research careers.
The awards will honor “exceptional young scientists and engineers” aged 42 years or younger in three sectors: life sciences, physical sciences and engineering, and chemistry, the two academies said in a statement. All Israeli universities are eligible to nominate candidates for the awards, a statement released Sunday said.
The two academies will administer the awards jointly and a scientific advisory council, co-chaired by Nobel Prize Laureate, Professor Aaron Ciechanover, will oversee the process.
“The winners will be chosen by disciplinary juries composed of some of the world’s most distinguished scientists and engineers, and will be recognized as Blavatnik Awards Laureates,” the statement said.
The Blavatnik Awards for Young Scientists were established in 2007 by the Blavatnik Family Foundation for young scientists in the US. To date, there are over 2,000 scientists nominated from over 200 institutions, with more than 185 winners. The first awards in Israel are scheduled to be conferred in February next year, the statement said.
“Encouraging and supporting young scientists is essential if we are to successfully address society’s challenges. By honoring these young investigators and their achievements we are helping to promote the breakthroughs in science and technology that will define how our world will look over the next century,” Len Blavatnik, founder and chairman of Access Industries and Head of the Blavatnik Family Foundation, said in the statement. “I have no doubt that the young scientists and engineers of Israel, a country that exemplifies innovation and excellence, will make a significant impact on our future.”
Israeli universities can nominate candidates via the awards website.
