Past and present cooperation

Professors Israel Pecht and Helmut Schwarz described their personal experiences in Germany's and Israel's scientific landscapes and offered their views on German-Israeli cooperation. In addition, some of the young scientists who were in Berlin at the time introduced themselves.

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Experts with years of experience in German-Israeli cooperation

Professor Dr. Israel Pecht

In the late 60s, I came to Göttingen with my family for a three-year post-doc position at the Max Planck Institute for Physical Chemistry. Many of my friends and colleagues were very critical of my decision to come to Germany, of all places. But it was a very important step, both from a scientific and a personal point of view: even today, we have contacts in Göttingen that date back to that period. I can honestly say that my time as a visiting scientist in Göttingen marked the beginning of my commitment to German-Israeli cooperation, which has lasted for over forty years now.

In the past, Germany had a significant influence on scientific institutions in Israel due to the large number of German-Jewish immigrants. Today, American structures are more dominant. What I admire about Germany is the substantial quality and range of its research activities. From my point of view, one of the disadvantages is the fact that young scientists in Germany have to overcome so many hurdles, at least at universities. They have to "serve" under a professor for many years until they have completed the habilitation procedure. In Israel, post-docs are given their own laboratories after only a few years.

It is a shame that the number of Israeli students who choose to come to Germany as post-docs is so low. I think that the German language is certainly one of the obstacles. The USA is often the more obvious choice. I hope the German-Israeli Year of Science and Technology will raise awareness of the possibility of carrying out research in the partner country among both Germans and Israelis.

Professor Dr. Helmut Schwarz

I took part in a conference at the Weizmann Institute in 1977. The first contacts ensued almost automatically, and they developed over the years. I worked as a scientist at different Israeli universities and research institutions until 2001. Subsequently, I travelled to Israel in various different capacities for Minerva and the DIP.

What has always fascinated me is the fact that Israel has such a clear eye for young talent and treats young people as individuals in their own right, giving them a great deal of freedom. It is a country that has a passion for research, the courage to consider unorthodox approaches and the ability to achieve optimal results with minimal resources. I put this down to the Jewish tradition of teaching an learning, Israel's large proportion of intellectuals, but also the fact that Israel is an elitist society. People who want to study at an Israeli university generally have to pass many more exams than students in Germany.

Despite all the negative comments, Israelis value Germany as a country with outstanding research structures. They often make use of the country as a gateway to Europe. However, I think it is worrying that so many Germans and Israelis are so fixated on the USA when choosing a country in which to carry out research. We must convince people of the fact that both countries offer excellent career opportunities. Germans are often hesitant to go to Israel because they have a distorted, media-fuelled perception of the political situation. Israelis, on the other hand, are often unaware of how much effort Germany is making to face up to the past. Surprisingly enough, the worst cases of prejudice can be found among the younger generation. The German-Israeli Year of Science is a great opportunity. I hope we can intensify our exchange of ideas. We can do this by increasing the number of joint summer schools, for example.

Young scientists

Dr Suha Naffar-Abu-Amara

I work as a post-doc in the field of cancer research in the department for molecular cell biology at the Weizmann Institute (WIS) in Rehovot. My laboratory is working on identifying the genes responsible for the migration of cancer cells and therefore the metastasis of cancer. My laboratory has been collaborating with a lab at the Max Planck Institute (MPI) in Stuttgart since 2005. We divide the work with the German laboratory: the researchers at the MPI work on the chemical and physical aspects while we at the WIS deal with the biological issues. We organize a joint meeting every year. And of course we also consult each other on the designing of experiments and carry out joint conferences.

I believe that international science collaborations, particularly with Europe and the USA, are immensely important. Israel is a very small country, but in clinical research, it is particularly important to gather and compare as much data as possible from as many people as possible. The exchange of technologies and information accelerates research. In my field of work, it can save lives.

Florian Biermann

I have been a PhD student at the faculty of economics of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem since 2006. My research field is game theory. I have been interested in Israel for a long time and paid several visits to the country before I started learning Hebrew and made the decision to do my PhD in Israel. At the beginning, I received funding from the Hebrew University, but then I was given a two-year Minerva scholarship in 2007.

Game theory is very popular in Israel and is used for analysis by professors from all kinds of different fields. I don't see huge differences between the scientific work at my home university, the Freie Universität Berlin, and here in Jerusalem. The PhD programmes have similar structures; and the hierarchies at both universities are flat. All in all, my impression is that there is a higher incentive to conduct research in Israel. Despite the scarce resources, the research output in Israel is very high.As for my private life, I have made some very good friends among Israelis. Some of them have started to learn German. I get the feeling that a lot of Israelis are interested in Germany and German people.

Anne Bernheim-Groswasser

I am a senior lecturer at the department of chemical engineering of Ben-Gurion University of the Negev. I specialize in cell biophysics. During my post-doc research visit to Paris, I met colleagues from Germany, for example from the Max Planck Institute in Dresden, Saarland University, and the University of Munich.

I have been working together with them for some time on a project on "Modelling cooperative effects in biologyical systems". I believe that international cooperation is very important, particularly with a partner like Germany. Scientific standards in Germany are very high, the system is excellently organized, and researchers are remarkably well trained. In my experience, most German researchers are very open-minded and willing to share their knowledge and experience. However, I get the impression that the structure of universities and research institutions in Germany is more hierarchic than that of Israeli institutions.

Daniel Wicke

I have been a teaching and research assistant at the University of Wuppertal since 2002. My specialist field is particle physics, and I am currently working on a project on "Data processing on the grid", which is financed by the GIF's Young Scientist Programme. In March, I was given the opportunity to spend two weeks at the Weizmann Institute in Rehovot, which was an extremely interesting experience for me. The first thing that struck me were the security checks at the entrance to the campus. The atmosphere at the university is completely different from what I am used to. The buildings are integrated into a beautiful park, and there are efforts to create a pleasant and attractive environment, even if it is not strictly necessary for research. As for the relationship between students and professors, my impression is that it is more informal and less hierarchic than in Germany.

Communication with our cooperation partners is sometimes difficult, as the computers in Israel cannot be accessed as easily from Germany as computers in other countries. Due to the security situation, information is checked much more thoroughly, and that takes a lot of time.

I hope that the German-Israeli Year of Science and Technology will encourage people to make contacts in a country which may not be at the centre of attention, but which has a lot to offer.

 

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