As Israel navigates a period of intense security and social instability, its academic institutions are grappling with a critical challenge: how to retain top faculty and bring home the next generation of Israeli scholars. Accordingly, Tel Aviv University (TAU) has designated as a main priority the recruitment of outstanding Israeli faculty and post-docs who are currently affiliated with top universities abroad.
“It’s a difficult time. More and more Israelis are beginning to see the country as less stable, and this has a direct effect on academia,” said TAU President, Prof. Ariel Porat. “We’re working on two fronts: keeping the people we already have, and convincing those abroad to come back.”
One key way to ensure Israel’s long-term resilience is to support continued, cutting-edge knowledge and technology creation across the sciences, humanities, and arts. Bringing home the most driven, creative, and ambitious researchers requires competitive recruitment packages that must cover lab renovations, equipment purchases, fellowships for master’s and doctoral students, and other start-up costs.
Now, with government budget cuts looming due to the war, TAU—with philanthropic help— has established the TAU Faculty Excellence Fund.
“Bringing back a single top-tier researcher can cost upwards of $3 million, and sometimes more. That’s not an exaggeration. But it’s an investment with enormous national significance,” says Prof. Porat.
One major obstacle is that academic salaries in Israel are fixed by law, leaving no room for negotiation or financial incentives.
“We can’t double or triple someone’s salary like a US university might. But what we can do is build a research environment that rivals anything they would find abroad,” Prof. Porat says.
That means first-rate lab equipment, ample research budgets, and institutional support for long-term projects, alongside state-of-the-artfacilities and a strong academic community. But all of this comes at a high cost.
Philanthropy has become essential to this effort. Tel Aviv University is actively raising funds specifically to support researcher recruitment. “We’re fighting for this with everything we’ve got. Without outstanding talent, even the best buildings and the most advanced labs mean very little. The researchers are what make the University,” Prof. Porat explains.
Still, the barriers are not only financial. Many researchers cite Israel’s internal political situation as a major reason for hesitation. “When we ask people why they’re unsure about returning, many point to the country’s domestic conflicts, more than external threats like security risks,” Prof. Porat adds.
“People are less worried about missiles than they are about what’s happening inside the country,” Prof. Porat has found. “It affects their families, their sense of safety, and their long-term plans. This isn’t a start-up job where you can pivot in a year. Researchers want to build something meaningful over time. They need to know the ground beneath them is stable.”
Despite the challenges, there remains a strong desire among many Israeli academics to return. “Those who come back do so because they care about living here. But they also care deeply about their work. If we can provide them with the right environment, they will thrive, and so will Israeli science.”
Improving Israeli society
One of the top recruits joining TAU is Dr. Amit Haim, who was welcomed this academic year by the Buchmann Faculty of Law. He specializes in the intersection between technology and administrative law and gauges the effects of AI-driven decision-making on the public sector and legal sphere. Can AI be used, he asks, to improve performance and streamline bureaucracy in areas as wide-ranging as welfare, health benefits, child services, and licensing? Among many projects, he works with the Israel Innovation Authority and the Justice Ministry to advise on the best policies for the safe, effective, and ethical implementation of AI. He is also affiliated with TAU’s Chief Justice Meir Shamgar Center for Digital Law and Innovation and participates in programs conducted by TAU’s Edmond and Lily Safra Center for Ethics.
Dr. Haim was courted by other universities, but he felt drawn to TAU’s “welcoming and collaborative atmosphere, intellectual openness, and embrace of new methods and ideas.” Prior to joining TAU, he clerked at the Israeli Supreme Court, was awarded a Fulbright grant, earned his JSD from Stanford, and was a postdoctoral fellow at the Max Planck Institute.
Regarding the timing of his move back to Israel, he says: “I believe that being an academic researcher in Israel is more important now than ever, and I expect to contribute whatever expertise, knowledge, and experience I gain toward improving institutions and other aspects of Israeli society.”
