January 7, 2015 — Fourteen Hebrew University of Jerusalem researchers were awarded prestigious European Research Council grants by the European Union in 2015, enabling innovative researchers to enable to carry out groundbreaking research in a variety of fields.
The Hebrew University was awarded the most ERC grants of any Israeli academic research institution. Total funding from the awards exceeded €23,000,000 (Euros).
Six of the researchers were awarded an ERC Consolidators Grant, and eight won an ERC Starting Grant, in various fields of science.
Professor Nathalie Balaban
Four women from The Hebrew University were awarded ERC grants in 2015. These include The Hebrew University’s first female grant recipient in Mathematics, Professor Tamar Ziegler from The Hebrew University’s Einstein Institute of Mathematics; and Israel’s only ERC Consolidators grant recipient in the Social Sciences and Humanities panel for 2015, Professor Elisheva Baumgarten from the Dept. of History of the Jewish People and Contemporary Jewry. Awarded their second ERC grants were Professor Nathalie Balaban from The Racah Institute of Physics, and Professor Edit Tshuva from the Institute of Chemistry.
Professor Isaiah Arkin, The Hebrew University’s Vice-President for Research and Development, said: “These fourteen Hebrew University researchers are in the first ranks of scientists not only in Israel but around the world. The awarding of these grants by the European Union will strengthen research in Israel and will enable our researchers to make breakthroughs that benefit all of humankind.”
The 2015 Hebrew University ERC awardees are:
Professor Rami Aqeilan for Medicine
Professor Nathalie Balaban for Mathematics and Sciences
Professor Elisheva Baumgarten for Humanities
Dr. Yossi Buganim for Medicine
Dr. Amnon Buxboim for Mathematics and Sciences
Dr. Chaim Garfinkel for Mathematics and Sciences
Dr. Ori Katz for Mathematics and Sciences
Professor Yaakov Nahmias for Mathematics and Sciences
Dr. Michael Schapira for Mathematics and Sciences
Dr. Igor Schapiro for Mathematics and Sciences
Professor Shai Shalev-Shwartz for Mathematics and Sciences
Dr. Yossi Tam for Medicine
Professor Edit Tshuva for Mathematics and Sciences
Professor Tamar Ziegler for Mathematics and Sciences