For the past decade the President’s Scholarships for Excellence in Science and Innovation have been awarded by the Office of the President of Israel to encourage quality academic research in diverse scientific fields, to raise public awareness of the goals and areas in which the scholarships are distributed, to stimulate research and scientific activity, and to promote scientific excellence and innovation in Israel.
Each year, merit scholarships are awarded to promote doctoral research programmes in the field of the topic that is chosen annually. Students from all academic institutions in Israel apply for the President’s Scholarship, and every year The Hebrew University has many winners from different fields of study. To select the winners, the President of Israel is assisted by a scholarship committee, whose members include five to seven renowned experts in the field of the chosen annual topic.
Every year the Hebrew University has from five to eight winners from various academic fields – Life Sciences, Agriculture, Social Sciences, and Humanities. Each scholarship recipient receives 150,000 NIS for three years.
The theme of the award for the 2021-2022 academic year was Between Israel and the Nations: History, Memory, and Thoughts in the Light of the Holocaust and its Effects. Five Hebrew University students from the Faculty of Humanities and the Faculty of Social Sciences have received this prestigious award.