Breaking Update
The Planning and Budgeting Committee’s program to support the employment of outstanding researchers in researcher status (fourth cycle out of five: 2024-2028)
Israel's Planning and Budgeting Committee launches a 5-year program to employ outstanding researchers, bolstering academic output and potentially encouraging.
The function of a researcher employed on a different track than the regular track of senior faculty members exists in leading academic research institutions worldwide under various names (Scientist Staff, Associate Research, Non-Research Faculty Scientist), as well as in research universities in Israel. A researcher on this track is a scientist with a proven research record, who operates closely and under the supervision of the group/lab head (PI), assists in advancing research, helps in coordinating lab work (international relations, student supervision, development and operation of complex equipment and systems), and is a partner in writing articles and grant submissions. Such a researcher can be employed on a temporary contract or on a track with defined promotion levels and the possibility of tenure.
The purpose of this VATAT program is to help increase high-quality Israeli research output by strengthening the research array and leveraging centers of excellence through the employment of outstanding researchers in selected research labs. Indirectly, the program can also help in the mission of “brain return” and “brain import,” as it will create an attractive option for postdoctoral fellows abroad, and an additional integration channel into research activity in Israeli academia for outstanding researchers.
