Israeli Researchers Secure Prestigious EU Grants for Cutting-Edge Science

Eleven Israeli researchers have been awarded grants from the European Research Council (ERC) Starting Grant for 2026, supporting promising early-career scientists in advancing groundbreaking research across diverse scientific fields. The recipients include five from Tel Aviv University, two from the Technion, two from Bar-Ilan University, one from the Weizmann Institute of Science, and one from Ben-Gurion University of the Negev.

This year's cohort is slightly smaller than last year's 10 recipients, and significantly fewer than the approximately 30 Israeli researchers who received the grant in 2024. Globally, 421 researchers were selected from 4,807 proposals. Germany led with 89 grants, followed by the UK (47), Switzerland (36), and the Netherlands (33).

Among the Israeli awardees is Dr. Ran Finkelstein of Tel Aviv University, who is developing a novel quantum processor for next-generation quantum computing and optics. Dr. Sharon Fleischer, also from Tel Aviv University, is creating an advanced human heart-on-a-chip model to study cardiac diseases and personalized treatments. Dr. Amit Vinograd of Tel Aviv University received funding to investigate the neural mechanisms underlying emotional states and behavior.

Other recipients include Dr. Michael Chapman and Dr. Orr Zamir from Tel Aviv University, focusing on pure mathematics and theoretical computer science respectively. The Technion's Dr. Nir Hananya will research chromatin biology and gene regulation, while Dr. Haggai Maron will explore deep learning techniques for analyzing neural networks. Bar-Ilan University's Prof. Rauma Gadesi-Folk will examine the impact of children's emotional difficulties on parental mental health, and Dr. Arnold Filzer will develop algorithms for non-metric spaces.

Dr. Liya Keren from the Weizmann Institute of Science aims to develop new AI-driven technologies for mapping proteins in human tissues to advance cancer research. Prof. Dean Doron from Ben-Gurion University of the Negev is the eleventh recipient.